Editing Twelve Tribes communities (section)

=== Courtship and marriage ===

[[File:Twelve Tribes Wedding 003.JPG|thumb|Twelve Tribes wedding (2009)]]
Courtship within the community involves a "waiting period"<ref name="hosts" /><ref name="Waiting">{{cite news | first=David | last=Filipov | title=Forgiven and free | date=June 28, 2009 | url =http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/06/28/religious_group_opens_its_ship_peacemaker/?page=1 | work =The Boston Globe | access-date = December 27, 2009}}</ref> in which the man or woman expresses their desire to get to know another person.<ref name="WomeninNR" /> The potential couple then receives input from the community while spending time together.<ref name="WomeninNR" /><ref name="Waiting" /> The couple is [[betrothed]] (engaged) if their parents (or the entire community, if they are adults) confirm their love and compatibility;<ref name="childNR" /><ref name="WomeninNR" /> the couple is then permitted to hold hands.<ref name="Waiting" />

Weddings are dramatized pre-enactments<ref name="Lewiscultsectsnrm">{{cite book |last=Palmer |first=Susan J. |author-link= Susan J. Palmer |editor=James R. Lewis |title=The Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects and New Religions |chapter=Messianic Communities/North East Community Church |year=1998 |publisher=Prometheus Books |location=Amherst, New York <!--|access-date=January 16, 2022--> |pages=334–335 |isbn=9781573922227 |ol=360149M}}</ref> of what the group believes will happen at the end of time when "Yahshua" returns to earth for his [[Bride of Christ|bride]].<ref name="hosts" /><ref name="WomeninNR" />