The Pilgrim Church is an alternative "ecclesiastical history" of all the movements within historical Christianity to go "back to the Bible" and simply practice NT Christianity. Broadbent was a member of The Brethren, as was F.F. Bruce, who regarded this book highly.

Edmund Hamer Broadbent (1861 – 1945) was a Christian missionary and author. John Bjorlie wrote that he was a "tidy-looking English gentleman with a bookish side who discovered ways of slipping into and out of countries that others just assumed were 'closed doors.' He was not a big man, and his pleasant, easygoing manner would not have conjured in your mind the picture of the fearless missionary." Born in Lancashire, England, Broadbent operated under the auspices of the Plymouth Brethren movement. His missionary work from 1900 into the 1920s took him to Austria, Belgium, Egypt, Germany, Poland, Russia, Turkey, the Baltic states, North and South America, and Uzbekistan. He spoke fluently French and German and could speak some Russian.