New religious movements are often described as bizarre and sinister. Direct acquaintance, however, often gives a different impression from media portrayals and even from some academic writing. After decades of undertaking fieldwork, the author George Chryssides discusses his experiences, as well as studies by other scholars, and the issues that fieldwork involves. How do one's personal beliefs and lifestyle impinge on field research? How involved should a participant–observer become? How should we assess what we are told by insiders and ex-members? What ethical problems does field research create? How should we engage in online fieldwork, arising from the increasing use of the Internet, accelerated by the Covid pandemic? These are among the issues which this Element explores, and which will be of interest both to field researchers and to those who read about the fieldwork of others.

The Family International (formerly the Children of God) emerged from the radical fringe of the Jesus People Movement in the late 1960s to establish a new religious movement with communities in ninety countries. Characterized from its early days by controversy due to its unconventional version of Christianity, countercultural practices, and high level of tension with society, the Family International created a communal society that endured for four decades. The movement's reinvention in 2010 as an online community offers insights into the dynamic nature of new religious movements, as they strategically adapt to evolving social contexts and emergent issues, and the negotiations of belief and identity this may entail. The Family International's transformation from a radical communal movement to a deradicalized virtual community highlights the novel challenges alternative religions may face in entering the mainstream and attaining legitimacy within the increasingly globalized context of online information dissemination in virtual spaces.