The group began when Freytag started publishing his own personal views and sent to the Bible Students The Message of Laodicea in which he claimed he was the legitimate successor of Charles Taze Russell. Therefore, he was ousted from the Watch Tower Society by Joseph Rutherford in 1920. He published two journals, the monthly The Monitor of the Reign of Justice and the weekly Newspaper for All. In Italy, the first community was founded in 1946 in Turin by Sebastiano Chiardola. When Freytag died in 1947, one of his followers, Bernard Sayerce, a Roman Catholic schoolteacher, claimed he was his successor. Almost all of the 900 French and Belgian assemblies joined this new group which had a peak of 9,700 members between 1958 and 1962. In 1963, Lydie Sartre, who was named the "Dear Mom", then Joseph Neyrand in 1971, replaced Sayerce as leaders of the movement, named "Amis sans frontières" in 1984.
Beliefs and practices
The movement theology includes Christian doctrines of restorationism and millennialism. Its beliefs can be found in Freytag's writings: The Divine Revelation, The Message to Humanity and The Eternal Life. The movement stresses the need to change the character by practicing the Gospel. Members believe that only 144,000 persons, who are the Kingdom of God's members, will go to heaven. They are antitrinitarian and believe in a sole God, Jehovah. They are vegetarian. In 1951 the movement turned increasingly to philanthropy: help for disadvantaged, disaster relief and material donations for farmers. They celebrate the feast of the Army of the Lord on 18 April and the feast of the little flock on 18 October. The weekly four meetings are largely devoted to study of the founder's writings. Baptism and the Last Supper are celebrated only within the Swiss branch, not in France.
Organization
The movement was later under the leadership of Édouard Rufener, then Marie Roulin, then Mr. Kohli. An elder oversees a community. The main headquarters are in Cartigny, Switzerland. In France, the national headquarters were located in rue Amelot, in the 11th arrondissement of Paris, with a strong influence in the south-west, before moving to Les Ormeaux, in Lot-et-Garonne. Every year, there are one or two congresses composed of speeches, artistic galas and concerts. Regional meetings are also organized in European countries as well as in non European countries such as Algeria and Morocco. The 71,500 members are active in twenty countries, including Switzerland, Germany, France, Belgium, UK, U.S., Mexico, Brazil, Canada, Australia, but particularly in Italy.
