Greetings. My participation here comes from almost a year of visiting this site and reflecting on our common experience. I have much respect for some of the philosophies and pedagogic tools developed by the OE and ICA . But I do believe that there needs to be consideration for all of our diverse viewpoints about those experiences, especially for those of the Children of the Order. I know and have great respect for many of the registered users on this wiki site.

I have been thinking about how best to talk with my father about my experiences, and I know any discussion that I initiate would be done with profound love. And I offer that here too. With love, but respect for my piece of the collective truth about the Order.

I experienced Emerging Generation Structures throughout the late sixties and seventies in 5th City, Kemper, Kuala Lumpur, Milwaukee, Washington DC and the Student House. I went to 3 summer camps, the first of which, Camp New Jerusalem 1971, in New Orleans, was one of the deepest traumatic experiences of my life. I was also part of the junior staff at two other camps. I was part of the high school youth collectives in Canyo Negro, Bananarias, Houston and Kansas City.

I realize after reading some of the material on this website, that my understanding of the formation of the Order may not be completely accurate. But the majority of this content is valid based on my own memories of my experience and the interactions with other Children of the Order. My Parents are Margynel (whom passed away in January 2001) and Kjell Knutsen. I post this because I can see no other form of communication from other second generation about our collective experience.

I do so in the hope that other 1st generation (those who chose to join for the first time as adults) might understand the consequences of their actions on their children a little bit better. And I hope this might inspire new conversations between parents and children of the Order.

Please feel free to email me at reinardk@yahoo.com if you would like a response.

My Life in Cults, Part 1: The Order (Written in 2007)

I have lived with or participated in four distinct groups that could be, and are considered to be, cults by many people. Cult – zealous devotion to a person, ideal or thing. (Funk & Wagnalls dictionary) The first of course is the Order.

When I meet some one and describe my upbringing (There is always some kind of discussion of where we are from) I don’t always give a detailed description unless the person I am talking to is very interested. I usually might say something like:

I grew up in a religious community that many, including others who lived or grew up in it, consider to be a cult. It was called the “Order” and it was started and led in the 60’s and 70’s by a charismatic Christian theologian, Joe Mathews, who began a commune with some of his students in Texas to create a kind of religious community that he believed was at the core of Jesus’ teachings. This included the belief that community members should live together when possible, share their resources, study and discuss intently issues and religious thought with emphasis on experiential learning and that the community’s aim should be on helping other disenfranchised people. They also wanted to change the established church to make it more responsive to a new revolutionary interpretation of the gospels.

While this might be a good ideal, it was manifested in many ways, some of which, became corrupt and were harmful for the children that were part of the Order. My parents joined when I was 2 ½ years old.

Soon, there were enough members that they bought a dilapidated convent in a west side black ghetto of Chicago and began to work with communities outside of the commune. They created two fronting non-profit organizations, The secular Institute of Cultural Affairs, to start doing workshops and trainings in the community and the Ecumenical Institute to work with churches. Order members staffed the ICA and EI. They began communes that they called Religious Houses and Human Development Projects around the world. The Chicago commune became an international headquarters for this network.

My parents who were also Methodist missionaries in Malaysia started the first commune or religious house in Malaysia in the late 60’s. They began to live somewhat of a double life as missionaries for an established church and as members of this more radical religious community.

In it’s heyday, during the mid and late 70’s there were probably 3,000 – 5,000 Order members. The Chicago commune housed around 300 people and more would come during the summers for meetings and planning. There were up to 500 children who either were born into the order or their parents joined while they were young. By the time I was 8, all of my older brothers were sent to different communes around the world.

Joe died in 78 and there was no charismatic leader to take his place. There appeared to be a lot of infighting and turf wars between the communes and the committee style leadership in Chicago with many differing opinions of ways to move forward. Without Joe’s strong spiritual cohesiveness, there was a struggle between the hardcore religious members and those who felt there should be a more secular manifestation in order to work more effectively in the diverse communities around the globe they were already established in.

Part of the religious philosophy of the Order was in performing daily ceremonies and rituals. We would get up at 5 every morning for a ceremony that usually lasted ½ an hour and then there would be rituals throughout the day and before each meal. They also wanted to reconstruct the role of the family. It was touted as a family order and parents with children were encouraged to join. By doing so the parents gave up some control of their children and the children were many times left in the care of adults who did not have their best interest at heart. They wanted to the Order to be one big family where everyone shared the responsibility of raising the kids.

There was abuse, physically, sexually and mentally. Not all kids experienced this, but enough that it has continued to impact hundreds of peoples lives, and many have dealt with the trauma through addictions and therapy. Some continue to be confronted with the trauma and are still trying to deal with it and heal from it. We have an ongoing support group of second-generation Order members who communicate through newsletters, emails and reunions.

One of the ways’s the Order attempted to reconstruct the family was by creating a tradition where the children were taken away from their parents after sixth grade. (I never lived with my parents after I was 11 until I was an adult and lived a couple of times with my mother.) They were gathered in Chicago and sent on a 6th grade trip together that usually involved some kind of rite of passage ceremony, and then they were kept in Chicago for two – three years for an intensive brainwashing type program in community living called the student house. As in any situation where 7th and 8th graders and in the early years 9th graders are kept against their will there is going to be a lot of rebellion and this was sometimes dealt with very harshly through physical punishment and beatings.

When I went through this, we were assigned to a third world country for our “deployment year”. I spent this year in Brazil. Then I was brought back to the U.S. and lived first in a commune in Houston with what they called a youth cluster or a group of high school students that were assigned to live together and be part of the mission of the commune. I was there for a year and ½ and then when after a bad car accident I started to have serious drug and alcohol problems and I quit school, I was sent to another smaller commune in Kansas City where I eventually graduated from high school and left the Order as soon as I turned 18.

My Mother and my older brothers continued to live in the Order until the early 90’s. The Order continued to lose members but the ICA kind of maintained its own life. Eventually the order was dissolved and the ICA became a loose network of nonprofit projects around the world. It still continues in a much smaller manner.

I am happy that I reached a place of peace and love with my mother about the Order before she passed away. She asked for and received my forgiveness, so that we could celebrate her life.

I continue to reflect and try to understand my past. While some parts were horrible, I have tried to take what good I can from the experiences I have had. I am relatively happy with who I am (still working on creating the perfect me) and feel that I am who I am and am on the path I am on because of my past – so if the present is good, then the past must have some good as well

-- ReinardKnutsen - 09 Mar 2008