Q. How can other patriarchs already living Christian polygamy, or who are interested in living this principle, in Europe, get together for fellowship and to discuss problems? Would you be willing to help us out?
This is not so easy given that the non-Moslem polygamous community in Europe is rather small and is of widely divergent beliefs. And whilst there are lots of polygamous Moslems in Europe, we frankly have little in common with them. They have their own communities with values very different from our own.
We have had the occasional visitor here in the past, including one fundamentalist Mormon from Berlin, Germany, whom we managed to convert away from Mormonism but thereafter he decided to pursue his career and abandon his original intent to enlarge his family. Most of the polygamists that we know, or have known, have either wanted to lie low (like one family in Sweden living in the north of the country) or are just salacious curiosity seekers (like one man we know of in Denmark). The former has avoided us and we have avoided the latter.
There was a time (in 2003) when we had thought to form the First European Christian Polygamy Centre but decided not to go ahead with that project. Part of the problem was that we wanted to get to know people well before inviting them to meet with us in order to sift out the curiosity-seekers and sensation-mongering journalists. We have always refused to talk to the press and will continue that policy.
It's a little different in the United States where many polygamists have gone public but then they exist in larger numbers there. We have opted therefore to remain 'underground' and intend to keep it that way. We have had to turn down a number of offers for meetings in the past because we weren't satisfied with the degree of committment from the parties concerned. Frankly we have only been interested in getting to know those who are clearly born again, have a passion for Christ and share a similar vision to ourselves.
There was some very negative publicity in Britain around 1999 when a fundamentalist Mormon splinter-group from Manti, Utah, that practices polygamy, visited that country, and once again gave the public the erroneous idea that polygamy was something 'Mormon' rather than Christian or Messianic. There are non-Moslem polygamists in Britain but many are LDS.
Our policy, as I have stated elsewhere, is not to give undue attention to polygamy as something 'separate', especially not in Europe, but to treat it as a natural extension of the mission field and kingdom-building mandate generally. That is why we are no longer a polygamy 'ministry' though we are happy to educate through articles. Polygamy is, in many countries, both regarded as natural and, in the case of Kenya, now legal (2016). I doubt any such comparable status will be enjoyed in Europe or in the West generally in the future.
So unless there is a very clear move of the Spirit to bring polygamous families together for fellowship (and whatever Yahweh wills is good enough for me) apart from evangelism and congregation-building then as far as my family is concerned it is unlikely we will be involved in such activity. I frankly don't know who to point you to at this time. If you want to write to me you can get in contact viā our parent body and your message will be passed on to me. I can't promise that I'll answer you, though, unless the Spirit prompts me to do so...
Author: SBSK
