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Twelve Tribes communities
The Twelve Tribes, formerly known as the Vine Christian Community Church, the Northeast Kingdom Community Church, the Messianic Communities, and the Community Apostolic Order, is a movement which is described as either a cult or a new religious movement. It was founded by Gene Spriggs and sprang out of the Jesus movement in 1972 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The group calls itself an attempt to recreate the 1st-century church as it is described in the Book of Acts.
The group's origins in Chattanooga led to planted churches in surrounding areas. In the late seventies, the group began a community in Island Pond, Vermont. The group eventually left Tennessee and moved primarily to Vermont. The Twelve Tribes's beliefs resemble those of Christian fundamentalism, the Hebrew Roots movement, Messianic Judaism, and the Sacred Name Movement; however, the group believes that all other denominations are fallen, and it therefore refuses to align itself with any denomination or movement. The group also exclusively uses the original Hebrew name of "Yahshua" for Jesus. Believing that the name "Yahshua" represents the nature of Jesus, the group bestows upon each member a Hebrew name that is meant to reflect the personality of the individual.
They have been criticized for their beliefs and practices, including for their supremacist views towards black and Jewish people outside of their membership. The group's teachings have been characterized as racist, misogynistic and homophobic, and ex-members report excessive corporal punishment, failure to stop child sexual abuse, and exploitation of followers for labor. Authorities removed forty children from the group in Germany after a journalist showed evidence of child abuse. The action was upheld by the European Court of Human Rights.[undue weight? – discuss]
Common sources for funding, and also that serve as a means to interact with and engage the public, include restaurants like "The Yellow Deli" and community marketplaces.
The origins of the Twelve Tribes can be tracked back to the "Light Brigade," a 1972 teenagers' ministry. The ministry operated out of "The Lighthouse," a small coffee shop in the home of Gene Spriggs and wife Marsha. The Light Brigade began living communally and opened a restaurant, "The Yellow Deli", while its members were attending several churches, before they decided to join the First Presbyterian Church. Members of the Light Brigade, while affiliated with First Presbyterian, caused friction within its establishment by bringing in anyone who was willing to come with them, including members of different social classes and racial groups, a practice which was not engaged in at that time. On January 12, 1975, the group arrived at First Presbyterian only to find out that the service had been cancelled for the Super Bowl, this led the group to form The Vine Christian Community Church. During this time, the group "planted" churches, each with its own Yellow Deli, in Dalton and Trenton, Georgia; Mentone, Alabama; and Dayton, Tennessee.
Their withdrawal from the religious mainstream turned what had been a friction-filled relationship into an outcry against them. They began holding their own services, which they called "Critical Mass" in Warner Park in Chattanooga, Tennessee, appointing elders and baptizing people outside any denominational authority. The deteriorating relationship between the group and the religious and secular Chattanooga community attracted the attention of The Parents' Committee to Free Our Children from the Children of God and the Citizen's Freedom Foundation who characterized the group as a cult and described Spriggs as a cult leader. Starting the summer of 1976, anti-cultist Ted Patrick began a series of deprogrammings that sought to convince Twelve Tribes members to leave the Twelve Tribes community. The group nevertheless largely ignored the negative press and the wider world in general, and continued to operate its businesses opening the Areopagus café and a second local Yellow Deli in downtown Chattanooga. In 1978, Bryan College in Dayton, Tennessee, Tennessee Temple University in Chattanooga and Covenant College located in Georgia near Chattanooga, issued edicts banning students from patronizing the Yellow Deli. In 1978, an invitation was received from a small church in Island Pond, Vermont, for Spriggs to minister there; the offer was declined but the group began moving in stages to the rural town, naming the church there The Northeast Kingdom Community Church. One of Patrick's last deprogramming cases in Chattanooga occurred in 1980; it involved a police detective who, according to Jean Swantko, had his 27-year-old daughter arrested on a falsified warrant to facilitate her deprogramming, with the support of local judges. The group continued moving, closing down all of its Yellow Delis and associated churches except for the one in Dalton. At one point, a leader conceded that the group was deeply in debt before closing the Dalton church down and moving the last members to Vermont.
The move to Vermont, combined with an initial period of economic hardship, caused some members to leave. The Citizen's Freedom Foundation conducted several meetings in Barton to draw attention to the group. The Citizen's Freedom Foundation had made allegations of mind control in Chattanooga, but now it made accusations of child abuse. In 1983, charges were brought against Charles "Eddie" Wiseman (an elder in the group) for misdemeanor simple assault; this, combined with multiple child custody cases, formed the basis for a search warrant. On June 22, 1984, Vermont State Police and Vermont Social Rehabilitation Services seized 112 children. Forty cases were dismissed as the parents refused to give the names of their children. Due to what the group perceived were a massive misunderstanding of the events and concerns leading up to and surrounding the raid, its members began formal relationships with their neighbors. Two months after the raid, the case against Wiseman fell apart after the main witness recanted, saying he was under duress from the anticult movement. The case was later dropped in 1985 after a judge ruled that Wiseman had been denied his right to a speedy trial. Eddie Wiseman's public defender, Jean Swantko, who had been present during the raid, later joined the Twelve Tribes and married Wiseman.
The group had become more isolationist after the group's departure from Chattanooga. Now realizing that this had caused outsiders to view the group with suspicion, the group changed tactics and became more open, establishing more cordial relationships with neighbors and authorities.
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Twelve Tribes communities
The Twelve Tribes, formerly known as the Vine Christian Community Church, the Northeast Kingdom Community Church, the Messianic Communities, and the Community Apostolic Order, is a movement which is described as either a cult or a new religious movement. It was founded by Gene Spriggs and sprang out of the Jesus movement in 1972 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The group calls itself an attempt to recreate the 1st-century church as it is described in the Book of Acts.
The group's origins in Chattanooga led to planted churches in surrounding areas. In the late seventies, the group began a community in Island Pond, Vermont. The group eventually left Tennessee and moved primarily to Vermont. The Twelve Tribes's beliefs resemble those of Christian fundamentalism, the Hebrew Roots movement, Messianic Judaism, and the Sacred Name Movement; however, the group believes that all other denominations are fallen, and it therefore refuses to align itself with any denomination or movement. The group also exclusively uses the original Hebrew name of "Yahshua" for Jesus. Believing that the name "Yahshua" represents the nature of Jesus, the group bestows upon each member a Hebrew name that is meant to reflect the personality of the individual.
They have been criticized for their beliefs and practices, including for their supremacist views towards black and Jewish people outside of their membership. The group's teachings have been characterized as racist, misogynistic and homophobic, and ex-members report excessive corporal punishment, failure to stop child sexual abuse, and exploitation of followers for labor. Authorities removed forty children from the group in Germany after a journalist showed evidence of child abuse. The action was upheld by the European Court of Human Rights.[undue weight? – discuss]
Common sources for funding, and also that serve as a means to interact with and engage the public, include restaurants like "The Yellow Deli" and community marketplaces.
The origins of the Twelve Tribes can be tracked back to the "Light Brigade," a 1972 teenagers' ministry. The ministry operated out of "The Lighthouse," a small coffee shop in the home of Gene Spriggs and wife Marsha. The Light Brigade began living communally and opened a restaurant, "The Yellow Deli", while its members were attending several churches, before they decided to join the First Presbyterian Church. Members of the Light Brigade, while affiliated with First Presbyterian, caused friction within its establishment by bringing in anyone who was willing to come with them, including members of different social classes and racial groups, a practice which was not engaged in at that time. On January 12, 1975, the group arrived at First Presbyterian only to find out that the service had been cancelled for the Super Bowl, this led the group to form The Vine Christian Community Church. During this time, the group "planted" churches, each with its own Yellow Deli, in Dalton and Trenton, Georgia; Mentone, Alabama; and Dayton, Tennessee.
Their withdrawal from the religious mainstream turned what had been a friction-filled relationship into an outcry against them. They began holding their own services, which they called "Critical Mass" in Warner Park in Chattanooga, Tennessee, appointing elders and baptizing people outside any denominational authority. The deteriorating relationship between the group and the religious and secular Chattanooga community attracted the attention of The Parents' Committee to Free Our Children from the Children of God and the Citizen's Freedom Foundation who characterized the group as a cult and described Spriggs as a cult leader. Starting the summer of 1976, anti-cultist Ted Patrick began a series of deprogrammings that sought to convince Twelve Tribes members to leave the Twelve Tribes community. The group nevertheless largely ignored the negative press and the wider world in general, and continued to operate its businesses opening the Areopagus café and a second local Yellow Deli in downtown Chattanooga. In 1978, Bryan College in Dayton, Tennessee, Tennessee Temple University in Chattanooga and Covenant College located in Georgia near Chattanooga, issued edicts banning students from patronizing the Yellow Deli. In 1978, an invitation was received from a small church in Island Pond, Vermont, for Spriggs to minister there; the offer was declined but the group began moving in stages to the rural town, naming the church there The Northeast Kingdom Community Church. One of Patrick's last deprogramming cases in Chattanooga occurred in 1980; it involved a police detective who, according to Jean Swantko, had his 27-year-old daughter arrested on a falsified warrant to facilitate her deprogramming, with the support of local judges. The group continued moving, closing down all of its Yellow Delis and associated churches except for the one in Dalton. At one point, a leader conceded that the group was deeply in debt before closing the Dalton church down and moving the last members to Vermont.
The move to Vermont, combined with an initial period of economic hardship, caused some members to leave. The Citizen's Freedom Foundation conducted several meetings in Barton to draw attention to the group. The Citizen's Freedom Foundation had made allegations of mind control in Chattanooga, but now it made accusations of child abuse. In 1983, charges were brought against Charles "Eddie" Wiseman (an elder in the group) for misdemeanor simple assault; this, combined with multiple child custody cases, formed the basis for a search warrant. On June 22, 1984, Vermont State Police and Vermont Social Rehabilitation Services seized 112 children. Forty cases were dismissed as the parents refused to give the names of their children. Due to what the group perceived were a massive misunderstanding of the events and concerns leading up to and surrounding the raid, its members began formal relationships with their neighbors. Two months after the raid, the case against Wiseman fell apart after the main witness recanted, saying he was under duress from the anticult movement. The case was later dropped in 1985 after a judge ruled that Wiseman had been denied his right to a speedy trial. Eddie Wiseman's public defender, Jean Swantko, who had been present during the raid, later joined the Twelve Tribes and married Wiseman.
The group had become more isolationist after the group's departure from Chattanooga. Now realizing that this had caused outsiders to view the group with suspicion, the group changed tactics and became more open, establishing more cordial relationships with neighbors and authorities.