The Move (Sam Fife) - History

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, Florida. He was a former Baptist preacher. His theology has been related to the Body of Christ movement.

According to the scholars A. James and Marcia Rudin, an earlier major theologian of the "Body of Christ" was the evangelical minister, Donald Barnhouse. He was pastor of the Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from 1927 to 1960. he used the radio to broadcast his preaching in a weekly program, Bible Study Hour.

At a time of searching by young people and social disruption, Fife's teachings inspired groups throughout United States, Canada and, later, other countries. Considered by some to be an apostle, under the concept of the Fivefold ministry, Fife attracted a group of ministers who believed his vision of the role of the church in the "end times". In the fall 1971, Fife began to preach what was referred to as the "Wilderness Message." Within a few years, thousands of his followers had moved to a number of communal farms, mostly in Alaska, Canada, and Colombia. They followed various practices in combining their resources in common.

Sam Fife wrote numerous booklets about his beliefs, which were distributed among members of The Move. He died at the age of 54 in a plane crash in Guatemala on April 26, 1979 with three of his followers in the "Body of Christ" (another name for the group). He had claimed he would never die. Another major theologian of the Body of Christ movement was Donald Barnhouse.

Following Fife's death, his teachings were carried on by other ministers in The Move, notably C.E. "Buddy" Cobb. In 1982, Cobb and others founded Covenant Life College, with sites in Whitehorse, Yukon and Fitzgerald, Georgia.

The Move's traveling ministers 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 in the early 1980s with the closing of some Move farms in British Columbia, Canada (BC). In the early 1990s some farms in northern BC attracted new members, or groups set up new sites, with some of the communes numbering over 100 people, many of them youth. For instance, Don Murphy, a Hutterite, reported on visiting Blueberry Farm in January 1994, where 140 followers of the late Sam Fife had a commune. He noted the members gave half their income to the commune and generally dressed conservatively. Members needed the leaders' permission to go into town, even if using their own cars.

This revival lasted about ten years, until people began to leave again in the late 1990s. Since then, some of the farms have closed, some are reduced in population, and some thrive.