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Revision as of 06:07, 11 April 2005 by Thorwald (talk | contribs) (Featured Pages: "&" -> "and")

Welcome to xFamily.org, a collaboratively edited encyclopedia about The Family/Children of God group.

Due to the secrecy that shrouds many of The Family's activities we work together to collate and divulge information.

The position of this website is neither for or against The Family as it is a collaborative work that is aimed at supporting contributions from diverse individuals. Individuals contributing to this project might have taken up a favorable or unfavorable position on The Family but through peer review we maintain objectivity. If you have a factual correction to make, feel free to contact us. While we may not agree with the facts as you see them we will take your suggestion into consideration and present the information here as fairly as possible.


Featured Pages

New Articles — Most recently created articles.

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xFamily Forum — A place to request and contribute information as well as find out what our latest research is on.

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Karen Zerby — Info about "Mama Maria", current leader of The Family. Includes photos & voice recordings.

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Ricky Rodriguez video — Full video created by Ricky Rodriguez before his murdersuicide. (See also: Transcript)

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Ricky Rodriguez Memorial — Video, photos and more from Ricky's Memorial on March 26th 2005.

  • Berg on Incest — Positions on Incest.
  • FBI — Contact information for FBI investigations on The Family.


Categories

Beliefs and Practices

History and Events

  • History
    • Timeline — Articles that contain lists of events for a particular year
    • Legal Action — Information on any legal action currently or previously taken against The Family International
    • Deaths — People who were current or former members at the time of their death
      • Suicides — People who were current or former members at the time they committed suicide

People

  • Current and Former Members — Information about people who are or have been members of the Family
    • Abusers — Collecting information about abusers
    • Leaders — Here you will find the pages for the leaders of The Family
    • Pseudonyms — Pseudonyms used by Family members
  • Non-Members — People who never were members of The Family but are involved in some way

Documents and Articles

  • Documents — Documents about The Family International
    • Legal Name Changes — Documents of court orders for legal name changes
    • Testimony — An archive of testimony relating to The Family
    • Press — An archive of press relating to The Family from around the globe

Multimedia Archives

Operations

  • Places — Articles that connect events to places
  • Fronts — Organizations behind which The Family has operated or currently operates

Miscellaneous

  • Glossary — An index of definitions for terminology particular to The Family
  • References
  • Links — Here you will find external links categorized


All Categories — Alphabetical listing


Children of God/The Family

The Children of God (COG), later known as The Family of Love, The Family and now The Family International, is a new religious movement that started in 1968 in Huntington Beach, California, USA. It sprung from the Jesus Movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Criticism

The group has been often and heavily criticized by the press, the anti-cult movement, and the Christian countercult movement. In 1972, an organization called FREECOG was founded by concerned family members of followers to "free" them from their involvement in the group.

Statistics

According to the Children of God, there were 130 communes or "colonies" in 15 countries in 1972. In 1993, 7,000 of the 10,000 members were under 18 years of age. Recent statistics by The Family International puts full-time and fellow members at just over 11,200 in over 100 countries (around 4,000 adult full-time members and 4,000 children). Some estimates have placed the total number of people that have passed through the group at 35,000.

Programs, projects, and productions

The Family International (as the group calls itself today) has various programs through which it operates. The main ones include Family Care Foundation (FCF), Aurora Production AG, and Activated Ministries. However, the group has many other local foundations and projects in various countries throughout the world. The following are a few examples (note: some may no longer be active):

Aurora Production AG

Aurora Production AG, based in Zug, Switzerland, is the copyright holder and owner of all of The Family International's revenue-producing productions. These include publications, music, and videos (i.e. Countdown to Armageddon and Treasure Attic). Although ultimate control over this company is in Steven Kelly's hands, on paper the following people are listed as running this company [1]:

  • Claes Furusjö (Director; Johanneshov, Sweden; former WS finance manager)
  • Richard Müller
  • Barbara-Maria Buzzi
  • Ernst Steiner (Hünibach, Switzerland) (Alias: Byron)
  • Michael Andrew Darley (Houston, Texas)
  • Alconsa Finanz AG (Auditor)

Family Missions Foundation

Family Missions Foundation, based in Zug, Switzerland [2], receives and processes the tithes of members. The board has many of the same names as for Aurora Production AG. The two key people are:

  • Christopher Smith (aka Steven Kelly; registered in Luzern, Switzerland)
  • Thomas Mestyanek (registered in Los Angeles, USA; also Finance Manager of The Family International)

Activated Ministries

A Family International–operated charitable foundation in Escondido, California (EIN 33-0857142). All the Directors are Family International members. Thomas Hack, a high-ranking Family International officer and former director of FCF, is the President. Activated Ministries is a licensed distributor of Aurora products worldwide, including the magazines Activated and The Wine Press, both of which promote Family International beliefs and practices. It is The Family International's largest outreach operation. Activated Ministries openly acknowledges its support of The Family International and links to The Family International website. Activated Ministries has also made at least one cash donation to FCF. [3] [4]

Productions

Family productions include the following:

Active areas

Areas where The Family International have remained active for many years and are generally active today include:

Leadership

The leadership of The Family International is headed by:

- spiritual leader of The Family International
- American
- legally changed her name to Katherine Rianna Smith, 4-Nov-1997
- Aliases: Maria David, Maria Berg, Maria Fontaine, Mama Maria and Queen Maria
- head-leader of The Family International
- American
- legally changed his name to Christopher Smith
- Aliases: Peter Amsterdam or King Peter
- senior leader under Karen Zerby and Steven Kelly (less officially Grant Montgomery)
- American
- legally changed his name to Kevin Anthony Brown, 29-Sep-1993
- Aliases: Matthew or John PI