The Family International

The Children of God (1968–1977)

Members of The Children of God (COG) founded communes, first called colonies (now referred to as homes), in various cities. They would proselytize in the streets and distribute pamphlets. Leaders within COG were referred to as The Chain.

The founder of the movement, David Brandt Berg (1919–1994), was a former Christian and Missionary Alliance pastor.^[6]

Berg communicated with his followers by writing letters. He published nearly 3,000 letters over a period of 24 years, referred to as the Mo Letters.^[7] In a letter written in January 1972, Berg stated that he was God's prophet for the contemporary world, attempting to further solidify his spiritual authority within the group. Berg's letters also contained public acknowledgement of his own failings and weaknesses.^[8]

By 1972, COG had 130 communities around the world.^[9]

The Children of God was abolished in February 1978. Berg reorganized the movement amid reports of serious misconduct, financial mismanagement, The Chain's abuse of authority, and disagreements within it about the continued use of Flirty Fishing. One-eighth of the total membership left the movement. Those who remained became part of a reorganized movement called the Family of Love, and later, The Family. The majority of the group's beliefs remained the same.^[10]

The Family of Love (1978–1981)

The Family of Love era was characterized by international expansion.

In 1976, before the dissolution of The Children of God,^[3] David Berg had introduced a new proselytizing method called Flirty Fishing (or FFing), which encouraged female members to "show God's love" through sexual relationships with potential converts. Flirty Fishing was practiced by members of Berg's inner circle starting in 1973, and was introduced to the general membership in 1976 and became common practice within the group. In some areas flirty fishers used escort agencies to meet potential converts. According to TFI "over 100,000 received God's gift of salvation through Jesus, and some chose to live the life of a disciple and missionary" as a result of Flirty Fishing.^[10] Researcher Bill Bainbridge obtained data from TFI suggesting that, from 1974 until 1987, members had sexual contact with 223,989 people while practicing Flirty Fishing.^[11]

The Family (1982–1994)

In March 1989, TF issued a statement that, in "early 1985", an urgent memorandum had been sent to all members "reminding them that any such activities [adult–child sexual contact] are strictly forbidden within our group" (emphasis in original), and such activities were grounds for immediate excommunication from the group.^[12] In January 2005, Claire Borowik, a spokesperson for TFI, stated that:

[d]ue to the fact that our current zero-tolerance policy regarding sexual interaction between adults and underage minors was not in our literature published before 1986, we came to the realization that during a transitional stage of our movement, from 1978 until 1986, there were cases when some minors were subject to sexually inappropriate advances ... This was corrected officially in 1986, when any contact between an adult and minor (any person under 21 years of age) was declared an excommunicable offense.^[13]

The Family (1995–2003)

After Berg's death in October 1994, Karen Zerby (known in the group as Mama Maria, Queen Maria, Maria David, or Maria Fontaine), assumed leadership of the group.

In February 1995, the group introduced the Love Charter,^[14] which defined the rights and responsibilities of Charter Members and Homes. The Charter also included the Fundamental Family Rules, a summary of rules and guidelines from past TF publications which were still in effect.

In the 1994–95 British court case, the Rt. Hon. Lord Justice Alan Ward ruled that the group, including some of its top leaders, had in the past engaged in abusive sexual practices involving minors and had also used severe corporal punishment and sequestration of minors.^[15] He found that by 1995 TF had abandoned these practices and concluded that they were a safe environment for children. Nevertheless, he did require that the group cease all corporal punishment of children in the United Kingdom and denounce any of Berg's writings that were "responsible for children in TF having been subjected to sexually inappropriate behaviour".

The Family International (2004–present)

The Love Charter is The Family's set governing document that entails each member's rights, responsibilities and requirements, while the Missionary Member Statutes and Fellow Member Statutes were written for the governance of TFI's Missionary member and Fellow Member circles, respectively. FD Homes were reviewed every six months against a published set of criteria. The Love Charter increased the number of single family homes as well as homes that relied on jobs such as self-employment.^[16]

Recent teachings

TFI's recent teachings center around beliefs they term the "new [spiritual] weapons". TFI members believe that they are soldiers in the spiritual war of good versus evil for the souls and hearts of men.

The second generation

Second-generation adults (known as "SGAs") are adults born or reared in TFI.

Anti-TFI sentiment has been publicly expressed by some who have left the group; examples include sisters Celeste Jones, Kristina Jones, and Juliana Buhring, who wrote a book^[26] on their lives in TFI.^[27]

Relationship with the authorities

TFI members are expected to respect legal and civil authorities where they live. Members have typically cooperated with appointed authorities, even during the police and social-service raids of their communities in the early 1990s.^[28]

Raised in COG as children, left later

• Christopher Owens: musician, of San Francisco indie band Girls, was brought up in TFI by his parents.^[32][33]
• Celeste Jones and Kristina Jones: co-authors, along with Juliana Buhring, of Not Without My Sister, an autobiography detailing extensive abuse they suffered in COG.^[34] This book is used by the organization RAINN as a reference for child sexual abuse victims.
• Juliana Buhring: first woman to bicycle around the world^[35] and co-author of Not Without My Sister.
• Rose McGowan: film actress, described her TFI childhood in interviews with Howard Stern,^[36] and People magazine.^[37]
• River Phoenix, Joaquin Phoenix, Rain Phoenix, and Summer Phoenix: actors, were members of the group (with their sister Liberty Phoenix) from 1972 to 1978. River Phoenix, who died of a drug overdose in 1993, told Details magazine in November 1991 that "they're ruining people's lives."^[38]
• Susan Justice: American pop rock singer-songwriter and guitarist, known best for her debut self-recorded album, The Subway Recordings.
• Tina Dupuy: American journalist and syndicated columnist.
• Ricky Rodriguez: subject of the suppressed manual advocating adult-child sexual contact, committed a murder-suicide in 2005, killing one of the women who raised and allegedly sexually abused him, then himself.^[39]
• Lauren Hough: author ^[40] brought up in TFI.
• Dawn Watson: Brazilian, victim of sexual abuse while living in a TFI community.^[41]
• Taylor Stevens, author,^[42] brought up in the cult from age 12 until she left in her twenties with her two children.

Academic

Journalistic and popular