The Move: Sam Fife

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The Move (also known as The Move of the Spirit or Move of God) is the unofficial name of a non-denominational charismatic Christian group that was started by an ex-Baptist preacher named Sam Fife in Florida in the 1960s.

This group has been associated with the pentecostal-charismatic Latter Rain Movement. There is no official name or doctrine, but members number in the thousands, and many live together in commune-type farms all over the world. Farms are in operation or have been in operation in the United States, Canada, Spain, Ireland, Scotland, Great Britain, Australia, Japan, Guatemala, Colombia, and Peru. Additionally, non-communal congregations, called "city bodies", also meet or did meet in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Ecuador, Venezuela, Kenya and South Africa. Many city bodies still have community associations here in the United States as well.

Contents

[edit] History

The movement started in the early 1960s through Sam Fife's ministry first at his church in New Orleans then in his prayer group in Miami. Soon other groups following Fife's teachings sprang up throughout United States, Canada and later other countries. Considered by some to be an apostle, Fife drew together a group of other ministries who believed his vision of the role of the church in the end times. In fall 1971, Fife began to preach what was referred to as the "Wilderness Message" and within a few years thousands of his followers had moved to a number of communal farms in mostly in Canada, Colombia and Alaska.

Sam Fife was the author of a large number of booklets outlining his beliefs. He was killed in a plane crash in Guatemala on April 26, 1979.

Following Fife's death, his teachings were carried on by other ministries in "The Move", notably C.E. "Buddy" Cobb. In 1982, Cobb and others founded Covenant Life College to educate young people in the group in theology, teaching and other skills. The Move's traveling ministry now operate under the name International Ministerial Association (IMA).

The number of people involved in The Move has been in a long, slow decline, which began with the closing of some Move farms in B.C. in the early 1980s.[citation needed]

[edit] 'Divine Order' Teaching

Sam Fife's vision and teaching on what he called Divine Order became the guiding principles that characterized the Move.

"This is ... the move of God in which God is bringing forth a many-membered manchild to govern the world, through whom Christ will govern the world during the millennium that is to come. Therefore, we are in God's school of Divine Government, and God is training us as one many-membered man, teaching us, training us, preparing us to be the government through whom the Spirit of Christ will govern the world. The way that he is teaching us and training us is by letting us practice on one another, by teaching us to govern one another and to be governed by one another after the order of Melchisedec, which is a theocratic spirit government order."1

"Now that governmental order, at this point, is a five fold spirit ministry governmental order consisting of apostles, prophets, evangelists, elders or pastors (those two terms are synonymous) and teachers."2

"What God wants...is a group of elders to be His government that can disagree with one another, but in the right spirit , the humble sweet gracious Spirit of Christ and in the divine order that God has established for disagreeing with one another and thereby be one another's perfect check and balance."3

[edit] Culture

Following a doctrine of separation from the world, women formerly always wore dresses or skirts, and most men kept their hair short and wore no beards or moustaches. There is a recent trend away from these strictures.

If a man and woman are interested in each other, they can "walk out a year," with the permission of their local Elders. "Walking out a year" is similar to courtship. The couple isn't allowed to be physically affectionate or spend time alone together. At the end of a year they can decide to get married, if they wish. Rules vary from farm to farm.

Members who do not live on the communal farms often congregate, sometimes in members' homes, in groups numbering from a half dozen to several dozen people. This is punctuated by large gatherings called Conventions several times a year, where several hundred people meet for several days to sing and listen to preaching by Elders, who are local church leaders, and Traveling Ministry, leaders go from Convention to Convention, preaching and counseling, as well as providing news of other places. Conventions are held in Bowen's Mill, near Fitzgerald, Georgia, Lubbock, Texas and other places.

[edit] Criticism

The Move has come under criticism mostly because of the doctrine of sinless perfection, which if attained, only would bring glory to one's self rather than God and causes members to become more focused on a frustrated cycle of sin and guilt rather than on relationship with God and his grace. Also, isolation of the communes made evangelism low priority, the leadership to be overly controlling of followers' lives, and a tendency to wait for God's kingdom to come rather than growing into one's own ministry now.

[edit] References

  1. Fife, Sam; God's School of Divine Government; Miami 1974 p.1
  2. Ibid, p.3
  3. Ibid, p.4
  4. Rudin, James A. & Marcia R. Rudin (1980). Prison or Paradise: The New Religious Cults. Philadelphia: Fortress Press. 
  5. Ed Priebe. HEARING FROM GOD. Sword of the Lord Ministries. Retrieved on 2005-12-22, 1992. — Priebe quotes from a booklet Unmasking the Move by Jack Enlow
  6. Kingdom Triumphalism: The 3rd WAVE. Latter Rain. Let Us Reason Ministries. Retrieved on 2005-12-22. — "Sam Fife [...] taught that the aging process had stopped for him and when asked his age, he would simply answer 'I AM'. He assured people that he would never die but was in the process of being changed into an incorruptible life."

[edit] See also

[edit] Further reading

[edit] External links

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