The Brethren is one of several informal names for a nameless religious movement created by Jimmie T. "Jim" Roberts. Other names include the Brothers and Sisters and the garbage eaters, after their reputation for eating food from garbage bins. The movement’s members shun material things and family, living essentially as vagrants and doing odd jobs to pay their expenses. The movement's way of life has led to accusations that it is a cult.
The Roberts group should not be confused with various other groups that have the word "brethren" in their names, nor with the freegan lifestyle.
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Jimmie T. Roberts (also known as Brother Evangelist Roberts[1]), son of a former Pentecostal minister, created the movement around 1971, drawing together followers of the Jesus Movement across the United States. Roberts had become convinced that mainstream churches were too worldly, and wished to create a wandering discipleship patterned on the New Testament apostles. He began recruiting a core of followers in Colorado and California.[2] At first they adopted a communal lifestyle.
Beliefs are prominently millenarian and apocalyptic, centered on the teaching that humanity is in the end times and that members must purify themselves in preparation for the end of the world.[3] The movement directs new members to sell their possessions and break with their families as a necessary part of earning salvation.[1] Any finances generated are distributed according to need. For instance, money might be used for material to sew clothing, traveling expenses, or cooking spices. In some cases new members' money was given to older members, but in other cases it was kept by the individual to do what they would with it.
The Brethren live as itinerants. They acquired the nickname "the Garbage Eaters" after being observed collecting discarded food from dumpsters.[1][4] Members are said to bathe infrequently and refuse medical treatment.[2] Melton (2003), p. 1132.</ref> During the 1970s, members wore monk-like habits.[2] Men wear long beards, and women dress modestly in long dresses and long hair. Women and men eat separately and new members are restricted in all contact with the opposite sex. Women and men have clearly defined roles. Immediately on joining the group women beginning sewing their own clothing(May 2011). The Brethren essentially disallow marriage by single group members, maintaining that "the hour is too late." Children of couples who join the group are not allowed to play. Laughing, dancing and other forms of celebration are to be reserved for the return of Yeshua(Jesus)(May2011). Graven images are not allowed and any image on products found are covered to protect the members from seeing them. Coloring is allowed, but not creating images and singing is a part of nightly gatherings.
The Brethren also maintain that there is no actual sacrament of the Eucharist and that the bread and wine should be understood only as a metaphor for fellowship. Members are divided into pairs (or occasionally three) and sent off to preach. The teams regather periodically for fellowship, to hear Brother Evangelist Roberts, and to be assigned new companions and their next destination. The hierarchy is minimal. Directly under Roberts are a group of Elders. Members are designated as "Older brothers" or "Middle brothers" according to time served in the group.[2]
A highly publicized case of deprogramming in Arkansas during 1975 brought unwelcome attention to the Brethren. Beginning in the late 1970s, stories written by members, such as Rachel Martin,[5] also began appearing. Coverage, often negative, continued to surface in the media. The group dropped out of sight around 1980.[2]
After several police raids and arrests in the 1970s, Roberts ordered members to keep their locations secret and not to communicate with their families. The members fear being arrested or kidnapped at the request of distraught families, with instances reported as recently as 1998.
Families of members have asserted that their relatives are moved about to keep them from reestablishing familial contact.[1] Parents whose children have disappeared into the movement have formed a group called "The Roberts Group Parents Network" (or TRGPN) for mutual support and to aid in locating missing members.[3]