Christian
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Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (c. 1935)
The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) is a polygamous Mormon fundamentalist organization that originated in the early 20th century following a schism with the mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS). The separation stemmed from the LDS Church’s formal renunciation of plural marriage in the 1890 Manifesto issued by… Continue reading
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Friends of the Eucharist (1998)
Friends of the Eucharist was a traditionalist religious organization founded in 1999 by Ronald J. O’Brien in Keene, New Hampshire. Before establishing the group, O’Brien was known as Ronald J. Woodruff. In 1991, he was arrested by the U.S. Secret Service for his role in a $300,000 credit-card fraud scheme and later served 13 months… Continue reading
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Freemen (1993)
The Freemen, also known as the Montana Freemen, were an anti-government Christian Patriot militia that emerged in 1993, operating from a foreclosed 960-acre farm outside the town of Jordan, Montana. The group declared the property to be “Justus Township” and proclaimed themselves “sovereign citizens” who were exempt from outside laws, taxes, and government authority. Drawing… Continue reading
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Freeman Group (c. 1960)
A religious movement centered around Bill and Patsy Freeman originated in the late 1950s and evolved over several decades into an independent fundamentalist Christian organization. Bill and Patsy Freeman married as teenagers in 1956 and initially left Bill Freeman’s Roman Catholic upbringing to join a Quaker congregation in Garden Grove, California. By the late 1960s,… Continue reading
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Freedomites (1902)
The Freedomite movement, historically known as the Svobodniki or the Sons of Freedom, originated as a radical faction within the Doukhobor community in Canada during the early 20th century. The Doukhobors began migrating from the Russian Empire to Canada in 1898 to escape religious persecution and preserve their pacifist, communal way of life. By 1902,… Continue reading
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Foursquare Church (1923)
The International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, commonly known as the Foursquare Church, is a global Pentecostal Christian denomination within the evangelical tradition. Founded in January 1923 by Canadian-born evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson, it grew from a single congregation at the Angelus Temple in Los Angeles into an international movement. Its history has been shaped… Continue reading
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Four Winds Commune (c. 1980)
The Four Winds Commune was a religious sect founded and led by Lucille Poulin, a former Roman Catholic nun and registered nurse. Operating from the early 1980s until its dissolution in the 2000s, the group became the subject of child welfare investigations, criminal proceedings, and public scrutiny because of its insular structure and disciplinary practices.… Continue reading
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Foundation of Human Understanding (1961)
The Foundation of Human Understanding was founded in Los Angeles in 1961 by Roy Masters. Born Reuben Obermeister on April 2, 1928, to a Jewish family of diamond cutters in London, Masters worked as a diamond expert in England, South Africa, and Belgium before immigrating to the United States in 1949. During his early adulthood,… Continue reading
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Followers of Christ (c. 1880)
The Followers of Christ is a small independent Christian denomination with congregations in Oklahoma, Oregon, Idaho, and Alberta. The church was founded in Chanute, Kansas, around 1880 by Marion Reece, emerging from the Holiness Pentecostal tradition, emphasizing a literal interpretation of the Bible. Leadership later passed to Elder John Marshall Morris and his son, Marion… Continue reading
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First Family Church (1996)
First Family Church was a Southern Baptist megachurch established in Overland Park, Kansas, in 1996 when its founder and senior pastor, Jerry Johnston, liquidated nearly $200,000 in assets from his debt-free organization, Jerry Johnston Ministries, to launch the new church. During its early years, the congregation operated out of 11 different rental facilities, including local… Continue reading
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Fellowship of the Martyrs (2004)
Doug Perry was born in Missouri in 1967 and spent part of his childhood in Mexico in a missionary family. He later returned to Missouri, earned a master’s degree in education, and built a business in Kansas City. On November 23, 2004, he described a turning point in which he prayed to oppose Satan regardless… Continue reading
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Family Radio (1958)
Harold Camping was born on July 19, 1921, in Boulder, Colorado, and was raised in the Christian Reformed Church. He earned a degree in civil engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1942, and worked as an engineer for a government contractor for the duration of World War II. After the war, he established… Continue reading
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Faithful Word Baptist Church (2005)
The Faithful Word Baptist Church was founded on Christmas Day 2005 by Steven Lee Anderson. The church identifies as an independent, literalist church that exclusively uses the King James Version of the Bible. It initially operated from an office space in a strip mall that also housed Anderson’s fire alarm installation business. By 2015, the… Continue reading
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Faith Temple Church of the Apostolic Faith (c. 2000)
The Faith Temple Church of the Apostolic Faith was founded in a Milwaukee strip mall by David Hemphill with a focus on the belief that behavioral challenges and developmental disorders are due to demonic possession. It conducted deliverance and spiritual healing ceremonies intended to cast out demons, drawing on biblical passages such as Matthew 12:43.… Continue reading
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Faith Tabernacle Congregation (1897)
The Faith Tabernacle Congregation is a fundamentalist Christian sect founded in Philadelphia around the turn of the 20th century. In its early years, the church’s rejection of modern medicine was viewed by some observers as a practical response to the economic realities faced by working-class families. Early church publications, including “Sword of the Spirit,” featured… Continue reading
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Faith Christian Church (1990)
Faith Christian Church (FCC) is a religious organization founded in 1990 in Tucson, Arizona, that has been described as a cult. The church emerged following the collapse of the Tucson chapter of Maranatha Christian Church, a campus ministry network that disbanded amid allegations of authoritarian practices and institutional misconduct. Since its founding, FCC has been… Continue reading
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Exodus International (1976)
Exodus International was a Christian organization founded in 1976 that became the leading organization within the “ex-gay” movement. Exodus maintained that through prayer, pastoral counseling, and reparative therapy, individuals could change or suppress their sexual orientation. By 2006, the organization served as an administrative network for more than 250 local ministries across the United States… Continue reading
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Exclusive Brethren (1848)
The Exclusive Brethren are a separatist branch of the Plymouth Brethren movement that emerged following a schism around 1848. The split divided the original movement into two groups: the Open Brethren and the Exclusive Brethren. The dispute centered on church authority and discipline. The Open Brethren supported the autonomy of individual congregations, while the Exclusive… Continue reading
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Evangelical Pentecostal Church of Besançon (1963)
The Evangelical Pentecostal Church of Besançon, now known as the Evangelical Church The Mission of Besançon, was founded in December 1963 in the Franche-Comté region of eastern France. Aldo Benzi established the congregation after what he described as a personal conversion experience linked to a recovery from pleurisy that he considered miraculous. Benzi served as… Continue reading
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Evangelical Baptist Church of Korea (1962)
The Evangelical Baptist Church of Korea, popularly known as the “Salvation Sect,” was established in 1962 by Yoo Byung-eun and his father-in-law, Kwon Shin-chan. Despite adopting the Baptist name, the group maintained no formal connection to the Korea Baptist Convention. Its theology held that once an individual was saved, they were permanently separated from future… Continue reading
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Evangelical Association of the Israelite Mission of the New Universal Covenant (1968)
The Evangelical Association of the Israelite Mission of the New Universal Covenant (Spanish: Asociación Evangélica de la Misión Israelita del Nuevo Pacto Universal, AEMINPU) is a religious and political movement founded in Peru in 1968. Commonly known as the Israelitas, the group combines elements of Old Testament law, Incan traditions, and a communal agricultural system.… Continue reading
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Ethnos360 (1942)
Ethnos360, formerly known as New Tribes Mission (NTM), is an international evangelical Christian organization founded in 1942 and based in Sanford, Florida. Its mission focuses on reaching indigenous groups that do not have access to the Bible in their native languages. The organization operates in regions including Latin America, West Africa, Southeast Asia, and the… Continue reading
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Endtime Ministries (1991)
Endtime Ministries, headquartered in Plano, Texas, is a Pentecostal Christian organization established in 1986 by Irvin Baxter Jr. The ministry focuses on biblical prophecy and eschatology, interpreting contemporary global political developments as fulfillments of scripture. Baxter, a former pastor at Oak Park Church in Richmond, Indiana, founded the organization after years of study of the… Continue reading
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End Time Ministries/Mountaintop Ministries Worldwide (1984)
End Time Ministries, which has also been called Meade Ministries and is now known as Mountaintop Ministries Worldwide, was established in 1984 by Charles Meade. Meade was born in 1916 to a farming family in Kentucky. He later claimed to have served on the front lines of World War II, but official service records do… Continue reading
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Elijah’s Ten Commandments Stone Kingdom (1980)
The organization now known as Elijah’s Ten Commandments Stone Kingdom was founded in 1980 by Park Myung Hoo under the name World Elijah Evangelical Mission. A Chinese Korean leader, Park structured the group around a five-level hierarchy consisting of God, Angel, General Secretary, Chief, and Director. The movement was defined early on by Park’s claim… Continue reading