An Open Letter to
Former Members of The Children of God/The Family
August 1995
Dear Friends,
God bless you, and greetings in Jesus' name! With this letter we send our love and our prayers for your well-being.
For some of you, this letter may come as a surprise, as it is possibly the first contact we have had with you in a long time. We are writing mainly to bring you up to date on what has been happening in the Family in the past few years, as well as to offer you an invitation to establish contact with us, if you so desire. We have heard that several of you would like to have fellowship or some sort of interaction with us, but either are hesitant to take the first step, or simply don't know how to reach us. We hope that this letter will help, as it is also our wish to have friendly contact with those of you who are interested.
As you may know, in the past five years the Family has gained notoriety as a result of dramatic actions taken against our communities in various parts of the world. In July 1990, police and social workers in Barcelona, Spain, staged a massive raid on a Family Home, taking the children into custody and charging some of the adult Family members with civil and criminal offenses. In 1992, similar raids took place in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia, followed in 1993 by large-scale raids in France and Argentina. In addition, authorities in many other countries conducted exhaustive investigations of Family Homes. All of this was reported sensationally in the media, which in some areas also conducted their own well-orchestrated smear campaigns.
In each of these cases, the main charges were that the children of Family members were being abused, and that Family members were involved in some sort of criminal activity. It gradually became apparent to ourselves and the authorities involved that it was a handful of the same disgruntled ex-members working in cooperation with various anti-"cult" groups who were largely responsible for instigating these raids. Working behind the scenes, they made extremely inflammatory accusations to the authorities, virtually compelling them to move against us.
The outcome of these various raids and the subsequent legal proceedings was conclusive. Each and every time, Family members were exonerated of wrongdoing. Over 600 children of Family members were thoroughly examined by court-appointed doctors, and not one was found to have suffered from any form of abuse. All of the children were eventually returned to their parents and all civil and criminal charges were dismissed.
Not only was the Family vindicated, but in almost every case it was determined that the authorities had acted improperly or illegally. The fundamental civil rights of our members were systematically abused and ignored, the due process of law was subverted, and most shockingly, many of our children were abused or significantly neglected while in the temporary custody of the state. Currently, the federal judge who ordered the raids in Argentina is the subject of impeachment hearings for his handling of the investigation of the Family.
These ordeals were very traumatic for Family members and their children. However, the Word says, "We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28). Both as individuals and as a group we have learned many priceless lessons. We believe that the Family is better off, having endured these experiences of religious persecution.
This period of persecution directly or indirectly brought about some major changes in the Family. The media and the anti-"cult" movement were spreading sensational lies about us, doing their best to demonize us in the eyes of the public. So we began to actively refute these attacks, as well as open up our Homes and lives to the authorities, the media and the public, to show by personal example that we were innocent.
The results were very gratifying. In most cases the media -- and consequently most of the public -- began to see that although the Family may have many non-traditional beliefs, we are sincere Christians who spend our lives preaching the Gospel, loving our fellow man and raising our children in a Godly manner as best we can.
Today Family Homes operate openly and participate in a variety of events and projects in their local communities. They are known to the local authorities, media and civic leaders. They have gone to great lengths to explain themselves and thus banish the fear of the unknown. These changes have borne wonderful results, for which we are very thankful.
One consequence of opening our Homes has been that a number of academics who specialize in the study of new religious movements (NRMs) have studied us, stayed in our Homes, interviewed our members, observed our children, and written papers outlining their findings. A compilation of some of these papers was recently published in book form, entitled "Sex, Slander and Salvation; Investigating The Family/Children of God." We are enclosing a flyer describing it. If you would like to order a copy of this book, please let us know.
In late September 1993, there was a turn of events which is still having repercussions. Ex-member Bithia Sherman approached some Family members in California and asked to negotiate a "truce." As some of you know, Bithia had for years been one of the most active and vociferous detractors of the Family. Among her many exploits: she deliberately gave false testimony to the French authorities, virtually triggering the raids there, and encouraged some former Family members to do the same in Argentina.
Bithia approached the Family because she saw that her false testimony had caused Family members and their young children a great deal of suffering. Although the Family members she contacted were initially reluctant to meet with her, they did, and the result was a truly miraculous reconciliation. Today Bithia is a close friend of Family members in California and has been instrumental in helping other former members re-establish contact with the Family. Bithia's account of this period is enclosed.
Bithia impressed on us that many former members felt ostracized and shunned by the Family. She encouraged us to reach out and clear up any misunderstandings that may exist, as well as apologize where necessary. We agreed with her that we had been negligent in this regard, and started contacting former members, offering to meet with them. In early 1994 the No Longer Children association published the accompanying "Open Letter from the Family in California." We hope you will take time to read it, as it accurately expresses our feelings.
In the last year, Family members have had much more contact with former members than before, and a lot has been done to renew relationships and clear up grievances. Of course, not every encounter has been completely positive, but we are doing our best to extend the hand of Christian fellowship to those who desire it. We are very thankful for the renewed friendships that have resulted from the sincere efforts of all concerned.
Of course, we've experienced many other momentous events and changes which are not related to the recent persecution! The most significant of these was the passing of our founder, David Berg (Mo/Dad/Father David), in late 1994. In many ways we were very happy for him, as he had been in failing health for several years. Now we know that he is permanently delivered from his frail body and earthly woes and foes and is safe in the arms of Jesus, whom he loved and served throughout his life.
Some outside observers felt that David's death would cause the dissolution of the Family. However, almost from the beginning of the COG/Family, David had trained Maria and many other Family members to carry on when he would no longer be with us. So with the Lord's help, we have all made the transition smoothly and are still following the Lord, preaching the Gospel and doing the best we can to "let our light so shine" in this increasingly dark and wicked world.
A major milestone in our history occurred on April 1 of this year when the "Charter of Rights and Responsibilities" took effect. As the title implies, this 200-page document outlines the fundamental rights and responsibilities of Family members, as well as the basic methods of government to be followed in Family Homes. It also specifies the basic rules of conduct that all Family members are expected to abide by.
The Charter is based on the fundamental principles that have guided the Family since its inception. It took almost a year to write and went through several revisions. Nearly 250 Family members from every area of the world and every walk of Family life, including teenagers and young adults, attended regional workshops where the Charter was debated and improved.
We believe that the Charter is going to be a cornerstone for years to come and greatly improve the quality of life for Family members. We are enclosing a two-page summary which we hope will be of interest to you.
You may be wondering how things are going with the children in the Family. As you know, children have always been an important part of the Family, and their care and guidance has been a major priority for us. Over the years we have developed a thorough home schooling program, many new children's pubs have been produced, and we have learned the importance of spending time with and listening to our younger generation. Although there are still thousands of younger children in the Family, many of the children of yesteryear are now teenagers and young adults. Currently there are about 2,500 young people between the ages of 13 and 25 living in Family Homes. In addition to their academic education, these young people receive considerable vocational training in the Family. They are also enthusiastic witnesses, and involved in our many different outreach projects. We are also doing our best to help them assume positions of responsibility in every area of Family life.
One of the outreach ministries which has become increasingly important and effective in recent years is what we refer to as our "Consider the Poor" ministry. (See Psalm 41:1.) Although Family members have been helping the socially disadvantaged around the world for years, in late 1991 David encouraged us to do even more when he wrote:
"Our Family needs to start looking around to see who is the worst off, who needs help the most, who is the most desperate for answers--like Jesus did--and minister to them!--The drunks and the harlots and the publicans and the sinners! The Lord said He loves them--the sort of people that nobody else cares to minister to, or at least not many."
Since then, Family members have become increasingly involved in helping the less fortunate in society. Many are participating in prison visitation ministries and anti-drug campaigns, helping members of teen gangs and assisting the homeless, etc. Family members have also assisted a great deal in disaster relief around the world, whether it be Hurricane Andrew, the Kobe earthquake, the recent bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma, or helping in war-torn Croatia. We're including a few recent issues of the Family's monthly Activity Report which give more details about some of these efforts.
There is much more we have to share, but we hope this letter and the accompanying enclosures will give you at least a general idea of some of the events and changes that we have been experiencing in recent years.
As mentioned earlier in this letter, we wish to renew friendly contact with any of you who are interested. We understand that for various reasons, some of you may prefer not to. But if you would like to receive more news about our activities, or have some personal contact, please let us know via the address above. Also, if you know of any other former members who may not have received this letter, we'd appreciate it if you could pass it on to them as well. We really want to do our best to extend this invitation to as many former Family members as we can!
Thank you for taking the time to read this! We pray it has been an inspiration to you in some way. We remember you in our prayers, and we would appreciate your prayers as well, for the fruitfulness of our work. We love you and hope to hear from you soon!
God bless and keep you and your loved ones,
Eden,
for the Family
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family