Bakht Singh
Those who regard the Assemblies Jehovah Shammah as "Brethren" generally categorize them as Open Brethren, in view of their willingness to work and worship together with Christians of other denominations. Their highly centralized leadership, however, is not typical of Open Brethren, for whom complete congregational autonomy is paramount, and may be more similar to the "connectional" model known among the Exclusive Brethren. Although Bakht Singh taught congregational autonomy, in practice he maintained tight centralized control over the movement until his death in 2000.