Cultic Studies Journal, Volume 17, 2000, Page 45
for the group‘s child care literature to publish an official internal memorandum stating, ―‗we
do not agree to adults having sexual contact with children‘‖ (quoted in Chancellor, 2000:
20). Despite having identified these abuses, the author diminishes the impact that they
likely had on the youth who were victimized by concluding, ―Family leadership and the
individuals who orchestrated the whole TTC affair seem genuinely repentant (Chancellor,
2000: 240).
Background to the Teen Training Camps and Victor Program
Some information exists about why Family leadership initiated both the Teen Training
Camps and the Victor program, and undoubtedly several factors facilitated their
appearance. By the mid-to-late-1980s, the group had a cohort of children in or approaching
their teenage years, and it seems likely (even from the name of the Victor program) that
many teens lacked the enthusiasm of their parents. A Family publication from the mid-
1980s, for example, indicated:
Many of the couples who had married during the early years of the Children
of God era had adolescent children and, as is natural at that age, those
young teenagers were encountering serious questions about life and the
world around them as they searched for their identities and that, of course,
held new challenges for Family parents (quoted in Ward, 1995: 135).
This statement portrayed the problem of the second generation as a ―natural‖ process
related to age, and it specifically avoided identifying the ―serious questions about life‖ that
the teens were having. Apparently, however, the Mexican Teen Training Camp of 1986
contained a large number of disillusioned teens (Ward, 1995: 135).
Additional insight about the crisis of the second generation came from information that one
of the Victor program‘s designers provided to Lord Justice Ward:
By 1988 there was so much concern about the difficulties in various field
homes being experienced with the Jett [Junior End-Time Teens] age (11 to
13 years), that a council of people was called. It had become apparent that
some of the teenagers did not have the same commitment to the way of life
of The Family as their parents (it [sic] wasn‘t so much that they didn‘t have
the same beliefs as their parents, they probably did, but they didn‘t share
the same enthusiasm and commitment and many of them [were] bored and
felt there was no challenge in their life [sic] and nothing to do.) We felt that
the solution lay in providing for the teenagers the sense of enthusiasm that
we had when we first joined the Children of God in the early ‗70s to bring
[to] them a sense of excitement and adventure and to enlarge their vision
and the goals of what it means to be in [T]he [F]amily, and that is basically
what we try to do with the Victor programme (quoted in Ward, 1995: 163).
While this Family member gave a positive interpretation of her organization‘s creation of the
Victor program, a Family publication suggested that, in some cases, the resistance of the
young to the lifestyles of their parents had become pronounced. Indeed, a 1991 Family
publication by Maria (entitled ―Jett/Teen Discipleship Revolution Needed Now‖) concluded,
―we have a big worldwide emergency with all our Jetts ...‖ (Quoted in Ward, 1995: 168).
Hints at the depth of this resistance appeared in a 1990 Family publication, which indicated
that ―a number of teens‖ required special supervision. One can suppose that Family
leadership believed these young people were on paths leading out of the organization, so
their attitudes, views, and behaviors were causing problems for other teens (and possibly
for their parents or guardians). A Family document put it this way:
for the group‘s child care literature to publish an official internal memorandum stating, ―‗we
do not agree to adults having sexual contact with children‘‖ (quoted in Chancellor, 2000:
20). Despite having identified these abuses, the author diminishes the impact that they
likely had on the youth who were victimized by concluding, ―Family leadership and the
individuals who orchestrated the whole TTC affair seem genuinely repentant (Chancellor,
2000: 240).
Background to the Teen Training Camps and Victor Program
Some information exists about why Family leadership initiated both the Teen Training
Camps and the Victor program, and undoubtedly several factors facilitated their
appearance. By the mid-to-late-1980s, the group had a cohort of children in or approaching
their teenage years, and it seems likely (even from the name of the Victor program) that
many teens lacked the enthusiasm of their parents. A Family publication from the mid-
1980s, for example, indicated:
Many of the couples who had married during the early years of the Children
of God era had adolescent children and, as is natural at that age, those
young teenagers were encountering serious questions about life and the
world around them as they searched for their identities and that, of course,
held new challenges for Family parents (quoted in Ward, 1995: 135).
This statement portrayed the problem of the second generation as a ―natural‖ process
related to age, and it specifically avoided identifying the ―serious questions about life‖ that
the teens were having. Apparently, however, the Mexican Teen Training Camp of 1986
contained a large number of disillusioned teens (Ward, 1995: 135).
Additional insight about the crisis of the second generation came from information that one
of the Victor program‘s designers provided to Lord Justice Ward:
By 1988 there was so much concern about the difficulties in various field
homes being experienced with the Jett [Junior End-Time Teens] age (11 to
13 years), that a council of people was called. It had become apparent that
some of the teenagers did not have the same commitment to the way of life
of The Family as their parents (it [sic] wasn‘t so much that they didn‘t have
the same beliefs as their parents, they probably did, but they didn‘t share
the same enthusiasm and commitment and many of them [were] bored and
felt there was no challenge in their life [sic] and nothing to do.) We felt that
the solution lay in providing for the teenagers the sense of enthusiasm that
we had when we first joined the Children of God in the early ‗70s to bring
[to] them a sense of excitement and adventure and to enlarge their vision
and the goals of what it means to be in [T]he [F]amily, and that is basically
what we try to do with the Victor programme (quoted in Ward, 1995: 163).
While this Family member gave a positive interpretation of her organization‘s creation of the
Victor program, a Family publication suggested that, in some cases, the resistance of the
young to the lifestyles of their parents had become pronounced. Indeed, a 1991 Family
publication by Maria (entitled ―Jett/Teen Discipleship Revolution Needed Now‖) concluded,
―we have a big worldwide emergency with all our Jetts ...‖ (Quoted in Ward, 1995: 168).
Hints at the depth of this resistance appeared in a 1990 Family publication, which indicated
that ―a number of teens‖ required special supervision. One can suppose that Family
leadership believed these young people were on paths leading out of the organization, so
their attitudes, views, and behaviors were causing problems for other teens (and possibly
for their parents or guardians). A Family document put it this way:
