May 12th, 2025Cult, commune, movement or sect?
As always, for all manner of reasons, the shadow of the United States of America looms over the culture of the world. That’s a big statement I know and we can argue about it over dinner sometime.
Despite all predictions of its imminent demise, from our shitty social media feeds to the movies we critique, the online series we binge on, and the politics we follow, the idea of America is omnipresent.
In a post-globalised world, within the 24-hour news cycle and the sodden floating morass of opinion and perspective that passes for actual information, you will find multiple aspects of the perplexing, infuriating, compelling, impenetrable, amorphous concept of America.
No other country on earth filters through via so many lenses and I suppose that is why everyone, whether they have been there or not, have so many strident opinions on the place and I have probably been the worst offender.
So that’s why I decided, worn out slaving for The Local, that my next journey would be to that country. I did not expect to traipse the halls of power, feel its hot breath, nor oscillate around the world of the elite and famous. I simply wanted to see the USA at ground level through my own lens and form an opinion of this land via actual experience. I hope it’s worth reading. – Tony Sawrey
“Come check out Gladheart Farm,” said Elle. “They are a cult, but they make a killer sourdough and I need to stock up my cafe.”
I’m in Asheville, North Carolina visiting my niece, we have been spending the day driving around and seeing the sights, which in this part of the world is overwhelmingly the flood damage done to the city as a result of Hurricane Helene in September 2024.
But there has been enough written about that event, the focus is now on rebuilding. I didn’t want to come away from this town as just another disaster tourist and the idea of visiting a religious commune appeals to my persistent interest in weird counter-cultures.
Gladheart Farm sits on 19 acres (7.6 hectares) of land around eight kilometres from the centre of Asheville and is part of the Twelve Tribes, “an emerging spiritual nation…a confederation made up of self-governing communities…who live together in homes and on farms”.
On their website they describe themselves as “disciples of the Son of God, whom (they) call by His Hebrew name Yahshua”.
Founded by Elbert Eugene Spriggs out of Tennessee in 1972, today the group consists of 32 communities worldwide including the United States, Europe and even a house and deli in Katoomba, NSW.
We arrived at their farm at lunchtime and had the opportunity to sit down with some of the members. We entered through the kitchen where at least a dozen women of various ages were busy preparing the midday meal consisting of salad, cheesy chicken and kale/banana smoothies.
Each woman was dressed in either full length dresses or sus pants (a type of shapeless trouser with narrow ankle sleeves) and long hair kept in pigtails, often covered by scarves.
While they served us lunch, I sat and chatted with some of the men who all sported beards, and tied back hair. Ben, a former dairy farmer and ex-military who has been part of the group for two years, was happy to chat about Gladheart.
“We have several houses for families living here and communal lodging for the single men. This building serves as a meeting area for celebrations, gospel readings and our weekly pizza and film nights.”
The Twelve Tribes seeks to recreate the first-century Christian church, a period after the death of Jesus made up of men and women who knew Jesus personally and/ or witnessed his resurrection.
Their belief structure is a combination of Christian fundamentalism (also known as Bible Literalism) and Messianic Judaism including the concept of salvation by believing in Jesus or ‘Yahshua’ in Hebrew, the language of early Christendom.
Furthermore, the group gives each member a Hebrew name that is meant to reflect the personality of the individual. In more recent years, the use of Hebrew names, often interchangeable between members, has also made it very difficult for outsiders trying to track down family members within scattered Twelve Tribes communities.
Its commune-based all-things-in-common lifestyle can come across as quaint and bucolic, a throwback to the flower-power age of the 1960s, but the group is nothing if not industrious, with its various chapters engaged in all forms of businesses from bakeries and delis to construction and printing.
“Here, along with our organic produce we have Maté Factor,” explains Ben. “A facility producing herbal tea blends based on the yerba maté plant imported from Brazil and sold around the world.”
Community members young and old work unpaid in these businesses with all profits going towards sustaining the Twelve Tribes community.
Walking around Gladheart Farm, it is very easy to be seduced by what is on offer here. To think that in exchange for honest work, growing crops, tending animals and tilling the land, you can be part of a loving family, something greater than yourself. No need to worry about money, all your needs taken care of.
Cult, commune, movement or sect, my niece Elle, with her frequent visits to the community, can best sum up this desire to belong as a natural response to corruption and uncertain times.
“When individuals no longer trust the government and when they feel powerless and afraid of what the future holds, groups like the Twelve Tribes are always going to hold some sort of appeal.”
Images: Tony Sawrey
