International Churches of Christ Totally Explained

Everything about International Churches Of Christ totally explained

The International Churches of Christ, comprise autonomous, non-denominational, religiously conservative, culturally innovative, socially engaging, and racially integrated christian congregations, an offshoot from the Mainline Churches of Christ. Sometimes called the "Boston Movement" because of its original ties to the Boston Church of Christ, it's a controversial Protestant church which branched from the mainline Churches of Christ in the late 1980s under the leadership of Kip McKean. The ICOC regards the New Testament of the Bible as the supreme authority on doctrine, ecclesiastical structure, and moral beliefs – while acknowledging the historical accuracy and divine inspiration of the non-binding Old Testament – and thus claim the distinction of being "pre-denominational". International Churches of Christ generally emphasize their intent to simply be part of the original church established by Jesus Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection, which became evident on the Day of Pentecost as described in the New Testament in . Once the fastest-growing Christian movement in the United States, membership has dwindled since the unceremonious departure of McKean in 2002 and subsequent internal turmoil, with total membership falling 23% between 2002 and 2004. Even so, the ICOC still boasts nearly 100,000 members in 160 nations around the world. In the past, its aggressive recruitment methods, high commitment expectations of members, and use of "discipling" partnerships have caused some researchers, observers, and ex-members to label the organization a ‘cult,’ and it has been sanctioned or banned by 39 college campuses and the country of France. Historically church officials have been unapologetic for their energetic evangelism, believing this to be the duty of all true Christians, but have renounced any allegations of impropriety as unfounded.
In 1967, Chuck Lucas – minister of the 14th Street Church of Christ in Gainesville, Florida (later renamed the Crossroads Church of Christ) – instituted a new project known as Campus Advance (based on principles borrowed from the Campus Crusade and the Shepherding Movement). Centered on the University of Florida, this program called for a strong evangelical outreach and an intimate religious atmosphere in the form of soul talks and prayer partners. Soul talks were held in student residences and involved prayer and sharing overseen by a leader who delegated authority over group members. Prayer partners referred to the practice of pairing a new Christian with an older guide for personal assistance and direction. Both procedures led to “in-depth involvement of each member in one another’s lives,” and critics accused Lucas of fostering cultism. McKean completed his degree program while training at Crossroads and afterwards served as campus minister at several other mainline Churches of Christ locations. His most prolific commission came in 1979, when he was offered the position of pulpit and campus minister at a struggling Boston-area congregation called the Lexington Church of Christ. Under McKean’s hegemony the church – renamed ‘Boston Church of Christ’ – witnessed remarkable resurgence, growing from 30 members at the time of his arrival to 300 in just two years.
McKean believed that the true measure of a church’s value was its growth rate, and that the Churches of Christ and other ecclesiastic institutions were too lethargic in this area. Chronicler Russell Paden explains, “While [McKeanand his followers] would probably concede that there are false religions that experience growth, they'd contend that a true church of God must be experiencing growth.” Once among the fastest-growing religious movements in the country, expansion of the mainline Churches of Christ had stagnated by 1970. McKean sought to reverse this.

Growth

At the start of the 1980s, Kip McKean came up with the doctrine of “vision for the world,” which required the establishment of ‘pillar churches’ in key metropolitan centers to spread the faith globally. With this in mind, he oversaw the establishment of sister churches in Chicago and London in 1982, and in New York City one year later.
   The Boston church sent mission teams to Chicago and London in 1981, and New York shortly thereafter. The term "International Churches of Christ" was given the movement by the mainline church during the 1980s, which was characterized by ICOC church plantings and "reconstructions" of mainline Churches of Christ in the United States and elsewhere. The movement took on a more centralized structure after Kip McKean assumed leadership of the Los Angeles church in the late 1980s. In 2000, the ICOC announced the completion of its six-year initiative to establish a church in every country with a population over 100,000. This centralized structure lasted until 2002, when McKean resigned from his leadership role, and was furthered by a letter written by then-London church leader Henry Kriete pointing out shortcomings of the ICOC. Since 2003, the International Churches of Christ have no formally recognized headquarters, councils, centralized structure, or hierarchical church government, but many of them still maintain close ties with each other. Some have sought reunification with mainline churches. And, in recent years, McKean has formed another offshoot movement in Portland, Ore., which is referred to as "International Christian Churches" to distinguish it from the ICOC.
   With a strong consistent emphasis on evangelism and church-spreading – a process termed planting – membership skyrocketed, reaching 42,855 in 130 congregations by 1993 (including 15,800 members in 58 congregations overseas). Boston and New York remained the two key centers, each boasting an average Sunday morning attendance of over 5,000 parishioners. The Indianapolis Church of Christ ť This section requires more specific details, and independent references to back them up.

The first major challenge of the International Churches of Christ leadership occurred in 1994, when Ed Powers, evangelist for the Indianapolis Church of Christ, openly questioned several of the more controversial aspects of the International Churches of Christ, including mandated giving and the exclusivity doctrine of salvation. The Indianapolis Church of Christ was surpassing 1,000 in attendance at that time and was a major congregation in the Midwest region of the United States. In a special meeting of the congregation, Ed Powers challenged several of the International Churches of Christ -enforced practices which he identified as quenching the joy and spiritual health of the members of the congregation. Upon learning of this special meeting, leaders from across the United States, including Kip McKean, flew into Indianapolis and effectively split the church. As a result, there were now two congregations in Indianapolis: the newly formed Indianapolis International Church of Christ and the now-estranged and renamed Circle City Church. Ed Powers later retired from the ministry of the Circle City Church and Keith Bradbury became evangelist for the congregation." Steve Cannon currently oversees the Indianapolis International Church of Christ.
   In early 2001, some of the World Sector Leaders (Regional Evangelists directing geographic areas of churches) began to question the effectiveness of the present leadership structure as well as the qualifications of Kip and Elena McKean to continue in their global leadership role. By September, the issue had reached a head in which the majority of World Sector Leaders agreed that significant changes were necessary. In November 2001, the McKeans announced that they were stepping down from leading the Los Angeles Church of Christ in order to take a sabbatical for an unspecified amount of time in order to focus on "marriage and family issues." All of the McKeans' adult children had disassociated themselves from the movement and though this wasn't the only issue for the sabbatical, it was a visible "thorn" in Kip McKean's side.
   At this time, the International Churches of Christ administration, under the leadership of Andy Fleming (former missionary to Scandinavia and the Soviet Union), began to formulate a plan for a massive reduction in the overhead of the worldwide organization. The goal of this administrative plan was to refocus the resources of the local congregations on building up their own ministries as well as guaranteeing continued 'goodwill' in future missions contributions. By the end of 2002, the overhead had been reduced by 67%, and Fleming resigned as the Chairman of the Board.

McKean’s Resignation

In November 2002, the McKeans announced their resignations from their roles as World Mission Evangelist, Women's Ministry Leader and Leader of the World Sector Leaders. The World Sector Leaders also announced the disintegration of their leadership group with the suggestion that a new representative leadership group including evangelists, elders and teachers, be formed with an initial meeting in May 2003. McKean himself attributes the resignation to his daughter’s decision to leave the ICoC, which “along with my leadership sins of arrogance, and not protecting the weak caused uncertainty in my leadership among some of the World Sector Leaders.” Also Kip had allegedly used church funds to pay for a discipler to be his daughter's full time personal bodyguard whilst she was in university.

Aftermath and the ICOC Today

What followed was a period of increased sovereignty among local churches, what McKean calls a “reactionary ‘new vision’ of autonomous congregations, consensus leadership with no lead evangelists, the elimination structured outreach (Bible Talks) and the elimination of discipleship partners.” Many in leadership positions issued public apologies for their participation in authoritative abuses, and some resigned or were asked to leave. By 2004, Boston, Atlanta, and New York City had lost over 30% of their members, and some entire congregations severed their ties with the ICOC. Local fellowships varied in their reactions to the power vacuum. ICOC Chronicler Chris Lee asserts that three factions emerged, still extant today: a conservative group which seeks a return to the former, authoritarian structure; a moderate group that, “while they recognize that reform is necessary, feel that the current rate of reform is sufficient;” and a reformist group which advocates radical restructuring. The latter group is exemplified by Henry Kriete of the London Church of Christ, who penned an influential 2003 letter criticizing the “four systemic evils … [of] our corrupted hierarchy, [namely] our obsession with numbers, our shameful arrogance…[and] our seduction by mammon.”
According to the 2004 International Leadership Conference of affiliated churches, the ICOC no longer exists as an organization with a headquarters, structure, or hierarchy where a single church is set up over any other churches; it exists today in a diverse and decentralized state. Some churches have drastically changed their practices (and, in some cases, their names); others carry on in the traditional ICOC fashion of aggressive evangelism and total immersion,

Beginnings of Portland Movement

In 2003, Kip McKean was invited to return to Oregon’s failing Portland International Church of Christ, no longer affiliated with the ICOC.; he preached his first sermon on July 23 to a congregation of some 60-70 parishioners. Six months later, membership had doubled, and by mid-2005 an average of 425 coreligionists visited the church every Sunday. it comprises an estimated 800 members.
Bolstered by his recent successes, McKean set his sights on establishing a Portland Movement church in his former capitol city of Los Angeles. In preparation, he dispatched an anonymous email in October 2006 to Angelino ICOC members, deceptively inviting them to a ‘bible talk’ session where he attempted to recruit them to the Portland Movement. This came to the attention of ICOC leaders who responded with a letter advising members to avoid contact with McKean’s new organization. Four months later, McKean led a ‘mission team’ of 42 Portland-area parishioners to Los Angeles where they joined with fourteen local supporters to found the new City of Angels International Christian Church. The movement continues to focus heavily on recruiting from area campuses.

Church organization and services

The ICoC directly administers or partners with over a dozen organizations. Some function as appendages of the church, others are entirely unrelated in their mission and activities. Of these, the largest and most well-known is “HOPE,”a charitable foundation run by ICoC which serves as the primary beneficiary of the church’s charitable donations (though it's funded through other sources as well). Founded in London in 1986, HOPE moved to a global scale the following year. participating at its own discretion in various means of service and fellowship with other congregations.

HOPE Worldwide

HOPE worldwide is an international charity that delivers community-based services to the poor and needy. Today the organization operates on every inhabited continent and reaches more than 1,000,000 people each year.

Chemical Recovery Ministry

The goal of the Chemical Recovery Ministry is to help the addict have a hope and a future.

Other affiliated organizations

The following companies and institutions are also operated by the ICoC:

Discipleship Publications International – official ICOC publishing company, which prints mostly spiritual literature.
KNN/Disciples Today.net is a production of KNN Kingdom News Network, an Illinois non-profit religious corporation based in Chicago.)
Upside Down, the official monthly publication of the ICoC.
llumination Publishers International (IPI) - is committed to producing the very best in Christian writing and audio teaching.
FunInTheSon.org
International Missions Society, Inc. (IMS)
Florida Missions Council
Baltic Nordic Missions Alliance
Taiwan Mission Adventure
European Bible School
Athens Institute of Ministry

Institutional Description

Self-identification

Members hold to the biblical and historical belief that the church was founded by Jesus Christ, and that its doctrines and practices were established long before these other traditions, movements, structures, councils, etc. Members also don't typically consider themselves to be members of a denomination, but prefer to simply be known as "Christians" (in contrast to, for example, a Catholic Christian, a Presbyterian Christian, a Baptist Christian, etc.), with no other religious title needed or preferred. Thus, a collective group of Christians is a church of Christ.

Belief and practice

The people are saved by the grace of God through faith in Jesus.

Every individual Christian is called to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.

Every disciple must be baptized by being fully immersed under water to be saved. (Acts 2:38) In many ways, the belief-system and rituals of the International Churches of Christ are comparable to other American evangelical traditions. Members accept the virgin birth, the substitutionary atonement, the bodily resurrection of Jesus, the Holy Trinity, and the Second Coming. But despite the apparent similarities, the movement is exceptionally exclusivist, believing that it's the most ‘pure’ form of Christianity and that followers of all other faiths (including other Christian sects) won't be granted access to heaven. McKean explains, “[Weare] very fundamental in our following of the Bible, so we've convictions that are narrower than some groups about what it means to be a Christian. We don't apologize for our beliefs.”
Like the mainline Church of Christ, the ICoC recognize the Bible as the sole source of ecumenical authority, and extrapolate from it that there should only be a single, unified Christian denomination, though the ICoC goes a step further to say that there should be only one church per city or town. Both organizations accept the Nicene Creed and the necessity of baptism by immersion for spiritual salvation; neither allows infant or childhood baptism (one must first reach the “age of accountability” ). The ICoC teaches that only those “baptized as a disciple” will receive salvation.
The ICoC doesn't affirm the perpetuity of spiritual gifts, original sin, the perseverance of saints, predestination; it does acknowledge incarnation, atonement, eternal conscious punishment, the final judgment, and amillennialism. Its view on Ephesians 2:8-9, or works-based salvation, is somewhat more complex: though ostensibly denying works-based salvation, in practice “works of faith” (like baptism) are deemed requisite of salvation.

Modern disciples

Disciples are student-followers of Jesus Christ.

Practices

Sunday Worship

[[Image:BostonGardenNHL.jpg|thumb|Prior to the building’s demolition in 1998, the Massachusetts congregation held Sunday services in the Boston Garden stadium. “From an organizational standpoint, it’s a great idea,” observes Boston University Chaplain Bob Thornburg. “They put very little money into buildings…You put your money into people who get more people.”

Bible Talks

Bible Talk groups consist of some six to fifteen coreligionists who gather several times weekly. They can meet almost anywhere, including college dormitories, restaurants, and member’s houses. All are encouraged to bring at least one guest per week to these sessions, which are often promoted as low-key nondenominational Christian socials but actually designed primarily to recruit new parishioners. All new members are assigned a discipler to facilitate one-on-one training and interaction. One of the first steps in becoming a member is meeting with the discipler for a comprehensive confessional, whereby the new recruit is encouraged to reveal his or her most intimate secrets, especially those of a sexual nature. The confessor is often unaware that the outcome of this confession is recorded on a so-called ‘sin list,’ which is passed on to church leaders. Al Baird initially denied the existence of such lists in a 1993 interview, but justified their usage five months later during another interview by explaining that "the leader of the group must know his people." Some former members have claimed these sin lists were used to break reluctant prospective, and as a form of control on members.
   The leader of each congregation is referred to as an Evangelist, and the Evangelists at in the several ‘pillar churches’ outrank the others. Larger churches may have an Assistant Evangelist or some number of elders – older, married men with at least one baptized child.
   Since each city has a single church, its membership may be large and geographically disperse; if so, it was divided into regions and then sectors of perhaps a few small suburban communities, overseen by Region Leaders and Sector Leaders (known collectively as Zone Leaders). The Sector Leader was usually the lowest-tier salaried official, with those below him being volunteers only.
   This distinct structure, which defined the church’s polity for most of its history, may longer represent an accurate characterization of its actual functioning. In the years following McKean’s resignation, the central leadership was shaken and largely disbanded, and local churches have become increasingly autonomous. Some no longer report to the Los Angeles headquarters, others have ceased to collect Special Missions Contribution for the central administration. Local opinion of Kip McKean varies, with some congregations still (unofficially) supporting him and others condemning the man and his past influence on the organization, often with veracity. This includes but isn't limited to denouncing "not true, 'just religious' Christians" and that not all ex-members are not disciples (they are not "real" followers of Christ now). It was once official doctrine that only the ICOC was the "true" church; and that very few, if any, people outside the group were saved; true disciples would ultimately join the ICoC. Since the 2003 change in the leadership structure, some members and a few congregations have "admitted" that there are "true" Christians outside the ICOC, while a number of the leadership deny ever holding to the "One True Church" doctrine altogether. However, there has been no formal statement issued by high-ranking leaders declaring that any other denomination of Christianity is a "true" form of Christianity. Some members of some of the ICoC churches, however, are now trying to convert people to just plain Christianity, regardless of which church people choose to be in.

Elitist beliefs

Sometimes members of the Church referred to non-members as "in the world" and discourage interaction with these people for any purpose other than to recruit them into the church. Members have been be encouraged to go to other members businesses and remain a close knit network of "Disciples". Single members were discouraged from dating non-members.
It was standard doctrine, prior to 2003, that only members of the ICOC were saved and going to heaven, except for a "rare" individual that managed to get saved without them. Since 2003, some congregations have renounced this doctrine, while others maintain it.
While some may believe that there was a standard doctrine, the ICOC has never had any official written policy or dogma other than the Bible.

High commitment expectations for members

Though a self-admittedly immersive organization (which leaders say more closely duplicates the type of religiosity advocated by the Bible), some have argued the ICoC goes too far. Former convert Sarah Cope-Faulkner recounts, “I attended 20 meetings a week and became estranged from my family and friends. I was up at 4am for Bible study, and I spent all my time trying to please everyone.” A psychological survey of several dozen former parishioners found that almost three-quarters were told that going home to be with family, or spending time with non-members, could cause Satan to get a foothold on them; an equal number were advised to move out of present living situations to be more proximal to coreligionists. The ICoC advises that worshipers spend no more than two weeks at a time with family members.

Personality changes

It has been documented that ICoC members tend to shift towards personality type ‘ESFJ’ (one of sixteen possible types) once joining the church. McKean has suggested that this simply indicates Jesus was of this personality type. The response to McKean was that one can't apply a personality test to divinity; God, having no psychological weaknesses, would have full strength in all dimensions of personality.

Cultural, philosophical and doctrinal changes

Since late 2002/early 2003, many of the International Churches of Christ have gone in different directions. Some have chosen to stay with the distinctive International Churches of Christ characteristics and practices, whereas some have pursued reformation. Results of each course of action vary from church to church; some thrive, while others stagnate with traditional International Churches of Christ methodology, while some thrive and others stagnate, having chosen to utilize a reformed or progressive approach.
As of 2005 there are three (sometimes overlapping) groups within the International Churches of Christ. There are those who have held firmly to what has traditionally distinguished the International Churches of Christ: discipling, Bible Talks (small groups), baptism and evangelism. Other churches are gravitating toward Evangelicalism and Protestantism.
The Circle City Church (formerly the Indianapolis Church of Christ) is now an independent and non-denominational congregation, but has made several overtures to open dialog with the now largely independent congregations of the International Churches of Christ, including the Indianapolis International Church of Christ congregation.

ICOC and Churches of Christ relations

As part of the cultural, philosophical and doctrinal changes within the former International Churches of Christ (pre-2002), efforts are being made by some Progressive International Churches of Christ members to also reconcile with mainstream Churches of Christ and Independent Christian Churches/Churches of Christ. In March 2004, Abilene Christian University (affiliated with the mainline Church of Christ) held the "Faithful Conversations" dialog between members of the Church of Christ and International Churches of Christ. Those involved were able to apologize and initiate an environment conducive to building bridges. A few leaders of the Church of Christ apologized for use of the word "cult" in reference to the International Churches of Christ. The International Churches of Christ leaders apologized for alienating the Churches of Christ and implying they were not Christians. Although a better atmosphere for cooperation and understanding was generated, there are still fundamental differences within the fellowship. Early 2005 saw a second set of dialogs with greater promise for both sides helping one another. Harding University (affiliated with the mainline Church of Christ) is contemplating a distance learning program geared toward those ministers who were trained in the International Churches of Christ. However, the Worldwide Church of Christ (www.wwcoc.org) has chosen not to be affiliated with the ICOC or the mainline Church of Christ.

ICOC plan for United Cooperation

The most recent development is the effort to rebuild and restructure the overall leadership organization for the entire International Churches of Christ. Solicitations for governing structures and methods of inter-congregational relationships were requested by November 1,2005 , with the goal of completing a final proposal by February 1, 2006. This effort is seen to have a purpose only to reorganize and coordinate missionary efforts across independent organizations by the now authority-phobic churches, many of whom can trace their roots back to their old egalitarian Church of Christ days, where a major ongoing issue was opposition at almost any cost to any sort or organized, centralized "missionary society". Yet, attitudes vary from church to church as to how much authority, if any at all, the new leadership structure should possess. It seems only a small band of churches welcome the old style back, while many prefer, and wait, for a "new improved" version that could provide an overall vision for this group of churches. According to www.icocinfo.org, an independent International Churches of Christ survey group, the membership of International Churches of Christ in 2005 is 92,474, which declined 12.5% from 2004.
As of May 15,2006 a total of 343 Churches agreed to and committed to the Plan for United Cooperation.

Plan for United Cooperation document

Within the ICOC, there's a current push to have churches sign up for the "Unity Plan". This plan is in no way connected to the churches deciding to follow Kip McKean's teachings."

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