[1] At a time of searching by young people and social disruption, Fife's teachings inspired groups throughout the 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 1963 in Miami, FL, Sam Fife received what he considered a true, divine relegation after which he began preaching and started groups around the country.
The groups began to move to wilderness locations for the coming of the end of the world including Alaska, Canada and South America.
In the early 1990s, by contrast, 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.
Don Murphy, a Hutterite, reported on visiting Blueberry Farm in January 1994, where 140 adherents of the late Sam Fife's teachings ran a community.
He was favorably impressed by the outlook and spiritual vitality of the communities in British Columbia, writing, "It seems to me that these people probably are like the Hutterites were at the time of Jacob Hutter and Peter Reidemann - very strong in faith and close to God."
Some ex-members have criticized The Move, and reported suffering physical, sexual and psychological abuse at the hands of its leaders and elders while they were still involved with this group.
Four members wrote an open letter to the ministry of The Move, which they published on the internet in order to publicize the abuses that allegedly had occurred there.
[6] Reports have been made of financial exploitation in the form of work without pay and encouragement for members to turn over life savings to The Move.
As one observer said, "Alongside that word was a revelation of 'Christ in you,' with a vision of overcoming all things, but through the last several years before I left that fellowship, 'doing what He says' had triumphed over 'Christ revealed in us.
'"[7] Sam Fife's vision and teaching on what he called Divine Order became the guiding principle that characterized the Move's authority structure.
At these conventions, several hundred people meet for several days in order to praise and worship God, and listen to the preaching of the elders in the traveling ministry.
Conventions have been held in Bowens Mill, Georgia; Lubbock, Texas; Shepherd's Inn, British Columbia; Upsala, Ontario, and various other locations throughout the world.
Critics say that although The Move teaches that everyone is free to hear from and be led by God, in practice the actions of its members must be approved by the local ministry.
[12][13] An episode of People Magazine Investigates: Cults features ex-member Cara Cobb and Move child abuse survivors Priscilla Roberts and Richard Kiers.