Jane Whaley, the daughter of a plumber and a homemaker in rural North Carolina, led the group as it grew to a membership of 750.[when?]
The group later added almost 2,000 followers in related churches in Brazil, Ghana, Scotland, Sweden and other countries.
In Brazil, missionary John Martin started Ministerio Verbo Vivo (Live Word) near Belo Horizonte in 1987 after serving as pastor of a Baptist church.
[12] Children in the Fellowship are isolated, monitored and controlled closely by the church, being educated in the church-controlled school, and prevented from watching television under threat of punishment.
[15] In 1995, Jane and Sam Whaley denied allegations made by several former members of the TV program Inside Edition.
[16] The church was investigated by the SBI in the 1990s for child abuse, after more than 40 former members gave testimony to the Forest City Daily Courier and other news outlets as to their experiences in the Fellowship.
In 2000, a woman testifying in a child custody case said her one-year-old son was subjected to "blasting", or standing in a circle and loudly praying, sometimes for hours, in order to "drive out demons".
Anderson stated he was frequently sent to a storage area called the green room, and one former member said he was "brutally paddled" after incidents where other children told on him for the minor offenses in school.
"[20] An Associated Press investigation included interviews with 43 former members, who told stories of physical abuse resulting in injuries which were not treated, families being separated, and males being held prisoner in a former storage building for as long as a year.
Former members described being afraid to leave the church or even oppose Whaley for fear of public reprimand or worse.
[1] In 2017, Matthew Fenner testified that, after he and his family joined the church in 2010, he witnessed members being shouted at for hours to remove "demons".
Because the jury foreman shared documents that were not supposed to be made public, Superior Court Judge Gary Gavenus declared a mistrial and a new trial was scheduled for September 11, 2017.
Robert Walker was scheduled to appear in court in October but his case and those of Sarah Anderson, Adam Bartley, and Justin Covington were moved to January 2018.
[23] A month later on June 19, 2017, Matthew Fenner's grandfather Robert Marvin Rape was found dead in his yard from a gunshot wound to the chest.
With the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation's assistance, District Attorney Ted Bell determined the death was a suicide.
Some young people were taken to the United States and allegedly required to work at the church or companies owned by members.
[25] Pastors of the Rhema church told Folha de S.Paulo that the claims were "many lies and distorted facts.
Fields said Jane Whaley told him to take fraudulent actions to keep giving 10 percent of his income to the church, calling this "God's plan."
[29] Minister Kent Covington was sentenced to 34 months in prison in April 2019 for conspiracy to commit mail fraud.
[33] In September 2024, the New York Times reported that a group of women members of the church volunteer at campaign events for presidential candidate Donald Trump.
In July 2024, members of the church also held a fundraiser for North Carolina gubernatorial Republican nominee Mark Robinson[34]