THE TWELVE TRIBES (NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT)

:''For other uses of "The Twelve Tribes" see The Twelve Tribes (disambiguation)''
'The Twelve Tribes' is a federation of self-governing religious communities founded by Elbert Eugene Spriggs (now known as Yoneq) that sprung out of the Jesus Movement in the early 1970s in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The group has also gone by the names 'The Church in Island Pond' and 'The Commonwealth of Israel'.

Contents

Origins

Beliefs and practices

Controversies

Sources

External links

Origins

The origins of the Twelve Tribes movement can be traced to small meetings held in the home of Elbert Eugene Spriggs and his wife Marsha in the early 1970s in Chattanooga, Tennessee. In 1972, the Spriggs began a ministry for teenagers called the "Light Brigade." Around this time, members of the "Light Brigade" began to live communally and supported their lifestyle by operating a coffeeshop. Until this time, Spriggs' group had not been a separate denomination, instead affiliating itself with several different local churches and denominations. However, this changed after Spriggs allegedly went to church one Sunday only to find the service delayed due to the Super Bowl. Spriggs then formed his own church, called the "Vine Community Church", and started a chain of restaurants around the Southern United States called "Yellow Deli," designed to create revenue for the group and for evangelist purposes. During this period, the church came under attack by mainstream Christian groups and anti-cult groups. Around the time the climate turned negative in the South, Spriggs was invited to be pastor to a group of disaffected Christians in Vermont.[1] Spriggs and his followers therefore moved their base of operations to Island Pond, Vermont in 1977 calling themselves The Northeast Kingdom Community Church, where they continued to be criticized for some of their beliefs and practices. However, the group continued to grow during the 1980s and 1990s, opening branches in several different countries, including France, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Spain, Germany, Argentina, and the United Kingdom. ''(See [2] for an address list of Twelve Tribes' communities.)'' (See [3] for a more complete picture of the development of the Twelve Tribes in recent years.)"

Beliefs and practices

According to a statement from their website, the group seeks to live according to the primitive pattern of the early church described in Acts 2:38-42 and Acts 4:32-37. Claiming to follow the teachings of Jesus (whom they call by his Hebrew name Yahshua), they believe that all disciples must renounce all possessions and independent lives in order to truly call him their Master and Lord. They aspire, "to live moral lives in the midst of a very immoral society."
According to a 1998 article by the religious scholar Dr. Susan J. Palmer, who stayed in the community, members give themselves Hebrew names and their beliefs are closely related to Christian fundamentalism. They follow the Old and New Covenant Scriptures, and use all versions of the Bible. Twelve Tribes' members dress modestly: the men wear beards, wear their hair bound in a short pony tail behind their head, while women wear their hair long, go without makeup, and wear long dresses. Group members live communally, sharing all assets and income in common. They consider themselves the only true church since apostolic times.
However, there are many distinctions between the Twelve Tribes and Christian fundamentalism. For example, the Twelve Tribes believe and teach that denominations or divisions invalidate a church's validity and insist that the true church will be undivided in reality. Christian fundamentalism allows for minor differences and denominations in the non-essentials, and believe that the unity of the church is mystical and unassailable. In Twelve Tribes' doctrine there are three eternal destinies of man (the holy, disciple of Christ who are saved by Him and live entirely for Him; the righteous, good people who never heard the gospel and never became followers; and the wicked, evil people who destroy other people's lives by their selfishness) as opposed to only two (heaven and hell) in Christian Fundamentalism. The Twelve Tribes teach that to become a disciple of Yahhsua, a person must trust Yahshua enough to obey His commands; giving up all of their own possessions and surrendering their life completely for the One who surrendered His life for them. Christian Fundamentalism teaches that a person is "saved by grace through faith", not of "works" and so a person does not have to do anything whatsoever other than "believe in Jesus", trusting that He did everything for them.
The group believes that humans are living in the end times, and that a faithful and pure church must be restored before Christ returns. They claim their main tenets to be forgiveness, love, purity, and obedience to the Christ's teachings. Members have run a variety of restaurants and restaurant-related businesses. The group estimates its current membership to be around 2500.

Controversies

The group garnered controversies in the 1980s. The anti-cult movement and ex-Twelves Tribes members are some of the most vocal critics of the group's practices. The Reverend Robert T. Pardon, an anti-cult advisor and director of the New England Institute of Religious Research, warns that the "Messianic Communities, under the leadership of Spriggs, has tended towards an extreme authoritarianism." The group responds that they are a "simple people who live on Main Street USA" and that "all members can leave at any time, but choose to remain daily." A summary version of Robert Pardon's report appears online and the complete report can be purchased from him at a cost of $15.00. The Twelve Tribes have published a response to Pardon's report.
The group first aroused controversy because of their alleged child abuse (including corporal punishment, and the use of child labor in their cottage industries). The most notable event was the 1984 Island Pond Raid. In 1984, Vermont State authorities executed a full-scale pre-dawn raid of the 13 Twelve Tribes houses in Island Pond, Vermont for alleged child abuse. The case was eventually dismissed. Frank Mahady, the presiding Judge, declared the State of Vermont's "authorization to seize 'any and all children under the age of 18 years old' was broader in scope (though admittedly less Draconian in purpose) than that of Herod the Great."
The Twelves Tribes and others believe the allegations against the group in 1984 to be exaggerated. New York State fined two Greene County Twelve Tribes businesses for child labor law violations in 2001. At a 2001 press conference in response to charges of child labor, they claimed that the charges of child labor are "false, unfounded, and slanderous." However, the group does admit that it uses corporal punishment, spanking children with a "small reed-like rod" and that the "children help their parents" in their cottage industries.
On October 18, 2004, seven fathers from the community in Klosterzimmern, in the municipality Deiningen, Bavaria were arrested because they homeschooled their children, instead of sending them to regular school.
A report from ''The Guardian'' accuses the Twelve Tribes of being racist and anti-Semitic. Specifically, the article states that the group believes that "murder is the very crime which the Jews are still cursed for" and that "multiculturalism increases murder, crime and prejudice". The Twelve Tribes deny charges of racism or Anti-Semitism, stating that they "look back to the Semitic roots of our faith with gratitude". They also have members of many races and cultures in their community, and a number of African-American members are also leaders in their communities.

Sources

# We Make No Apology
# Family FAQs
# Palmer, Susan J. ''Apostates and Their Role in the Construction of Grievance Claims Against the Northeast Kingdom/Messianic Communities'' article in the book ''The Politics of Religious Apostasy: The Role of Apostates in the Transformation of Religious Movements'' edited by David G. Bromley Westport, CT, Praeger Publishers, (1998). ISBN also available online
# Twelve Tribes Alice Kreiner
# A Root out of Dry Ground
# Judge Frank Mahady's Opinion
# Cambridge Press Conference
# My Analysis of the Twelve Tribes
# Pictures of the arrest
# Press Conference October 15, 2004 in Pfäfflingen, Germany

External links

Twelve Tribes organization sites

★ Twelve Tribes official website

★ Twelve Tribes site about the Island Pond Raid
Sites professing neutrality on Twelve Tribes

★ Religious movements Profile

★ Intentional Communities Directory
Sites explicitly or largely critical of Twelve Tribes

★ Rick A. Ross Institute: articles and visitor comments on the Twelve Tribes

★ Twelve Tribes-EX: accounts regarding beliefs and practices from anonymous source claiming to have been former member.

★ F.A.C.T.net (Fight Against Coercive Tactics Network) Twelve Tribes discussion forum

★ Ithacans Opposed to the Twelve Tribes Cult: an organized boycott of Twelve Tribes businesses in Ithaca, NY.
Other Sites

★ Twelve Tribes Teachings: archive of "teachings" and in-house newsletter from an anonymous source

★ An account of a festival open to the public in Plymouth, Mass

★ Maté Factor brand of Teas and Other Products affiliated with Twelve Tribes

★ One of the cafe's of the twelve tribes communities. Also contains links to many other twelve tribes sites

★ An organization providing shelter, food and transportation to families who have been sent away from or have left the community.