The Jesus Christians are a Christian millennialist network of intentional communities with groups on six continents, centered on a direct application of Jesus' teachings. In particular, they are known for their communal living, "forsaking all" personal possessions, "living by faith", and engaging in live altruistic organ donation to strangers; practices which have generated various controversies throughout their history.
History and controversy They were founded in Australia in 1981 by Dave and Cherry McKay, and have a three-decade-long history of controversy documented extensively by the media. Their core beliefs are based on the teachings of Jesus with special emphasis on his decree from the Sermon on the Mount, that his followers "cannot serve both God and money".
While they are often involved in volunteering and political activism their principal activity is evangelism, which they accomplish through the distribution of self-produced comics,comics books,books pamphlets, and DVDs, and via videos published on YouTube and other social media. The majority of their publications are written by their co-founder, Dave McKay.Smith, Geraldine. The Jesus Christians - World Religions and Spirituality Project - Rituals and Practices. 2019-05-25 The videos on their YouTube channel, A Voice in the Desert, were originally narrated by Dave McKay, but have since been narrated by other members of the community.
In 2010, the group announced that they had "disbanded". There was an organizational restructuring that led to the formation of independent communities, operating under different names, which maintained an affiliation with each other and with mutual collaboration on some projects. It was during this time period that some of the new communities began making YouTube videos as a way of disseminating their message.
In 2011, the community in South America launched a website, called Cómo Vivir Por Fe (How To Live By Faith) featuring Spanish translations of Jesus Christian material. In 2015, they started producing evangelistic videos for a Spanish-language Youtube channel of the same name. As of May 2023 the Cómo Vivir Por Fe YouTube channel has over 150,000 subscribers and over 11 million accumulated views on their videos.
In February 2016, some "disbanded" Jesus Christians collaborated to produce videos for the YouTube channel, End Time Survivors. Videos on the End Time Survivors YouTube channel featured anonymous presenters who faces were digitally altered or concealed with a mask. The only named presenter was "Brother Dave" who voiced the commentaries from the audio visual version of the Jesus Christian's apocalyptic novel, Survivors. Members and non-members alike participated in narrating videos on this channel. An accompanying website of the same name was also created in 2016.
The YouTube channel, 'A Voice in the Desert'A Voice in the Desert was created in October 2016. It features sermons on a broad range of Christian topics usually delivered by Dave McKay. As of May 2023, A Voice in the Desert has over 140,000 subscribers and close to 13 million accumulated views. The group, which had been limited to about 30 members worldwide, reported a dramatic increase in numbers after starting its video ministry in 2016.
In 2019, the group was profiled for inclusion in the World Religions and Spirituality Project,World Religions and Spirituality Project 2019-06-24 which provides independent academic insight into the group, its beliefs, and history.
The history and activities of the Jesus Christians over the years have been extensively documented by both the group and the mainstream media, attracting both positive and negative attention. Some older newspaper articles were reproduced on the group's website, and where these are used below this is noted in the references.
Early days
The group was started in Melbourne, Australia, by Dave and Cherry McKay when Neville Williams moved in with the McKay family in early 1981. David McKay was a former associate of the Children of God but cut ties with the group following the revelation of heretical practices such as flirty fishing. The Jesus Christians operated under several names, including Christians, The Medowie Christian Volunteers, Australian Christian Volunteers, and Voices in the Wilderness. The name 'Jesus Christians' was selected in 1996. ("A Change of Name", August, 1996)A Change of Name. Article from The Jesus Christian's website
Free work In 1983, Australian media followed members of the community who offered to do free work for one day for any family or business which requested their assistance.
Money burning In 1984, group member Boyd Ellery was sentenced to three months prison in Sydney for burning an Australian dollar note in a statement about trusting God and not money. The protest was broadcast on national television by Mike Willisee.
Messages with money In January 1985, the group glued Australian $2 notes to pavements to spell out messages against greed and money outside post offices around Victoria and New South Wales.
Christian messages also appeared written on a claimed AUS$100,000 worth of $2 notes in Sydney. The group claimed that as a result the federal police confiscated their mail until the NSW Council for Civil Liberties intervened.
Nullarbor walk
In May and June 1985, six of the youngest members of the community, 12-year-old Rachel Sukamaran, Malcolm Wrest, Roland Gianstefani, Robin Dunn, and Gary McKay, headed by 15-year-old Christine McKay, walked 1,000 miles across the Nullarbor Desert in the interior of Australia without taking any money, provisions, or support vehicle for their journey, prompting controversy and media interest. A book based on the diaries of the Nullarbor Walkers was published in 1985 by John Sands, shortly after the walk was completed. An Easy English version of the diaries was later published by New Century Book House (India) and Smashwords.
Fall of America prophecy In 1990, members of the group travelled to the United States to hand out 290,000 booklets entitled "The Fall of America"."The Fall of America" prophesying America's destruction. They wore T-shirts with an upside down American flag (as a symbol of distress) and the caption "Pride Goeth Before a Fall".
India In 1994, Rob and Christine Dunn, Gary, Dave and Cherry McKay, Ross Parry, Rachel Sukamaran, Paul, Craig, Kevin, Rols, Sue, Sinni, Liz, Boyd, Chris, Roshini, and Sheri were among Jesus Christian members who voluntarily cleaned sewers and toilets in India. After one protest, where members stood in the sewer for a week to draw attention to the filth that spread disease, Craig Hendry contracted typhoid.
In 1995, the Jesus Christians converted a section of open sewer in Chennai into a children's playground. The real estate created by covering the sewer was estimated to be worth AUD $950,000. After one year, the project was handed over to Indian charities to run; However the Indian government eventually demolished the site because it had been built on government land without permission.
Nappy Chappies / Children of God In April 1997 and 1998, several Jesus Christians were arrested at the Royal Easter Show in Sydney dressed as babies in over-sized nappies while distributing "The Baby Books", highlighting how Jesus said his followers need to become like children to enter into God's Kingdom. The introduction of the books stated "We are children of God", which led to confusion about the group being the same as the Children of God group started by David Berg. This continuing confusion can be seen in a 2013 article which uses a photograph of the "Nappy Chappies" labelled as the Children of God.
Split In 1998, there was a split in the community. Craig and Yesamma Hendry and their family, Kevin and Elisabeth McKay, Boyd and Sheri Ellery and their family, Darren and Donna Cooke, Ray Sippel, Josh, and Tim left the community in Australia. Boyd wrote to the remaining community "The Spirit you are following is not Christ's. We will have no part of your hierarchies and fleshly importance." The remaining community were "encouraged to avoid private correspondence or discussions with them..."
Kyri and Berni Sheridan In July 1999, 19-year-old Kyri Sheridan joined the Jesus Christians in the UK. His mother reported him missing to the Guildford Police in Surrey. Kyri presented himself at the Guildford police station to state that he was not actually "missing". The police confirmed Kyri was happy and making his own decision to be with the Jesus Christians. When his mother held Kyri to stop him from leaving, she was pinned down, handcuffed, and arrested by the police. This incident led to the first media report about the group in the UK, featuring comments from Graham Baldwin and labelling the group as a "cult". Alt URL
2000–2010
Bobby Kelly controversy On 14 July 2000, the group was splashed across the front page of the British tabloid Daily Express, which declared that members Susan and Roland Gianstefani had kidnapped a 16-year-old boy, Bobby Kelly. Bobby had picked up a Jesus Christians cartoon book called The Liberator in Romford High Street, Essex near the end of June 2000, and gone home to tell his grandmother about the Christian man he met. Bobby went out again that afternoon and returned to tell his grandmother he wanted to join the Jesus Christians. A few days later, "an Australian couple with their young son, a German, and two English men" from the group visited and met Bobby's grandmother. In the first two weeks of July, while Bobby was with the group and before the scandal had hit the headlines, Bobby visited his youth worker from St. Peters Anglican Church in Harold Wood. He had previously attended that church. The youth worker, David Whitehouse, told the press a week later, "The group has a veneer of respectability, but there is something very disturbing about them. When I saw Bobby a week ago, he was with three of them, and he seemed very scared, which was unlike him".
Sometime before July 14, David Whitehouse, "the family friend who helped set up the rescue effort", and "who suspected that something was wrong, and did something to try to save him" had been in contact with anti-cult "exit-counseller" Graham Baldwin, described in the media as Whitehouse's friend. Baldwin formed and directs the charity Catalyst, which helps families of people involved in groups labelled as "cults". Baldwin put Whitehouse in contact with Clare Kirby, a solicitor who "specialises in cases against cults", and who has worked with Baldwin in other cases. They then began moves to advise Bobby Kelly's grandmother to have Bobby made a ward of the court. Graham Baldwin also advised David Whitehouse to give Bobby Kelly the impression that everything was normal until the solicitor succeeded in getting the emergency High Court action to try to "rescue the schoolboy". Neither Bobby Kelly's grandmother nor any other relative or friend told him to come back home nor that there was an issue with him being with the Jesus Christians "until it was all in the newspapers".
The front page newspaper report in The Express was published two weeks after Bobby first met the Jesus Christians with the story that Bobby had "disappeared" after he met the group: "Within hours Bobby had forsaken his possessions and moved in with the group. The police were called and the airports and docks were put on the highest alert". After The Express broke the story, instead of handing the boy over to the police, the Jesus Christians with Bobby "in tow", panicked and went "on the run". The UK Jesus Christians became fugitives for two weeks.