What is this site about?

Overview

• The Twelve Tribes is a conservative religious group based in the United States with locations in North America (primarily) and other continents (less extensive).

• This website provides details about the group, its history, its activities, and its beliefs.

• To read additional topics, use the menu (on the left or at the top). Or the “Next” button at the bottom of each page.

• Send your feedback or questions via Facebook Messenger or join our Facebook Discussion Group.

History

• The Twelve Tribes Communities were founded in 1972 by Gene Spriggs (Elbert Eugene “Gene” Spriggs Jr.). He was born in 1937, died in 2021, and was known within the group as Yônêq.

• His 3rd wife Marsha (known as Hâ-Êmeq in the group) is very influential and is still alive today.

• Gene was considered the lead apostle, and his right-hand man was Eddie Wiseman (or Hakam). Eddie’s wife died from untreated cancer while in the group, and all of his children have left the Tribes.

• Gene Spriggs had one son with his first wife but had no children with Marsha. This means that both the founder and cofounder have no children currently living in the group.

• The group originally called itself the “Vine Christian Community Church” and was located in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

• Being frustrated with the spiritual apathy and social pushback in their city (a story is disputed by locals), they moved their entire group to Island Pond (Vermont) and renamed themselves “Northeast Kingdom Community Church.”

• In 1995, the group renamed themselves again, this time to “The Twelve Tribes Communities.” Periodically, “The Commonwealth of Israel” was used as a tagline. By this time, they had started to establish additional communities in various parts of North America and other continents, which were divided into regions (or “tribes”).

• In 2006, the eastern United States (where the majority of communities existed) was divided into two Tribes, which allowed a twelfth Tribe to be formalized (eleven years after adopting “The Twelve Tribes” as their name).

Group Dynamics

• The Tribes have created a lot of structure related to their lifestyle, beliefs, relationships, and activities. They have created a fair amount of insider terminology.

• When someone joins the group, they move into Tribes’ housing, give the Tribes all their belongings & money, and receive a new Hebrew name.

• The Tribes also make money via their restaurants, construction businesses, farms, furniture business, etc.

• The Tribes began in the Hippie Era and continue to emphasize peace, love, and unity. The Tribes say that everything is shared in common (though at certain times some communities have lived in poverty while others have flourished).

• Recruitment and public outreach often happen in local communities (especially during Friday evening events), in their Yellow Deli restaurant chain, during “Open Forum” events, in their large “Peacemaker” buses & ship, and during other outreach efforts.

• Membership in the Tribes declined after it came out that the founder’s wife had sexual relationships with multiple younger men in the group, on multiple continents, over a 20-year period.

• Further disillusionment has come from situations of child abuse, harsh leadership, a homicide within the community, an elder convicted of child rape & battery, and the death of the founder.

• Yet, leaving the Tribes is often very difficult for primarily 5 reasons:

  1. FEAR OF CONSEQUENCES: Members of the Tribes are taught that exiting the group will result in various types of tragedies (related to safety, health, and morals), as well as going to hell (“Lake of Fire”) after dying.

  2. STRUCTURE & PROVISION: Members who grew up in the Tribes often struggle to know how to function in society apart from the group, since they have never lived independently. And among those who didn’t grow up in the Tribes: many joined the Tribes specifically in order to gain the structure that they previously lacked. Parents have often joined the Tribes believing that it would offer a better environment for raising their children. The Tribes have done extensive outreach to those who are “lost” in the world, including many who are unable to function on their own in society (sometimes due to past drug use, etc). While it may be somewhat common for members to secretly not believe the Tribes doctrines, they feel a need for what the Tribes offer.

  3. RELATIONSHIPS: Due to the practice of shunning, leaving the Tribes usually causes severed relationships with family members and friends who remain in the Tribes. Children (and young adults) fear leaving because their relationship with their parents would be severed. Parents often stay for the same reason: if only one parent wants to leave, the Tribes have been known to move the kids (and remaining parent) to a different location to prevent the departing parent from taking the kids out of the Tribes.

  4. FINANCES: Individual ownership of money is non-existent in the Tribes (apart from some leadership, who may have property in their name). Because of this, it is a challenge to provide for oneself after leaving. Some who join the group simply has no outside support system to rely on, and they would have nowhere to go if they left the group.

  5. BELIEFS & IDENTIY: The choice to leave the Tribes is a choice to discard some major core beliefs of the Tribes. Strongly-held (and long-held) beliefs can be difficult to forsake, and major changes in worldview can be disorienting. Group-think runs strong in the Tribes and members are trained to reject individual thinking.¹ This dynamic hinders a member from initiating the thought of leaving. Members also put up a strong wall against outside perspectives, and are trained to share outside input with whoever is supervising them, which hinders others from initiating any consideration of leaving. Further, self-identity is closely connected with Tribes’ membership, and so departure from membership can leave former members struggling to establish a new understanding of themselves.

Footnotes

1. The Tribes often use the phrase: “It’s better to be wrong together than to be right alone.” This becomes acceptable to members because they ultimately see the Tribes itself as the source of salvation, rather than salvation being tied to objective truth. As the Tribes have written: “All servants of God must be delivered from a life of reason… Reasoning is rebellion in its highest form.” [Reasoning, 11/18/90] ↩