Twelve Tribes Cult

In 1972, Gene Springs founded the Twelve Tribes cult, which is also known as Twelve Tribes Communities. The mission of the group is to live in the same way that early Christians lived according to the book of Acts in the Bible. Paper Masters custom writes research about cults or other religious organizations. Get help today with your writing.

The Twelve Tribes originally started as a teen ministry named the "Light Brigade."

• The group met in the home of Spriggs and his wife Marsha.
• The group believed in the practice of communal living modeled by the first church in Acts and began living communally and attending First Presbyterian Church.
• The group eventually left this church due to disagreements with the way the church functioned and they started their own church and named it The Vine Christian Community Church.
• Soon they established churches in four other cities.

The church had a tumultuous relationship with the Chattanooga community and in 1978 a church in Vermont asked Spriggs to come and work for them. HE declined the offer but over the following few years, the church slowly started to move to Island Pond, Vermont and established The Northeast Kingdom Community Church. During the 1980s and 1990s the church started branches internationally including some in Australia, Canada, Germany, and Spain. They also officially changed the name of the community to The Twelve Tribes.

Some argue that the Twelve Tribes are really just fundamentalist Christians. Many of their practices are based in scripture. There are several significant differences between the group and modern American Christianity. First, they believe that in order to earn salvation a person must not only believe in Jesus but also live in a Twelve Tribes Community. They believe that they are the only "true Christians." There is no room for questioning the doctrine of the church.