In this week’s show we interviewed Cynthia or Ziv from the 12 Tribes Community. She was previously a member of The Farm Community in Summertown, TN from 1978-1981 and joined the 12 tribes group in N...
In this week’s show we interviewed Cynthia or Ziv from the 12 Tribes Community. She was previously a member of The Farm Community in Summertown, TN from 1978-1981 and joined the 12 tribes group in North Carolina in 2003. We originally interviewed John Holly or Malachi from their community in Pulaski, TN at the Yellow Deli; as we visited their community coffee shop which serves as a form of outreach for them. That interview was enlightening experience; however due to technical difficulties the audio we recorded was damaged and we had to redo the interview this time with Cynthia. Our original encounter left us with more questions than answers. As the leaders of the 12 tribes community we met were very welcoming to Ryan and I, making it difficult to ask any challenging questions. The three elders we sat with included our contact John Holly or Malachi (his Hebrew name), who runs their printing shop; Ruth the wife of the farmer who runs the place where they get many of their products who joined at age 29 in 1984 and Zavav who join the group in 1978. Malachi studied at a Bible college before he moved to Chattanooga, TN in 1975 from Vermont. Ruth “the ex-hippie” of the group, spoke about the relationship between their perspective and the hippie movement. Zavav was mostly quiet, but when she spoke, she had the ability to gather our attention with her tender and voice direct way of expressing herself. The ambience was very homey, we ate their delicious food as they shared their thoughts and we discussed their Gospel. They explained that they follow the New Testament book of Acts more faithfully than many groups by sharing a common purse, worshipping of the biblical Sabbath and having a child-like faith. In a cynical world their ongoing commitment to Jesus through service, camaraderie and hands-on traditional labor is very intriguing. However many alternative groups emphasize an anti-materialistic and anti-superficialist perspective as well. Cynthia discussed diverse subjects such as: how a faith-based community stays alive, what values does their community want to share with society at large and how to find balance between engagement in the world and living out a particularistic faith tradition. Their way of life was constantly the focus of our conversation, they considered their understanding of Bible to not be an intellectual pursuit but a practical application of it. We also discussed the ongoing reinforcement of their community values, their spiritual concepts, how to keep the next generation engaged, conflict resolution and their leadership system. Although they often avoid controversial topics in what appeared to be a desire to please others, we were able to address, in a sensitive way, the legal issues their community is facing in Germany as the Youth Services of that country is involved in a custody battle for their children due to their view on corporal punishment.
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