International Churches of Christ: Difference between revisions
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{{Short description|Group of Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement Christian churches}} |
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{{dablink|This article is about the denomination known as "International Churches of Christ." For other churches that have the words "Church" and "Christ" in their name, see [[Church of Christ (disambiguation)]].}} |
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{{Multiple issues| |
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{{Third-party|date=September 2023}} |
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{{Unreliable sources|date=September 2023}} |
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{{COI|date=September 2023}} |
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}} |
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{{Use American English|date=September 2018}} |
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{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2014}} |
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{{Infobox Christian denomination |
{{Infobox Christian denomination |
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| name = International Churches of Christ |
| name = International Churches of Christ |
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| image = International Church of Christ worship.jpg |
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| image = |
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| imagewidth = 250px |
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| caption = An International Church of Christ worship service |
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| main_classification = [[Protestant]] |
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| main_classification = [[Protestant]]<ref name="Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Protestant Reformation">“Though some in the Movement have been reluctant to label themselves Protestants, the Stone-Campbell Movement is in the direct lineage of the Protestant Reformation. Especially shaped by Reformed theology through its Presbyterian roots, the Movement also shares historical and theological traits with Anglican and Anabaptist forebears." Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, "Protestant Reformation", in ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, Churches of Christ'', Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004, {{ISBN|0-8028-3898-7}}, {{ISBN|978-0-8028-3898-8}}</ref> |
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| orientation = [[Evangelical]] <small><ref name="ARDA">{{Cite web|url=http://www.thearda.com/mapsReports/reports/US_2000.asp|title=Religious Affiliations, 2000|accessdate=2007-12-11|publisher=The Association of Religion Data Archives|year=2006|work=U.S. Membership Report}}</ref><small> |
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|orientation=[[Restoration Movement|Restorationist]]|polity=[[Congregationalist polity|Congregationalist]]| separated_from = |
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| polity = [[Episcopal polity|Episcopal]] <small><ref name="ARDA" /><small> |
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| associations = {{Plain list| |
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| founder = [[Kip McKean]] |
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* HOPE Worldwide<ref name="hopeww.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.hopeww.org/|title=HOPE worldwide|publisher=hopeww.org|access-date=29 June 2006|archive-date=1 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220401210818/https://www.hopeww.org/|url-status=live}}</ref> |
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| founded_date = [[1979]] [[June 1]] |
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* Disciples Today<ref name="ReferenceB"/> |
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| founded_place = [[Lexington]], [[MA]] |
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* IPI Books<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ipibooks.com/|title=IP > Featured Items|publisher=ipibooks.com|access-date=28 August 2007|archive-date=30 August 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070830160752/http://www.ipibooks.com/|url-status=live}}</ref> |
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| separated_from = |
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}} |
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| parent = [[Churches of Christ]] |
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| area = Global (144 nations)<ref>{{cite web | url=https://icocco-op.org/church-list | title=Leadership | date=14 March 2024 | access-date=28 November 2023 | archive-date=8 December 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231208163318/https://icocco-op.org/church-list/ | url-status=live }}</ref>{{better source needed|date=May 2024}} |
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| merger = |
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| website = [http://www.disciplestoday.org International Churches of Christ] |
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| separations = [[Portland Movement]] |
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| associations = |
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| area = global (159 nations) |
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| congregations = 543 (''2005'') |
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| members = 95,751 (''2005'') |
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| footnotes = ICoC official statistics<ref name="stats" /> |
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New Religious Movements<ref name="virginia">{{Cite web | url=http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/icc.html|title=International Churches of Christ, a.k.a. Boston Church of Christ|accessdate=2007-07-08|publisher=University of Virginia|year=[[2001]] [[April 23]|author=Justin Cooke|work=New Religious Movements}}</ref> |
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}} |
}} |
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The '''International Churches of Christ''', sometimes called the '''Boston Movement''' because of its original ties to the Boston Church of Christ,<ref>[http://www.aucklandchurch.com/ Central Auckland Church of Christ "Boston Movement" ]</ref><ref>[http://www.bostoncoc.org/about.htm Boston Church of Christ "About Us" ]</ref> is a controversial [[Protestant]] sect which splintered from the mainline [[Churches of Christ]] in the late [[1980s]] under the leadership of [[Kip McKean]].<ref name="citypaper">{{Cite web |url=http://www.citypaper.net/articles/022599/coverstory.shtml|title=The Love Bombers|accessdate=2007-07-09|publisher=Philadelphia City Paper|year=[[1999]] [[Mar 4]]|author=Davis, Blair J.}}</ref> Rather than basing doctrine on post-[[first century]] church doctrine or modern [[denominational]] conventions, the ethnically-diverse congregations of the ICOC regard 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". |
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The '''International Churches of Christ''' ('''ICOC''') is a body of decentralized, co-operating,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.icocco-op.org/content/view/85/65/ |title=Plan for United Cooperation Summary |author=ICOC Cooperation Service Team Chairmen |date=28 August 2009 |work=icocco-op.org |publisher=International Churches of Christ Co-operation Churches |access-date=6 May 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130925220131/http://www.icocco-op.org/content/view/85/65/ |archive-date=25 September 2013 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>{{better source needed|date=May 2024}} religiously conservative and racially integrated Christian congregations.<ref name="ReferenceB">{{cite web|url=https://disciplestoday.org/about-the-icoc/|title=About the ICOC|publisher="Disciples Today" - official ICOC web site|access-date=March 27, 2024|archive-date=15 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240315141242/https://disciplestoday.org/about-the-icoc/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Jenkins"/> In March 2024, the ICOC numbered their members at 112,000.<ref name="ReferenceB"/>{{better source needed|date=May 2024}} A formal break was made from the [[Churches of Christ]] in 1993 with the organization of the International Churches of Christ.<ref name="Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: ICOC">Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, Churches of Christ'', Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004, {{ISBN|0-8028-3898-7}}, {{ISBN|978-0-8028-3898-8}}, 854 pages, entry on ''International Churches of Christ''</ref>{{rp|418}} |
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In the past, its aggressive recruitment tactics, high commitment expectations of members, and use of "discipling" partnerships have caused some researchers, observers, and ex-members to label the organization a ‘[[cult]],’ <ref name="fox">''Fox Files. '' '''Fox''', [[1999]] [[January 21]].</ref><ref name="survey">{{cite journal | author=Michael D. Langone, Ph.D.| authorlink=http://www.csj.org/infoserv_profile/langone_michael.htm| title=An Investigation of a Reputedly Psychologically Abusive Group That Targets College Students| journal=Cultic Studies Review| year=[[2001]] [[November 7]] | url=http://www.csj.org/infoserv_articles/langone_michael_target_college.htm}}</ref><ref name="upenn">{{cite journal | author=Qin Wang| title=International Churches of Christ| year=[[1996]] [[April 25]]| url=http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~rs133/Resources/StudentPapers/icc.html}}</ref><ref>''see lists of [http://members.aol.com/djrtx/news_art.htm books], [http://members.aol.com/djrtx/videos.html video programs], and [http://members.aol.com/djrtx/news_art.htm news articles] concerning the International |
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Churches of Christ.''</ref> and it has been sanctioned or banned by 39 [[college campus]]es and the country of [[France]].<ref name="usnews">{{Cite web|url=http://www.usnewsclassroom.com/issue/000313/college.htm|title=A Push Becomes a Shove|author=Kleiner, Carolyn|accessdate=2007-07-09|publisher=US News & World Report|year=[[2000]] [[Mar. 13]]}}</ref><ref name="telegraph">{{Cite web|url=http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/foreign/colinrandall/august06/familybattle.htm|title=Family Battle Between France and Canada|accessdate=2007-07-09|publisher=Telegraph|year=[[2006]] [[Aug. 17]]|author=Randall, Colin}}</ref> 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.<ref name="fox"/><ref name="abc2020"/> In recent years a faction has emerged within the organization which acknowledges these critiques and advocates reform – a process already undertaken by many congregations, some of which have seceded, others which have remained affiliated with the ICoC but revised their policies.<ref name="3factions" /><ref name="kriete" /> Many local churches have become entirely autonomous after the recent disbandment of the central leadership, and today it is difficult to make any generalizations about the organization collectively. |
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Former members of the church have alleged that it is a [[cult]]{{sfn|Jenkins|2005|p=2}} and have accused it, along with the [[International Christian Church]], of covering up sexual abuse of children.<ref name="Borecka">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/19/international-churches-of-christ-lawsuits-alleged-sexual-abuse|title=US Christian group accused of covering up sexual abuse of minors|first=Natalia|last=Borecka|work=The Guardian|date=19 March 2023|access-date=3 September 2023|archive-date=26 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230926175401/https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/19/international-churches-of-christ-lawsuits-alleged-sexual-abuse|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Yeung">{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-02-28/church-sexual-abuse-allegations|title=Church leaders concealed sexual abuse of young children, lawsuits allege|first1=Ngai|last1=Yeung|first2=Sam|last2=Moskow|work=Los Angeles Times|date=28 February 2023|access-date=4 September 2023|archive-date=4 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230904072310/https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-02-28/church-sexual-abuse-allegations|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Janja Lalich]], an academic expert on cults and coercion, has stated that in her view, the ICOC has at minimum some of the "hallmarks of a cult".<ref name="Borecka" /> {{As of|2023|08}}, some US branches of the church were the subject of multiple lawsuits.<ref name="Yeung" /> |
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Once the fastest-growing [[Christian]] movements in the [[United States]],<ref name="beacon">{{Cite web|url=http://www.reveal.org/library/news/up_beacon_990318.html|title=Controversial Group Recruiting on Campus|accessdate=2007-07-09|publisher=University of Portland Beacon|year=[[1999]] [[Mar. 18]]|author=Schroedel, Jenny}}</ref> 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.<ref name="stats">{{Cite web|url=http://www.icocinfo.org/chartlist.html|title=Data and Analysis|accessdate=2007-07-09|publisher=International Churches of Christ|year=[[2006]] [[April]]|work=ICOC Info}}</ref> |
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==History== |
==History== |
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===Origins in the Stone-Campbell Movement=== |
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===Roots=== |
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{{see also|Restoration Movement|Churches of Christ}} |
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The Boston Movement can trace its roots to the American [[Restoration movement]] of the nineteenth-century, which sought a return to first-century Christianity by eliminating denominational divisions and honoring the [[Bible]] as the sole source of church authority, surmised by the axiom: “where the scriptures speak, we speak; and where the scriptures are silent, we are silent.” But by the 1860s, some felt that the movement had become polluted by the institution of missionary societies and use of musical instruments in church. A schism developed, and the mainline [[Churches of Christ]] officially broke away in 1906 with some 160,000 members, growing to 1.2 million by the end of the century. |
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[[File:Crossroads Church of Christ.jpg|thumb|Crossroads Church of Christ in 1970s.]] |
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The ICOC has its roots in a movement that reaches back to the period of the [[Second Great Awakening]] (1790–1870) of early nineteenth-century America. [[Barton W. Stone]] and [[Alexander Campbell (clergyman)|Alexander Campbell]] are credited with what is today known as the Stone-Campbell or [[Restoration Movement]]. There are a number of branches of the Restoration movement and the ICOC was formed from within the [[Churches of Christ]].<ref name="ReferenceA">Stanback, C. Foster. Into All Nations: A History of the International Churches of Christ. IPI, 2005</ref><ref name="BG1"/><ref name="BG4"/> Specifically, it was born from a discipling movement that arose among the Churches of Christ during the 1970s.<ref name="Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: ICOC"/> This discipling movement developed in the campus ministry of Chuck Lucas.<ref name="Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: ICOC"/> |
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In 1967, Chuck Lucas – minister of the 14th Street Church or 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. <ref name="alt religions" /> |
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In 1967, Chuck Lucas was minister of the 14th Street Church of Christ in [[Gainesville, Florida]] (later renamed the Crossroads Church of Christ). That year he started 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]], the 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".<ref name="alt religions">{{Cite book | last = Paden | first = Russell | editor-first = Timothy | editor-last = Miller | title = America's Alternative Religions | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=og_u0Re1uwUC&q=%22international+churches+of+christ%22%7C%22boston+church+of+christ%22 | access-date = 2007-08-07 |date=July 1995 | publisher = State University of New York Press | location = Albany | isbn = 978-0-7914-2397-4 | pages = 133–36 | chapter = The Boston Church of Christ | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=og_u0Re1uwUC&q=%22international+churches+of+christ%22%7C%22boston+church+of+christ%22&pg=PA133}}</ref> |
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===Origin=== |
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[[Image:EvangProcl..jpg|thumb|The Evangelization Proclamation, issued in [[1994]] pledged that the ICoC would establish a church in every major country within six years.]] |
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In 1972 (the fifth year of the Campus Advance program), the Crossroads Church recruited a young freshman at the University of Florida. His name was Thomas ‘Kip’ McKean, and his encounter with the church would forever alter the destinies of both. The son of an [[admiral]], McKean was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, and is purportedly named after his ancestor [[Thomas McKean]] (a signer of the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]]).<ref>[http://www.kipmckean.org/ Autobiography of Kip McKean ]</ref> 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. |
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The ministry grew as younger members appreciated many of the new emphases on commitment and models for communal activity. This activity became identified by many with the forces of radical change in the larger American society that characterized the late sixties and seventies. The campus ministry in Gainesville thrived and sustained strong support from the elders of the local congregation in the 'Crossroads Church of Christ'. By 1971, as many as a hundred people a year were joining the church. Most notable was the development of a training program for potential campus ministers.<ref name="Pepperdine"/> |
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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.<ref name="interview" /> Chronicler Russell Paden explains, “While [McKean and his followers] would probably concede that there are false religions that experience growth, they would contend that a true church of God ''must'' be experiencing growth.” <ref name="alt religions">{{cite book | last = Paden | first = Russell | editor = Timothy Miller | title = America's Alternative Religions | url = http://books.google.com/books?printsec=frontcover&dq=%22international+churches+of+christ%22%7C%22boston+church+of+christ%22&id=og_u0Re1uwUC | format = | accessdate = 2007-08-07 | year =1995 | month = July | publisher = State University of New York Press | location = Albany | isbn = 978-0-7914-2397-4 | pages = 133-36 | chapter = The Boston Church of Christ | chapterurl = http://books.google.com/books?pg=PA133&lpg=PA133&dq=%22international+churches+of+christ%22%7C%22boston+church+of+christ%22&sig=xJd6vwb-MYNOHOUFTtE7pctlbxc&id=og_u0Re1uwUC&ots=FNRFOjJOvr |
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}}</ref> 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.<ref name="kip">{{Cite web|url=http://www.kipmckean.org/|title=Biography of Kip McKean|accessdate=2007-07-09|year=[[2007]] [[Jan. 23]]}}</ref> |
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===From Gainesville to Boston: 1970s–1980s=== |
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===Growth=== |
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Among the early converts at Gainesville was a student named [[Kip McKean]] who had been personally mentored by Chuck Lucas.<ref name="Revisiting"/> |
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[[Image:ICoCmap x.png|right|300px|A map showing the locations of ICoC congregations in [[2000]].]] |
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McKean was introduced to the Florida Church of Christ's controversial recruitment style in 1967.{{sfn|Stanczak|2000|p=114}} Born in [[Indianapolis]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kipmckean.org/|title=Kipmckean.com - Get Your Answers Here!|work=Kip McKean|access-date=28 August 2007|archive-date=24 August 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070824094554/http://www.kipmckean.org/|url-status=live}}</ref> McKean completed a degree while training at Crossroads and afterward served as campus minister at several Churches of Christ locations. By 1979 his ministry grew from a few individuals to over three hundred making it the fastest growing Church of Christ campus ministry in America.<ref name="ReferenceA" /><ref name="BG1"/><ref name="BG4"/> McKean then moved to Massachusetts, where he took over the leadership of the Lexington Church of Christ (soon to be called the Boston Church of Christ). Building on Lucas' initial strategies, McKean only agreed to lead the church in Lexington as long as every member agreed to be 'totally committed'. The church grew from 30 members to 3,000 in just over 10 years in what became known as the 'Boston Movement'.<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref name="BG1"/><ref name="BG4"/> McKean taught that the church was "God's true and only modern movement".<ref>{{cite journal|last=Bromley|first=David G.|title=Sources of Challenge to Charismatic Authority in Newly Emerging Religious Movements|journal=Nova Religio|volume=24|issue=4|year=2021|doi=10.1525/nr.2021.24.4.26|pages=26–40}}</ref> According to journalist Madeleine Bower, "the group became renowned for its extreme views and rigid teaching of the Bible, but mainstream churches quickly disavowed the group".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/inside-nsws-most-bizarre-religious-sects/news-story/42fb265039d1f787a2c63bd5ad1c2aba|title=Inside NSW's most bizarre religious sects|first=Madeleine|last=Bower|work=The Daily Telegraph|date=26 March 2023|access-date=6 September 2023|archive-date=6 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230906142235/https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/inside-nsws-most-bizarre-religious-sects/news-story/42fb265039d1f787a2c63bd5ad1c2aba|url-status=live}}</ref> |
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At the start of the 1980s, Kip McKean came to feel that the Lord had given him a “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. <!--In 1988, the Crossroads Movement dissacoted itself from the Bostomn Movement.<ref name="timeline"/> --> But as it grew in size, it also grew away from the mainline Churches of Christ. Members of each organization viewed the other with increasing displeasure,<ref name="secondthoughts">{{cite journal | author=Norton, Howard W.| title=Second Thoughts on Boston| journal=The Christian Chronicle| year=[[1987]] [[Feb]]| volume=44| issue=2| page=22| url=http://rightcyberup.org/chronicle.htm}}</ref> and by 1988 the two had irrevocably separated.<ref name="bostonera">{{Cite web|url=http://www.reveal.org/abouticc/bostonera.html|title=1979&ndash1987: The Boston Era|accessdate=2007-07-10|publisher=REVEAL|year=[[2001]]}}</ref> |
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[[David G. Bromley]] and [[J. Gordon Melton]], sociologist and historian of religion respectively, note how International Churches of Christ grew quickly in the 1980s, but that "Even as ICOC developed, however, its relationships with several established institutional sectors deteriorated". The church's "doctrine signaled the movement's self-perceived superiority to other Christian churches in teaching that it alone had rediscovered biblical doctrines critical to individual salvation and insisting on rebaptizing new members to ensure their salvation". They note that further tensions developed as a result of the church's "aggressive evangelizing tactics" and use of 'discipling' or 'shepherding' practices, whereby new members were provided spiritual guidance and had their personal lives closely supervised by more established members. "Members were taught that commitment to the church superseded all other relationships", write Bromley and Melton. As a result, "the main branch of the |
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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.<ref name="alt religions" /> |
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Churches of Christ disavowed its relationship with ICOC; a number of universities banned ICOC recruiters; and ICOC became a prominent target of media and anticult group opposition".<ref name="Bromley Melton 2012">{{cite journal|last1=Bromley|first1=David G.|last2=Melton|first2=J. Gordon|title=Reconceptualizing Types of Religious Organization|journal=Nova Religio|volume=15|issue=3|year=2012|doi=10.1525/nr.2012.15.3.4|pages=4–28}}</ref> |
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In 1985 a Church of Christ minister and professor, Dr. Flavil Yeakley, administered the [[Myers-Briggs Type Indicator]] test to the Boston Church of Christ (BCC), the founding church of the ICOC. Yeakley passed out three MBTI tests, which asked members to perceive their past, current, and five-year in the future personality types.<ref name="Langone 1993 39">{{cite book|last=Langone|first=Michael|title=Recovery from Cults|url=https://archive.org/details/recoveryfromcult00mich|url-access=registration|year=1993|publisher=W. W. Norton and Company|location=New York|page=[https://archive.org/details/recoveryfromcult00mich/page/39 39]|author-link=Helping Cult Victims: Historical Background|chapter=1|isbn=9780393701647 }}</ref><ref name="Gasde 1998 58">{{cite journal|last=Gasde|first=Irene|author2=Richard A. Block|title=Cult Experience: Psychological Abuse, Distress, Personality Characteristics, and Changes in Personal Relationships|journal=Cultic Studies Journal|year=1998|volume=15|issue=2|page=58|url=http://www.csj.org/pub_csj/csj_vol15_no2_98/cutexperiencetext.htm|access-date=2 September 2013|archive-date=1 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141201225349/http://www.csj.org/pub_csj/csj_vol15_no2_98/cutexperiencetext.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Yeakley|first=Flavil|title=The Discipling Dilemma|year=1988|publisher=Gospel Advocate Company|isbn=0892253118|url=http://www.somis.org/TDD-01.html|access-date=7 September 2012|archive-date=1 July 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120701053036/http://www.somis.org/TDD-01.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> While over 900 members were tested, 835 individuals completed all three forms. A majority of those respondents changed their perceived or imagined personality type scores on the three tests in convergence with a single type.<ref name="Langone 1993 39"/><ref name="Gasde 1998 58"/> After completing the study, Yeakley observed that "The data in this study of the Boston Church of Christ does '''not''' prove that any certain individual has actually changed his or her personality in an unhealthy way. The data, however, does prove that there is a group dynamic operating in that congregation that influences its members to change their personalities to conform to the group norm".<ref name="The Boston Movement: Critical Perspectives on The International Churches of Christ Edited by Carol Giambalvo And Herbert L. Rosedale">{{Cite web |url=https://www.douglasjacoby.com/wp-content/uploads/Discipling%20Dilemma%20Part%202.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=19 April 2024 |archive-date=27 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220527052723/https://www.douglasjacoby.com/wp-content/uploads/Discipling%20Dilemma%20Part%202.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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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.<ref name="100k">{{Cite web |url=http://www.portlandchurch.org/features/evan.pdf|title=Evangelization Proclamation|accessdate=2007-07-09|publisher=International Churches of Christ|year=[[1994]] [[Feb. 4]]|author=McKean, Kip}}</ref><ref name="timeline" /> Two years later, membership peaked at 135,046 in more than 540 congregations across the globe.<ref name="stats" /> |
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=== Reform === |
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In 1990, Kip McKean moved from Boston to head the [[Los Angeles]] Church of Christ. Los Angeles quickly became the new central authority for the growing movement. By the official website church had 135,039 members in 434 congregations by January of [[2003]]. Currently, the total membership of International Churches of Christ is around 96,000. <ref>[http://www.icocinfo.org/church_directory.html The most recent 2005 statistics for church membership ] </ref> |
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'''The [[Indianapolis]] Church of Christ''' |
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:''This section requires more specific details, and independent references to back them up.'' |
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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. |
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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 was not the only issue for the sabbatical, it was a visible "thorn" in [[Kip McKean]]'s side. |
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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]]. |
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By the end of 1988 the churches in the Boston Movement were for all practical purposes a distinct fellowship, initiating a fifteen-year period during which there would be little contact between the CoC and the Boston Movement. By 1988, McKean was regarded as the leader of the movement.<ref name="Pepperdine"/> It was at this time that the Boston church initiated its program of outreach to the poor called HopeWorldwide.<ref name="hopeww.org"/> Also in 1988 McKean, finding that running the organization single-handedly had become unwieldy, selected a handful of men that he and Elena, his wife, had personally trained and named them World Sector Leaders.<ref name="timeline">{{cite web|url=http://www.kipmckean.com/timeline.htm|title=Brief History of the ICOC|access-date=2007-07-09|publisher=KipMcKean.com|date=6 May 2007 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070620183301/http://www.kipmckean.com/timeline.htm |archive-date = 20 June 2007}}</ref> In 1989 mission teams were officially sent out to Tokyo, Honolulu, Washington, DC, Manila, Miami, Seattle, Bangkok, and Los Angeles. That year, McKean and his family moved to Los Angeles to lead the new church "planted" (a euphemism the church uses for "established")<ref>{{cite news|title=The Church That's Brainwashing Australians|first=Mark|last=Barbeliuk|work=Reader's Digest|date=May 1996}}</ref> some months earlier. Within a few years Los Angeles, not Boston, was the fulcrum of the movement.<ref name="Pepperdine"/> |
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=== McKean’s Resignation === |
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Controversies over financial abuse and administrative mismanagement compelled Kip McKean to take a thirteen-month sabbatical, ultimately resigning from his supreme position in November of 2002.<ref name="ap">{{cite journal | author=The Associated Press| title=Church prompts concern on university campus| year=[[2004]] [[Jan. 27]]| url=http://www.rickross.com/reference/icc/ICC323.html}}</ref><ref name="interview">{{Cite web |url=http://www.rickross.com/reference/icc/ICC325.html|title=The Christian Chronicle interviews Kip McKean|accessdate=2007-07-09|publisher=Christian Chronicle|year=[[2004]] [[Jan. 21]]|author=McBride, Bailey & Erik Tryggestad}</ref><ref name="sabbatical">{{Cite web|url=http://www.kipmckean.com/Documents/sabbatical.pdf|title=Kip & Elena McKean to Take Sabbatical|accessdate=2007-07-09|year=[[2001]] [[Nov]]|author=McKean, Kip|format=pdf}</ref> 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.” <ref name="portland1" /><ref name="kip" /> Later in 2002 the remaining central leadership was officially dissolved at the 2002 ‘Los Angeles Unity Meeting’.<ref name="portland1">{{Cite web |url=http://www.portlandchurch.org/archives/archives.php?langID=1&artID=1|title=The Portland Story|accessdate=2007-07-09|publisher=Portland International Church of Christ|year=[[2005]] [[Aug.21]]|author=McKean, Kip}}</ref> |
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=== |
===The ICOC: 1990s=== |
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[[File:EvangProcl..jpg|thumb|The Evangelization Proclamation, issued in 1994, pledged that the ICOC would establish a church in every country that had a city of at least 250,000 within six years.]] |
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<!--A CHART should be here, here’s the URL: http://www.icocinfo.org/totalmembers.html--> |
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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.<ref name="threat">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newcovpub.com/icc/update2005.htm|title=ICOC Update 2005: Is the Threat Resurfacing?|accessdate=2007-07-09|publisher=New Covenant Publications|year=[[2005]]|author=Greeson, Timothy}}</ref> |
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<!--In [[2003]], the central leadership attempted to “reopen the door” with the mainline Church of Christ. <ref name="kip" /> --> |
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In 1990 the Crossroads Church of Christ broke with the movement and, through a letter written to ''[[The Christian Chronicle]]'', attempted to restore relations with the Churches of Christ.<ref name="Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: ICOC"/>{{rp|419}} By the early 1990s some first-generation leaders had become disillusioned by the movement and left.<ref name="Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: ICOC"/>{{rp|419}} The movement was first recognized as an independent religious group in 1992 when John Vaughn, a church growth specialist at Fuller Theological Seminary, listed them as a separate entity.<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref name="Pepperdine">{{cite web|url=https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1041&context=leaven|title=The International Churches of Christ:A Historical Overview|author=John F. Wilson|publisher=Leaven:Vol 18:Iss. 2, Article 3|date=2010|access-date=15 March 2024|archive-date=15 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240315143238/https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1041&context=leaven|url-status=live}}</ref> TIME magazine ran a full-page story on the movement in 1992 calling them "one of the world's fastest-growing and most innovative bands of Bible thumpers" that had grown into "a global empire of 103 congregations from California to Cairo with total Sunday attendance of 50,000".<ref name="flock"/> A formal break was made from the Churches of Christ in 1993 when the group organized under the name "International Churches of Christ."<ref name="Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: ICOC"/>{{rp|419}} This new designation formalized a division that was already in existence between those involved with the Crossroads/Boston Movement and "original" Churches of Christ.<ref name="Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: ICOC"/>{{rp|418}}<ref name="Garrett 2002">Leroy Garrett, ''The Stone-Campbell Movement: The Story of the American Restoration Movement'', College Press, 2002, {{ISBN|0-89900-909-3}}, {{ISBN|978-0-89900-909-4}}, 573 pages</ref> In September 1995, the ''Washington Post'' reported that for every three members joining the church, two left, attributing this statistic to church officials.<ref>{{cite news|title=Campus Crusaders: The fast-growing International Churches of Christ welcomes students with open arms. Does it let them go?|newspaper=Washington Post|date=3 September 1995|page=F1, 4–5}} {{ProQuest|903450905}}</ref> |
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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.<ref name="3factions">{{Cite web|url=http://www.reveal.org/abouticc/factions.html|title=Three Major Factions|accessdate=2007-07-09|publisher=REVEAL|year=[[2005]] [[Sept]]|author=Lee, Chris}}</ref> The latter group is exemplified by Henry Kriete of the London Church of Christ, who penned an influential<ref> http://tolc.org/falters.htm</ref> [[2003]] letter criticizing the “four systemic evils … [of] our corrupted hierarchy, [namely] our obsession with numbers, our shameful arrogance…[and] our seduction by mammon.”<ref name="kriete">{{Cite web|url=http://www.reveal.org/library/stories/people/hkriete.htm|title=Honest to God|accessdate=2007-07-09|year=[[2003]] [[Feb. 2]]|author=Kriete, Henry}}</ref> |
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Growth in the ICOC was not without criticism.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.icochotnews.com/?q=node/220|title=IcocHotNews Poll: Do We Still Have Discipleship Partners? Surprising Results.|work=icochotnews.com|access-date=19 September 2013|archive-date=24 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140924042321/http://www.icochotnews.com/?q=node/220|url-status=live}}</ref> Other names that have been used for this movement include the "Crossroads movement," "Multiplying Ministries," and the "Discipling Movement".<ref name="alt religions"/> Since each city had a single church, its membership might be large and geographically disperse; if so, it was divided into ''regions'' and then ''sectors'' of perhaps a few small suburban communities. This governing system attracted criticism as overly-authoritarian,<ref name="citypaper">{{cite web|url=http://www.citypaper.net/articles/022599/coverstory.shtml|title=The Love Bombers|access-date=2007-07-09|publisher=Philadelphia City Paper|date=March 1999|author=Davis, Blair J.|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080404131705/http://www.citypaper.net/articles/022599/coverstory.shtml|archive-date=4 April 2008|df=dmy-all}}</ref> although the ICOC denied this charge. "It's not a dictatorship," said Al Baird, former ICOC spokesperson; "It's a theocracy, with God on top."<ref name="flock">{{cite web|url=http://www.kipmckean.com/images/flock2.jpg|title=Keepers of the Flock|access-date=2007-07-12|publisher=Time|date=18 May 1992|author=Ostling, Richard N. |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061214083831/http://www.kipmckean.com/images/flock2.jpg |archive-date = 14 December 2006}}</ref> The ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'' reported in 1996 that "The group is considered so aggressive and authoritarian in its practices that other evangelical Protestant groups have labeled it 'aberrational' and 'abusive'. It has been repudiated by the mainstream Churches of Christ, a 1.6 million-member body from which it grew".<ref>{{cite news|title=Some call sect 'abusive'|work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette|date=17 November 1996|page=A20}} {{ProQuest|391759338}}</ref> |
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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.<ref>http://www.newcovpub.com/icc/update2005.htm</ref> 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,<ref name="3factions" /> and the practices of some churches have caused national controversy as recently as [[June]] of [[2007]].<ref name="train">{{cite journal | author=Phelan, Shane| title=International Churches of Christ cult killed my brother!| journal=Daily Mail, UK| year=[[2007]] [[June 13]| url=http://www.factnet.org/?p=119}}</ref> |
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Growth continued globally and in 1996 the independent organisation "Church Growth Today" named the Los Angeles ICOC as the fastest growing Church in North America for the second year running and another eight ICOC churches were in the top 100.<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref name="NYDN">{{cite web|url=https://www.nydailynews.com/2000/10/22/a-church-of-christ-or-cult-of-cash-critics-slam-group-as-manipulative/|title=A Church of Christ or Cult of Cash|author=Dave Saltenstall|work=New York Daily News|date=October 22, 2000|access-date=13 March 2024|archive-date=13 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240313233509/https://www.nydailynews.com/2000/10/22/a-church-of-christ-or-cult-of-cash-critics-slam-group-as-manipulative/|url-status=live}}</ref> By 1999, the Los Angeles church reached a Sunday attendance of 14,000.<ref name="Pepperdine"/> By 2001, the ICOC was an independent worldwide movement that had grown from a small congregation to 125,000 members and had planted a church in nearly every country of the world in a period of twenty years.<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref name="NYDN"/> |
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===Beginnings of Portland Movement=== |
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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.<ref name="portland1" /> |
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===The ICOC: 2000s=== |
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Its subsequent revitalization and the continuing uncertainty within the ICOC movement prompted other congregations to break from the ICOC and rejoin with McKean.<ref name="kip" /> This new movement, currently numbering twenty congregations in eight nations, has been termed the ‘Portland Movement’ or ‘International Christian Churches’;<ref name="coa dir">{{Cite web|url=http://www.cityofangelsicc.org/index.php/church-directory/|title=Church Directory|accessdate=2007-07-09|publisher=City of Angels International Christian Church|year=[[2007]] [[Feb. 26]]|author=CyberEvangelist}}</ref><ref name="dt start">{{cite journal | author=Disciples Today Editorial Advisory Board, Roger Lamb (publisher)| title=Kip McKean Starts The International Christian Churches| journal=Disciples Today| year=[[2006]] [[Dec. 1]]| url=http://www.disciplestoday.com/Headlines/061208_McKeanStartsNewMovement.aspx}}</ref> it comprises an estimated 800 members.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.freedomofmind.com/resourcecenter/groups/i/international-christian-churches/|title=International Christian Churches|accessdate=2007-07-09|publisher=Steven Alan Hassan's Freedom of Mind Center|year=[[2007]]}}</ref> |
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Membership growth slowed during the later half of the 1990s.<ref>Mike Taliaferro, [http://www.disciplestoday.org/has-a-new-era-begun-for-the-icoc "Has a New Era Begun for the ICOC?"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130928125319/http://www.disciplestoday.org/has-a-new-era-begun-for-the-icoc |date=28 September 2013 }} ''Disciples Today'', 30 January 2013</ref> In 2000, the ICOC announced the completion of its six-year initiative to establish a church in every country with a city that had a population over 100,000.<ref name="timeline"/><ref name="100k">{{cite web |url=http://www.portlandchurch.org/features/evan.pdf |title=Evangelization Proclamation|access-date=2007-07-09|publisher=International Churches of Christ|date=4 February 1994|author=McKean, Kip|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070616164854/http://www.portlandchurch.org/features/evan.pdf|archive-date=16 June 2007}}</ref> In spite of this, numerical growth continued to slow. Beginning in the late 1990s, problems arose as McKean's moral authority as the leader of the movement came into question.<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref name="BG1">{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/443203270/|title=A Christian community falters|author=Farah Stockman|publisher=The Boston Globe|date=May 17, 2003|page=1|access-date=14 March 2024|archive-date=14 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240314204129/https://www.newspapers.com/image/443203270/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="BG4">{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/443203284/|title=A Christian community falters|author=Farah Stockman|publisher=The Boston Globe|date=May 17, 2003|page=4|access-date=14 March 2024|archive-date=14 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240314204130/https://www.newspapers.com/image/443203284/|url-status=live}}</ref> Expectations for continued numerical growth and the pressure to sacrifice financially to support missionary efforts took its toll. Added to this was the loss of local leaders to new planting projects. In some areas, decreases in membership began to occur.<ref name="Pepperdine"/> At the same time, realization was growing that the accumulated costs of McKean's leadership style and associated disadvantages were outweighing the benefits. In 2001, McKean's leadership weaknesses were affecting his family, with all of his children disassociating themselves from the church, and he was asked by a group of long-standing elders in the ICOC to take a sabbatical from overall leadership of the ICOC. On 12 November 2001, McKean, who had led the International Churches of Christ, issued a statement that he was going to take a sabbatical from his role of leadership in the church: |
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{{cquote| During these days Elena and I have been coming to grips with the need to address some serious shortcomings in our marriage and family. After much counsel with the Gempels and Bairds and other World Sector Leaders as well as hours of prayer, we have decided it is God's will for us to take a sabbatical and to delegate, for a time, our day-to-day ministry responsibilities so that we can focus on our marriage and family.}} Nearly a year later, in November 2002 he resigned from the office and personally apologized citing arrogance, anger and an over-focus on numerical goals as the source of his decision.<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref name="BG1"/><ref name="BG4"/> |
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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.<ref name="la_letter">{{Cite web |url=http://www.laicc.net/Content/Articles/2006/10/FGL_10_08_06.pdf|title=To: The Ministry Staff and Small Group Leaders of the LA Church of Christ|accessdate=2007-07-09|year=[[2006]] [[Oct. 6]]|author=The LA Leadership Group (the elders and region evangelists of the LA Church of Christ)|format=pdf}}</ref> 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.<ref name="kip_la_letter">{{Cite web |url=http://www.eugenesaints.org/?p=549|title=Heartfelt Letter from Los Angeles: by Kip and Elena McKean|accessdate=2007-07-09|publisher=Eugene International Church of Christ|year=[[2007]] [[Apr. 7]]|author=McKean, Kip & Elana}}</ref> |
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Referring to this event, McKean said: |
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==Church organization and services== |
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{{cquote| This, along with my leadership sins of arrogance, and not protecting the weak caused uncertainty in my leadership.<ref name="portland1">{{cite web |url=http://www.portlandchurch.org/archives/archives.php?langID=1&artID=1|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927224407/http://www.portlandchurch.org/archives/archives.php?langID=1&artID=1|archive-date=27 September 2007|title=The Portland Story|access-date=2007-07-09|publisher=Portland International Church of Christ|date=21 August 2005|author=McKean, Kip}}</ref>}} |
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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 “LOVE,”a charitable foundation run by ICoC which serves as the primary beneficiary of the church’s charitable donations (though it is funded through other sources as well). Founded in London in [[1986]], LOVE moved to a global scale the following year.<ref name="timeline" /> It sponsored the largest blood drives in [[Brazil]] and [[Mexico]] in [[1994]], and opened an orphanage in [[Hong Kong]] that same year. |
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The period following McKean's departure included a number of changes in the ICOC. Some changes were initiated from the leaders themselves and others brought through members.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>{{sfn|Jenkins|2005|page=240-246}} Most notable was Henry Kriete, a leader in the London ICOC, who circulated an open letter detailing his feelings about theological exclusivism and authority in the ICOC. This letter affected the ICOC for the decade after McKean's resignation.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>{{sfn|Jenkins|2005|page =240-246}} |
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===Congregational leadership=== |
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Critics of the ICOC claim that Kip McKean's resignation sparked numerous problems.<ref>{{cite news|last=Callahan|first=Timothy|title=Boston movement' founder quits|url=http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2003/march/15.26.html|access-date=24 September 2013|newspaper=Christianity Today|date=1 March 2003|archive-date=6 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131006084500/http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2003/march/15.26.html|url-status=live}}</ref> However, others have noted that since McKean's resignation the ICOC has made numerous changes. [[The Christian Chronicle]], a newspaper for the [[Churches of Christ]], reports that the ICOC has changed its leadership and discipling structure.<ref name="Revisiting">{{cite web|url=http://www.christianchronicle.org/article/revisiting-the-boston-movement-icoc-growing-again-after-crisis|title=Revisiting the Boston Movement: ICOC growing again after crisis|author=Bobby Ross Jr.|work=christianchronicle.org|date=September 2012|access-date=25 September 2013|archive-date=2 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002090422/http://www.christianchronicle.org/article/revisiting-the-boston-movement-icoc-growing-again-after-crisis|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="christianchronicle.org">{{cite web | url = http://www.christianchronicle.org/article/revisiting-the-boston-movement-icoc-growing-again-after-crisis | title = Revisiting the Boston Movement – ICOC Growing Again After Crisis. | date = September 2012 | publisher = Christian Chronicle | access-date = 25 September 2013 | archive-date = 2 October 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131002090422/http://www.christianchronicle.org/article/revisiting-the-boston-movement-icoc-growing-again-after-crisis | url-status = live }}</ref> According to the paper, "the ICOC has attempted to address the following concerns: a top down hierarchy, discipling techniques, and sectarianism".<ref name="Christianity Today">{{cite web | url = http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/1997/september1/7ta064.html | title = Church Growth: The Cost of Discipleship?-Despite early allegations of abuse of authority, the International Churches of Christ expanded rapidly. | date = September 1997 | publisher = Christianity Today | access-date = 6 August 2012 | archive-date = 21 September 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130921054918/http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/1997/september1/7ta064.html | url-status = live }}</ref> In the years following McKean's resignation, the central leadership was replaced with "the co-operation agreement" with over 90% of the churches affirming to this new system of global co-ordination.<ref name="co-operation churches">{{cite web |url=http://www.disciplestoday.org/uncategorized/item-4439-co-operation-church-list |title=List of Co-Operation Churches. |publisher=Disciples Today |access-date=19 September 2013 |archive-date=16 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130916193825/http://disciplestoday.org/uncategorized/item-4439-co-operation-church-list |url-status=dead }}</ref> |
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Church government is congregational, rather than denominational. Elders in some cases, or where there are not elders, Evangelists, with the assistance of leading men of the congregation, are seen as the spiritual leaders of the congregation. |
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''The International Churches of Christ's principle:'' Leaders can not really fully devote themselves to leadership and evangelism while encumbered by another job. ''The viewpoint of members:'' The members to engage full time leaders for the gospel propagation, for the members' spiritual preparation, and for Church program to serve. |
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Over time, McKean attempted to re-assert his leadership over the ICOC, yet was rebuffed. Sixty-four Elders, Evangelists and Teachers wrote a letter to McKean expressing concern that there had been "no repentance" from his publicly acknowledged leadership weaknesses.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.disciplestoday.org/commentary/perspectives/item-410-brothers-letter-to-kip-mckean|title=Brothers' Letter to Kip McKean|author=Brothers the ICOC|work=disciplestoday.org|access-date=22 April 2014|archive-date=9 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140309171354/http://www.disciplestoday.org/commentary/perspectives/item-410-brothers-letter-to-kip-mckean|url-status=dead}}</ref> McKean then began to criticize some of the changes that were being made, as he did in the 1980s toward Mainline Churches of Christ.<ref name="Carrillo 2009">Carrillo, Robert (2009), "[http://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1083&context=leaven The International Churches of Christ (ICOC)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203233155/http://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1083&context=leaven |date=3 December 2013 }}," ''[http://www.pepperdine.edu/leaven/ Leaven] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140102102212/http://www.pepperdine.edu/leaven/ |date=2 January 2014 }}'', Vol. 17, Issue 3, Article 11, [[Pepperdine University]] (accessed 28 November 2013)</ref> After attempting to divide the ICOC he was disfellowshipped in 2006<ref name="Carrillo 2009"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.disciplestoday.org/commentary/perspectives/item-409-brothers-statement-to-kip-mckean|title=Brothers' Statement to Kip McKean|author=Brothers the ICOC|work=disciplestoday.org|access-date=22 April 2014|archive-date=9 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140309154118/http://www.disciplestoday.org/commentary/perspectives/item-409-brothers-statement-to-kip-mckean|url-status=dead}}</ref> and founded a church that he called the International Christian Church.<ref name="Carrillo 2009"/> |
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====Evangelist ==== |
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==Church governance== |
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The Evangelist, Preacher, or Minister prepares and delivers sermons, teaches [[Bible]] classes, performs [[wedding]]s, preaches or evangelizes the [[gospel]], and (sometimes) performs baptisms however, baptizing is not restricted to ministers. This position is typically paid to allow the evangelist to disentangle himself from secular employment and focus on studies. For most congregations the evangelist leads the local church in much the same way as most fundamentalist church 'pastors'. He is often assisted by groups of men that have been elected by the local congregation or appointed by the Evangelist. In many cases, church elders from what were formally regarded as 'pillar churches' act as advisors to the smaller congregations. |
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[[File:Jakarta Church.JPG|thumb|The 2000-member church in Jakarta, Indonesia]] |
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[[File:Central Christian Church worship service.jpg|thumb|The Church in Singapore, which numbers over 1000 congregants]] |
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The International churches of Christ are a family of over 750 independent churches in 155 nations around the world. The 750 churches form 34 Regional Families of churches that oversee mission work in their respective geographic areas of influence. Each regional family of churches sends Evangelists, Elders and Teachers to an annual leadership conference, where delegates meet to pray, plan and co-operate world evangelism.<ref name="icocco-op.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.icocco-op.org/content/view/95/69/|title=International Churches of Christ (ICOC) Co-operation Churches - ICOC Service Teams|author=Roger Lamb|work=icocco-op.org|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304000649/http://www.icocco-op.org/content/view/95/69/|archive-date=4 March 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.icocco-op.org/content/blogcategory/25/65/#ref=Wibiya_bar2|title=International Churches of Christ (ICOC) Co-operation Churches|work=icocco-op.org|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131109015146/http://www.icocco-op.org/content/view/146/65/|archive-date=9 November 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> Mike Taliaferro, from San Antonio Texas, says "The co-operation plan is a far better way of co-ordinating and unifying a church family of the size and global nature of the ICOC. No longer can one man make sweeping decisions that affect all the churches, considering that many of those churches he may never have visited. Building unity and consensus through prayer and discussion takes time but is worth it. The spiritual fruit of the Delegates Conference in Budapest is testimony to the success of this much less authoritarian approach to that which we had in the past."<ref>{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuhjKGyaDR0#!|title=Budapest Editorial|date=28 May 2012|work=YouTube|access-date=11 September 2017|archive-date=21 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200221091030/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuhjKGyaDR0&gl=US&hl=en#!|url-status=live}}</ref> "Service Teams" provide global leadership and oversight. The Service Teams consists of an Elders, Evangelists, Teachers, Youth & Family, Campus, Singles, Communications & Administration, and HOPEww & Benevolence teams.<ref name="icocco-op.org"/> |
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===Congregational autonomy=== |
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===Ministry Training Academy=== |
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Church leadership is congregational rather than denominational. The International Churches of Christ have no formally recognized headquarters, councils, or hierarchal church government. Rather, the independent congregations are a network with each congregation <ref>[http://icocco-op.blogspot.com/ News and connections for the Co-operation Churches of the International Churches of Christ]</ref> participating at its own discretion in various means of service and fellowship with other congregations.<ref>[http://www.restorationunity.com/content/view/27/30/ Restoration Unity.com]</ref> <ref>[http://www.aucklandchurch.com/ Central Auckland Church of Christ " Whilst there is no central leadership functioning anymore" ]</ref> <ref>[http://www.sydneycoc.org/mos/Frontpage/ " SCOC is an autonomous congregation, with historical links to the International Churches of Christ (ICOC). "]</ref> |
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Since 2010,{{citation needed|date=May 2024}} the education and ministerial training program in the ICOC is the Ministry Training Academy (MTA). The MTA consists of twelve core courses that are divided into three areas of study: biblical knowledge, spiritual development, and ministry leadership. Each course requires at least 12 hours of classroom study in addition to course work. An MTA student who completes the twelve core classes receives a certificate of completion.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://icocmta.com/mta-overview/ | title = ICOC Ministry Training Academy Guidelines | access-date = 2013-10-13 | work = ICOC Ministry Training Academy | archive-date = 10 June 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150610200522/http://icocmta.com/mta-overview | url-status = dead }}</ref> |
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=== ICOC's relationship with mainstream Churches of Christ === |
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=== HOPE Worldwide=== |
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With the resignation of McKean, some efforts at reconciliation between the International Churches of Christ and the mainstream Churches of Christ are being made.{{Update inline|date=April 2024}} In March 2004, [[Abilene Christian University]] held the "Faithful Conversations" dialog between members of the Churches 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 Churches 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. Despite improvements in relations, there are still fundamental differences within the fellowship. Early 2005 saw a second set of dialogues with greater promise for both sides helping one another.<ref name="CC2005">{{Cite web |date=2005-10-28 |title=ICOC, 'mainline' leaders meet at Abilene Christian |url=https://christianchronicle.org/icoc-mainline-leaders-meet-at-abilene-christian-1/ |access-date=2024-01-04 |website=The Christian Chronicle |language=en-US |archive-date=4 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240104183134/https://christianchronicle.org/icoc-mainline-leaders-meet-at-abilene-christian-1/ |url-status=live }}</ref> |
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==Beliefs and practices of the ICOC== |
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HOPE worldwide is an international charity that changes lives by harnessing the compassion and commitment of dedicated staff and volunteers to deliver sustainable, high-impact, community-based services to the poor and needy. <ref>[http://www.hopeww.org/index.htm HOPE Worldwide ]</ref> |
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===Beliefs=== |
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The International Churches of Christ founded HOPE worldwide in response to the Scriptures that call us to have the heart of Jesus by serving the poor and needy throughout the world. God has truly blessed our efforts and today the organization operates on every inhabited continent and reaches more than 1,000,000 people each year. |
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{{Third-party|section|date=April 2024}} |
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The ICOC considers the [[Bible]] the inspired word of God. Through holding that their doctrine is based on the Bible alone, and not on creeds and traditions, they claim the distinction of being "non-denominational". Members of the 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 [[Pentecost|Day of Pentecost]] as described in {{Bibleverse||Acts|2}}. They believe that anyone who follows the plan of salvation as laid out in the scriptures is saved by the grace of God, through their faith in Jesus, at baptism.<ref name="ReferenceB"/> They are a family of over 700 churches spread across 155 nations of the World. They are racially integrated congregations made up of a diversity of people from various age groups, economic, and social backgrounds. They believe Jesus came to break down the dividing wall of hostility between the races and people groups of this world and unite mankind under the Lordship of Christ (Ephesians 2:11-22).<ref name="ReferenceB"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ctcoc.co.za/node/123|title=What We Believe|work=ctcoc.co.za|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309032832/http://www.ctcoc.co.za/node/123|archive-date=9 March 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> |
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Like the Churches of Christ, the ICOC recognizes the Bible as the sole source of authority for the church and it also believes that the current denominational divisions are inconsistent with Christ's intent. Christians ought to be united.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}} The ICOC like the [[Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)]], in contrast to the CoC, consider permissible practices that the New Testament does not expressly forbid.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XDBnRcyZAeUC| title=Journey in Faith: A History of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)|author1 =William E. Tucker|author2=Lester G. McAlister|publisher=Chalice Press|date=1975|pages=242–247|isbn= 9780827217034}}</ref> |
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It should be noted that many ICOC leaders were members of the Hope board of directors. {{Fact|date=October 2007}} |
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The ICOC teaches that "anyone, anywhere who follows God’s plan of salvation in the Bible and lives under the Lordship of Jesus, will be saved. Christians are saved by the grace of God, through their faith in Jesus Christ, at baptism."<ref name="ReferenceB"/> Scriptures used to support this view include {{Bibleverse||Ephesians|2:10}}, {{Bibleverse||Romans|3:22}}, {{Bibleverse||Acts|2:38}} and {{Bibleverse||Matthew|28:18–20}}.<ref name="ReferenceB"/> They claim that "faith alone" (e.g., saying the [[Sinner's Prayer]]) is not sufficient unless an individual by faith obeys God and gets baptized, believing that baptism is necessary for the forgiveness of sins. This is based on {{Bibleverse||James|2:14–26}} <ref name="Revisiting"/><ref name="Ferguson">{{cite web|url=https://disciplestoday.org/baptismal-cognizance/|title=Baptismal Cognizance: What do you need to know when you are baptized?|author=Gordon Ferguson|publisher=Disciples Today (official ICOC web site)|date=December 2, 2009|access-date=28 March 2024|archive-date=28 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240328204503/https://disciplestoday.org/baptismal-cognizance/|url-status=live}}</ref> The belief in the necessity of baptism is in agreement with the prevailing view in the [[Churches of Christ]], and [[Restoration Movement]]<ref name="Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Baptism">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-3UtqrX56rgC&pg=PA1|editor=Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant|title=The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, Churches of Christ|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|date= 2004|isbn=978-0-8028-3898-8 }} {{ISBN|0-8028-3898-7}}, {{ISBN|978-0-8028-3898-8}}</ref> It is in contrast with the beliefs of [[Baptists|Baptist]] churches that teach that faith alone is adequate for salvation. For Baptists, baptism is an outward sign of a salvation that has already occurred by virtue of a person's faith.<ref name="Ferguson"/> |
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=== Chemical Recovery Ministry=== |
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The goal of the Chemical Recovery Ministry is to help the [[addict]] have a hope and a future. <ref>[http://www.chemicalrecovery.org/news.php Chemical Recovery Ministry]</ref> |
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====One True Church (OTC) doctrine==== |
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===Other affiliated organizations=== |
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Originally, the ICOC taught that only baptisms within ICOC member churches were legitimate and hence only members of ICOC churches had had their sins forgiven and were saved. This is known as the [[One true church|One True Church]](OTC) doctrine.{{sfn|Jenkins|2005|page=140}} |
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The following companies and institutions are also operated by the ICoC: |
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* Discipleship Publications International – ''official ICOC publishing company, which prints mostly spiritual literature. ''<ref>[http://www.bigchurchdirectory.com/By-Denomination/International-Churches-of-Christ/General-Information/1-58-2909-46703-0-Discipleship-Publications-International.html bigchurchdirectory.com -about DPI]</ref> |
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* KNN/Disciples Today.net is a production of KNN ''Kingdom News Network'', an Illinois non-profit religious corporation based in Chicago.) <ref>[http://www.disciplestoday.com/about.aspx disciplestoday.com/about us]</ref> |
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* Upside Down, the official monthly publication of the ICoC. |
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* llumination Publishers International (IPI) - is committed to producing the very best in Christian writing and audio teaching. <ref>[http://www.ipibooks.com/Default.aspx?tabid=30 IPI] </ref> |
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* FunInTheSon.org |
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* International Missions Society, Inc. (IMS)<ref>[http://www.missionssociety.org/cms/index.php IMS] </ref> |
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* Florida Missions Council |
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* Baltic Nordic Missions Alliance |
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* Taiwan Mission Adventure |
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* European Bible School |
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* Athens Institute of Ministry <ref> [http://www.icocinfo.org/links.html icocinfo.org affiliated Organizations] </ref> |
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In 2003, however, after the departure of McKean, the leadership of ICOC issued letters of apology stating that they had been "too judgmental". As a consequence, many within ICOC began to accept that baptisms outside of ICOC churches, particularly those of family members who belonged to other Christian denominations, could be legitimate.<ref name="Ferguson"/> {{sfn|Jenkins|2005|page=243}} |
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This is consistent with their historical roots in the [[Churches of Christ]], which believe that Christ established only one church, and that the use of denominational creeds serves to foster division among Christians.<ref name="Howard 1971">V. E. Howard, ''What Is the Church of Christ?'' 4th Edition (Revised) Central Printers & Publishers, West Monroe, Louisiana, 1971</ref>{{rp|23,24}}<ref name="Shields 1945">O. E. Shields, [https://www.mun.ca/rels/restmov/texts/rboll/ww1945/TCOFC.HTM "The Church of Christ,"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120129180219/http://www.mun.ca/rels/restmov/texts/rboll/ww1945/TCOFC.HTM |date=29 January 2012 }} ''The [[Word and Work]]'', VOL. XXXIX, No. 9, September 1945.</ref><ref name="McQuiddy November 11, 1920">J. C. McQuiddy, "The New Testament Church", ''[[Gospel Advocate]]'' (11 November 1920):1097–1098, as reprinted in ''Appendix II: Restoration Documents'' of ''I Just Want to Be a Christian'', [[Rubel Shelly]] (1984)</ref> This belief dates to the beginning of the [[Restoration Movement]]; [[Thomas Campbell (clergyman)|Thomas Campbell]] expressed an ideal of unity in his ''[[Declaration and address]]'': "The church of Jesus Christ on earth is essentially, intentionally, and constitutionally one."<ref name="Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Slogans">Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, "Slogans", in ''The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, Churches of Christ'', Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004, {{ISBN|0-8028-3898-7}}, {{ISBN|978-0-8028-3898-8}},</ref>{{rp|688}} |
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====Lifestyle beliefs==== |
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==Institutional Description== |
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The ICOC is opposed to abortion, recreational drugs, and non-marital sexual relations. Homosexuals are welcome, but they must lead a life of chastity.{{sfn|Yi|2009|page=75}} |
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====Self-identification==== |
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Members do not consider themselves either Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant.{{fact}} They 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 do not typically consider themselves to be members of a [[religious denomination|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. |
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===Ideology & Sacred Rituals === |
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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]].<ref name="upenn" /> But despite the apparent similarities, the movement is exceptionally exclusivist, believing that it is the most ‘pure’ form of Christianity and that followers of all other faiths (including other Christian sects) will not be granted access to heaven.<ref name="carm">{{Cite web|url=http://www.carm.org/icc/icc_what_is.htm|title=What is the International Church of Christ?|accessdate=2007-07-12|publisher=Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry|year=[[2003]]}}</ref> McKean explains, “[We are] very fundamental in our following of the Bible, so we have convictions that are narrower than some groups about what it means to be a Christian. We don't apologize for our beliefs.”<ref name="ap" /> |
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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” <ref>http://web.archive.org/web/19970617021342/http://www.du.edu/~sullyatt/icc/</ref>). The ICoC teaches that only those “baptized as a disciple” (i.e., through the ICoC) will receive salvation. |
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The ICoC does not 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.<ref name="ideology">{{Cite web|url=http://members.aol.com/djrtx/docchart.htm|title=International Churches of Christ Doctrinal Positions|accessdate=2007-07-12|publisher=RESOURCE|year=[[1998]] [[Sept 16]]}}</ref> |
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===Practices=== |
===Practices=== |
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[[File:Boston Garden church service.jpg|thumb|An ICOC Church Service in the Boston Garden. Prior to the building's demolition in 1998, the [[Massachusetts]] congregation held Sunday services in the [[Boston Garden]] arena.<ref name="alt religions" />]] |
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=====Sunday Worship===== |
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[[Image:BostonGardenNHL.jpg|thumb|Prior to the building’s demolition in [[1998]], the [[Massachusetts]] congregation held Sunday services in the [[Boston Garden]] stadium.<ref name="alt religions" />]] |
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Sunday morning prayer involves singing (without use of instruments<ref>http://cnview.com/on_line_resources/international_church_of_christ.htm</ref>), praying, preaching, and the sacrament of the [[Lord's Supper]].<ref name="upenn" /> |
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====Sunday worship==== |
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One of the most unique elements to ICC tradition is the lack of established church buildings. Congregations meet in rented spaces: conference rooms, schools, public auditoriums, conference centers, small stadiums, or rented halls, depending on the number of parishioners; the location may vary from month to month.<ref name="nashville">{{cite journal | author=David Frey| title=The Fear of God: Critics Call Thriving Nashville Church a Cult| journal=InReview Online| year=[[1999]] [[July]]| url=http://www.rickross.com/reference/icc/ICC223.html}}</ref><ref name="action2">{{cite journal | author=Pam Martin| title=Church or Cult?| journal=WSB-TV Action News 2 | year=[[2001]] [[April 27]]| url=http://web.archive.org/web/20010603222524/www.accessatlanta.com/partners/wsbtv/specialreports/church_cult0427.html}}</ref><ref name="upenn" /> Though the church is not static, neither is it "ad hoc" – the leased locale is often furnished with an elaborate stage and sound-system.<ref name="nashville" /> Parishioners are proud of these unrooted tabernacles, negatively referring to traditional churches as “religious.” <ref name="top10">{{cite journal | author=Steven E. Rauch| title=International Church of Christ| journal=Christian News & Views| year=[[1994]]| url=http://cnview.com/on_line_resources/international_church_of_christ.htm}}</ref> “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.” <ref name="nashville" /> |
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=====House Church===== |
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Each congregation is divided into ''House Churches'' (formerly called ''Family Churches'') of thirty to fifty members, which meet separately several times during the week. <ref name="organization">{{Cite web|url=http://www.reveal.org/abouticc/iccorg.html|title=The Organization of the International Churches of Christ, prior to the Henry Kriete Letter, 2003|accessdate=2007-07-12|publisher=REVEAL|year=[[2006]] [[Jan]]}}</ref> |
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=====Bible Talks===== |
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''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.<ref name="organization" /> |
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A typical Sunday morning service involves singing, praying, preaching, and the sacrament of the [[Eucharist|Lord's Supper]]. An unusual element of ICOC tradition is the lack of established church buildings. Congregations meet in rented spaces: hotel conference rooms, schools, public auditoriums, conference centers, small stadiums, or rented halls, depending on the number of parishioners. Though the church is not static, neither is it "''ad hoc''" — the leased locale is converted into a Worship Facility. "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 reach out to more people in order to help them become Christians."<ref name="nashville">{{cite journal | author=David Frey| title=The Fear of God: Critics Call Thriving Nashville Church a Cult| journal=InReview Online| date=July 1999}}</ref> |
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===‘Discipling’=== |
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The practice of ''discipling'' is one of the most defining – and controversial – elements of the ICoC methodology. Members believe that this practice is based upon and encouraged by biblical passages. <blockquote>'''Kip McKean''': “I believe it is biblical for us to imitate the relationship Jesus had with the apostles and the relationships they had with one another. For example, the apostles had a student/teacher or younger brother/older brother relationship with Jesus. They also had adult/adult relationships with each other. Jesus paired the apostles for the mission. (Matthew 10) Both types of relationships are essential to lead people to maturity. Another text that demonstrates the student/teacher relationship is in Titus 2 where the older women are to train the younger women.”<ref name="flock">{{Cite web|url=http://www.kipmckean.com/images/flock2.jpg|title=Keepers of the Flock|accessdate=2007-07-12|publisher=Time|year=[[1992]] [[May 18]]|author=Ostling, Richard N.}}</ref></blockquote> |
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This practice of not owning buildings changed when the Tokyo Church of Christ became the first ICOC church to build its own church building.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}} This building was designed by the Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki.<ref>[http://www.arch.mcgill.ca/prof/mellin/arch671/winter2000/mchan/precedents/maki.html Tokyo Church of Christ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720034810/http://www.arch.mcgill.ca/prof/mellin/arch671/winter2000/mchan/precedents/maki.html |date=20 July 2011 }} page on the McGill University website (accessed 21 February 2011)</ref> This became an example for other ICOC churches to follow.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}} |
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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.<ref name="nydailytimes">{{Cite web|url=http://www.apologeticsindex.org/news/an201023.html#6|title=A Church of Christ Or Cult of Cash|accessdate=2007-07-12|publisher=New York Daily News|year=[[2000]] [[Oct 22]]}}</ref> Al Baird initially denied the existence of such lists in a [[1993]] interview,<ref name="abc2020">{{Cite web|url=http://www.icocinvestigation.com/media.htm|title=Believe It Or Else|accessdate=2007-07-12|publisher=ABC|year=[[1993]] [[Dec]]|work=abc2020}}</ref> but justified their usage five months later during another interview by explaining that "the leader of the group must know his people."<ref name="ined">{{Cite web|url=http://www.icocinvestigation.com/media.htm|title=untitled|accessdate=2007-07-12|publisher=Inside Edition|year=[[1994]] [[May]]}}</ref> Some former members have claimed these sin lists were used to break reluctant prospective, and as a form of control on members.<ref name="abc2020" /><ref name="nydailytimes" /> |
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====One Year Challenge==== |
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One of the most criticized aspects of discipling is the degree of control possessed by the discipler. They are tasked with monitoring the spiritual growth of their apprentices, and some members say the partnership was more like having a good friend than anything else.<ref name="citypaper" /> But the practice has been called “dictatorial” because the discipler may also supervise the secular daily activities of their subordinates and sometimes give ‘advice’ which involves severing family ties, breaking off relationships, or dropping out of school programs.<ref name="tech">{{cite journal | author=Gordon, Seth| title=Disciples; doctrine-Obey, bear fruit, be happy| journal=The Tech| year=[[1989]] [[Oct 20]]| volume=109| issue=44| url=http://www-tech.mit.edu/V109/N44/bcc2.44n.html}}</ref><ref name="ap"/><ref name="fox"/> |
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To provide an international service opportunity for college-age students, the ICOC has a program called the "One Year Challenge" (OYC), where graduating students take a year off and go and serve another church in the Third World<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.icochotnews.com/?q=node/2133|title=Some people, taking the One Year Challenge in South Africa, tell their story.|work=icochotnews.com|access-date=25 April 2013|archive-date=27 July 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140727094846/http://www.icochotnews.com/?q=node/2133|url-status=live}}</ref> or a recently planted church in the First World looking to reach younger people with the gospel.<ref>disciplesadventures.org</ref> The One Year Challenge program currently{{when|date=April 2024}} operates in ten countries, including: China, Taiwan, The Czech Republic, Hungary, Haiti, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, The U.K. and The U.S.<ref>{{Cite web|title=One Year Challenge|url=https://www.oneyearchallenge.org/|access-date=2020-10-26|website=oneyearchallenge|language=en}}</ref> |
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=== |
====Discipling==== |
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=====McKean era (1979 - 2002)===== |
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[[Image:X_ICOCtriangle.png|right|350px|thumb|The hierarchal structure of the ICoC at the time of McKean’s resignation, indicating which positions were salaried.]] |
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A distinguishing feature of the ICOC under McKean was an intense form of [[Disciple (Christianity)|discipleship]]. McKean's mentor, evangelist Chuck Lucas, developed this practice based in part on the book "The Master Plan of Evangelism" by Robert Coleman. Coleman's book taught that "Jesus controlled the lives of the apostles, that Jesus taught the apostles to 'disciple' by controlling the lives of others, and that Christians should imitate this process when bringing people to Christ."<ref name="Boston Globe p42">{{cite web|title=Come All Ye Faithful | author=Daniel Terris|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/437645005/|publisher=The Boston Globe|date=June 8, 1986|page=42}}</ref> Under McKean, "discipling" entailed members being "assigned a more senior adviser who is always available and frequently present in their lives, even at intimate moments, which mentors them through relationship difficulties. In this practice, individuals interact with other group members in hierarchical relationships".<ref name=Neitz>{{cite journal|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/20443664.pdf|last=Neitz|first=Mary Jo|title=Review of "Awesome Families: The Promise of Healing Relationships in the International Churches of Christ"|journal=Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews|volume=36|issue=1|year=2007|doi=10.1177/009430610703600131|pages=53–54|jstor=20443664 }}</ref> According to Kathleen E. Jenkins's [[ethnography]] of the church, McKean viewed discipling as "the most efficient way to achieve the movement's stated goal: 'to evangelize the world in one generation'".{{sfn|Jenkins|2005|p=25}} |
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By [[1988]] the budding Boston Movement had congregations in more than eight cities across the globe, and Kip McKean found that running the organization single-handedly had become unwieldy. He selected a handful of men that he had personally trained and assigned each a number of churches in a geographic region, naming them ‘World Sector Leaders’ and taking the title of ‘Leader of the World Sector Leaders’ for himself. In [[1994]], the subservient position of ''Geographic Sector Leaders'' was added. <ref name="timeline">{{Cite web|url=http://www.kipmckean.com/timeline.htm|title=Brief History of the ICOC|accessdate=2007-07-09|publisher=KipMcKean.com|year=[[2007]] [[May 6]]}}</ref> |
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The church's emphasis on discipling during this period was the subject of criticism. A number of ex-members expressed problems with discipling in the ICOC.<ref name="Giambalvo 1997 219">{{cite book|last=Giambalvo|first=Carol|title=The Boston Movement: Critical Perspectives on the International Churches of Christ|year=1997|publisher=American Family Foundation|isbn=0931337062|page=[https://archive.org/details/bostonmovementcr00giam/page/219 219]|url=https://archive.org/details/bostonmovementcr00giam/page/219}}</ref> Critics and former members allege that discipling "involved public scorn as a way to humiliate vulnerable members, to keep them humble".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonian.com/2008/07/01/unanswered-prayers-the-story-of-one-woman-leaving-the-international-church-of-christ/|title=Unanswered Prayers: The Story of One Woman Leaving the International Church of Christ|work=Washingtonian|first=Drew|last=Bratcher|date=1 July 2008|access-date=6 September 2023|archive-date=23 February 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240223190214/https://www.washingtonian.com/2008/07/01/unanswered-prayers-the-story-of-one-woman-leaving-the-international-church-of-christ/|url-status=live}}</ref> Jenkins notes that "[t]his ICOC structure has been greatly criticized by anti-cult organizations, university officials (the ICOC has been banned from several campuses), and ex-members".<ref name="Jenkins"/> |
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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. |
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Discipling under McKean was mandatory. All disciples (i.e., baptized members) had to have a discipler. They had to check in with their discipler frequently, such as daily or weekly. All aspects of a disciple's life were subject to the guidance and approval of their discipler. This included the necessity for dating people within the ICOC on a regular basis (if the disciple were single) and determining how much money had to give to the church (typically 15%- 30% of income plus additional funds for special projects).{{sfn|Yi|2009|page=62}} Disciples were also held accountable for how many new people they met on a daily basis and recruited into the church. Anyone criticizing the authority of a discipler was publicly rebuked in group meetings.{{sfn|Yi|2009|page=75-76}} |
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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.<ref name="organization" /> |
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Those who left the ICOC were to be [[shunned]].{{sfn|Jenkins|2005|page=55}} Disciples were told that only those baptized within the ICOC were saved. All other people were damned. Furthermore, anyone that left the church would also lose their salvation.{{sfn|Yi|2009|page=75-78}} |
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This governing system attracted criticism as overly-authoritarian,<ref name="citypaper" /> but the ICoC denies this charge. “It’s not a dictatorship,” said Al Baird, former ICoC spokesperson; “It’s a theocracy, with God on top.”<ref name="flock">{{Cite web|url=http://www.kipmckean.com/images/flock2.jpg|title=Keepers of the Flock|accessdate=2007-07-12|publisher=Time|year=[[1992]] [[May 18]]|author=Ostling, Richard N.}}</ref> |
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Nonetheless, many disciples, including some who left, got a great deal out of the structure of the discipling system. The found "meaning and community" and formed close friendships across racial and class lines within the ICOC.{{sfn|Yi|2009|page =78}} Sociologist Dr. Joseph E. Lee posits that the strict discipling program helped lead to a lowering of barriers between races and classes. He found this to be a general characteristic of organizations (e.g., martial arts schools) with strong formal beliefs and discipline.{{sfn|Yi|2009|page=12}}<ref name="Yi2015">{{cite journal|title=The Dynamics of Liberal Indifference and Inclusion in a Global Era|first=Joseph|last=Yi|journal=Society|year=2015|volume=52|issue=3|pages=264–274|doi=10.1007/s12115-015-9897-z}}</ref> |
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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.<ref name="organization" /> |
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=====Post McKean era (2002-present)===== |
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== Controversy and criticism over Kip McKean == |
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With the departure of McKean in 2002, the ICOC transitioned from a top-down organization to a "loose federation of autonomous local churches".{{sfn|Yi|2009|page=79}} This led to a change in discipling practices. One of the local ICOC churches, the Chicago Church of Christ, made discipling voluntary and not mandatory. Instead of a top-down hierarchy, they adopted a "servant leadership" model.{{sfn|Yi|2009|page=79}} |
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== US college campuses == |
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Since its inception, the International Christian Churches have drawn criticism from school officials, members’ families, and former parishioners. The primary sources of complaint are the pushing recruitment techniques, and the pressure placed both on recruiter and recruitee; the high commitment expected of members in terms of [[time]] and [[money]], and resulting social isolation. |
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[[File:Chicago Campus Conference.JPG|thumb|The ICMC held in Chicago in 2009]] |
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Some churches within the International Churches of Christ practice exclusivism and separate themselves from the majority of Christendom. Whether an individual congregation separated itself from other churches or not, one of the key doctrines of the International Churches of Christ has been the "one true church" doctrine (recognizing only repentant disciples who are baptized as part of the true church). The International Churches of Christ teaches that a person is saved by grace through a personal faith and the power of God at the point of repentance and [[baptism]] by immersion, and that once baptized, you are added to God's heavenly kingdom, and to the church here on earth. |
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Since his college days in the 1970s, Kip McKean, and the churches he has lead (e.g., ICOC and its predecessors), have made recruiting on college campuses a priority.<ref name="Boston Globe p13">{{cite web|title=Come All Ye Faithful | author=Daniel Terris|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/437643272/|publisher=The Boston Globe|date=June 8, 1986|page=13}}</ref> |
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''[[U.S. News & World Report]]'' ran an article in 2000 discussing proselytizing on college campuses. The article's author, Carolyn Kleiner, describes the ICOC as "[a] fast-growing Christian organization known for aggressive proselytizing to college students" and as "one of the most controversial religious groups on campus". Kleiner states that "some ex-members and experts on mind-control assert [it] is a cult". Furthermore, "[a]t least 39 institutions, including [[Harvard]] and [[Georgia State University|Georgia State]], have outlawed the organization at one time or another for violating rules against door-to-door recruiting, say, or harassment." In response to the question "A zealous group to be sure, but is it a cult?", ''U.S. News & World Report'' also quotes ICOC spokesperson Al Baird, who says "We're no more a cult than Jesus was a cult" and Professor [[Jeffrey K. Hadden]], who agrees with Baird, saying "every new religion experiences a high level of tension with society because its beliefs and ways are unfamiliar. But most, if they survive, we come to accept as part of the religious landscape".<ref name="U.S. News & World Report">{{cite web|url=https://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/articles/000313/archive_021162.htm|title=A Push Becomes A Shove Colleges get uneasy about proselytizing|publisher=U.S. News & World Report|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080627183207/http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/articles/000313/archive_021162.htm|archive-date=27 June 2008|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref> |
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Academics have complained that their students who get involved with the group tend to lose interest in their studies.<ref name=Balmer>{{cite book|last=Balmer|first=Randall|title=Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism|publisher=Baylor University Press|location=Waco, TX|year=2004|isbn=9781932792041|page=353}}</ref> |
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The International Churches of Christ have been surrounded by controversy over the years; media sources from ''[[Christianity Today]]'' (an [[evangelicalism|evangelical]] periodical) to town newspapers to popular magazines (such as ''[[Rolling Stone]]'') have included articles about members and by former members. There have been TV exposés on major venues, such as "Believe It or Else" on ABC's 20/20, on 10/15/1993 |
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==Racial integration in ICOC churches== |
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Since 2003 breakup of the centralized leadership; some congregations have made many reforms, while others have maintained former practices. Some current members admit that alleged abuses did happen prior to 2003, but maintain that such practices have since been reformed or discontinued. |
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ICOC churches have an overall higher degree of racial integration than many other religious congregations. This is a priority for the denomination. Racial prejudice is viewed as a state of personal sinfulness which is done away with once a person is baptized and becomes a member. Jenkins also notes that "mandatory close and frequent social interaction forced members to develop such strong cross-racial and ethnic networks".<ref name="Jenkins">{{cite journal |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1387742 |author=Kathleen E. Jenkins |title=Intimate Diversity: The Presentation of Multiculturalism and Multiracialism in a High-Boundary Religious Movement |journal=Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion |publisher=Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, vol. 42, no. 3 |date=2003 |volume=42 |issue=3 |pages=393–409 |doi=10.1111/1468-5906.00190 |jstor=1387742 |access-date=18 March 2024 |archive-date=18 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240318204437/https://www.jstor.org/stable/1387742 |url-status=live }}</ref> Writing in 2004, Kevin S. Wells reported that "The fact that ICOC congregations are typically multicultural has [...] gained the positive attention of national media in recent years".<ref>{{cite book|first=Kevin S.|last=Wells|chapter=International Churches of Christ|pages=418–419|editor1-last=Foster|editor1-first=Douglas A.|editor2-first=Paul M.|editor2-last=Blowers|editor3-first=Anthony L.|editor3-last=Dunnavant|editor4-first=D. Newell|editor4-last=Williams|year=2004|title=The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement|publisher=William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company|location=Grand Rapids, MI|isbn=0-8028-3898-7}}</ref> In 2017, the ICOC formed an organization called SCUAD (Social, Cultural, Unity. and Diversity) that would "seek to champion racial conversation, education, and action among ICOC churches" <ref name="Burns">{{cite web|url=https://spark.bethel.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1943&context=etd|author=M.R. Burns|date=2023|title=Paul's Approach to Social Superiority in the Corinthian Church Applied to Racial Superiority in the 21st Century Church|publisher=Doctoral thesis, Bethel University|access-date=18 March 2024|archive-date=16 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240316180513/https://spark.bethel.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1943&context=etd|url-status=live}}</ref> By 2021, many local ICOC churches had instituted their own SCUAD groups. There was, however, a certain amount of backlash from members who saw the SCUADs' explicit discussion of racism as a form of [[critical race theory]]. Nonetheless, by 2022 most congregations had begun conversations about "racial inclusion, diversity and justice" although few had engaged in the self examination necessary to lead to structural change.<ref name="Burns"/> |
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== Legal issues == |
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Much of the criticism has focused on: |
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=== |
===Lawsuit by an ICOC member church alleging defamation=== |
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On November 23, 1991, two Singapore Newspapers, ''[[The New Paper]]'' (English) and ''[[Lianhe Wanbao]]'' (Chinese), published articles stating that the Singapore Central Christian Church (a member of ICOC) was a "cult". The church sued the papers, alleging [[defamation]]. An initial court ruling held that what the papers had written was fair and in the public interest. An appeals court, however, overruled the lower court, stating that the papers had stated that the church was a cult as if that was a fact, when it was not a fact, but a comment. The papers were each ordered to pay the church {{SGD|20,000}}. ''The New Paper'' had to pay the founder of the church, John Philip Louis, {{SGD|30,000}}. The papers also had to pay the legal fees of the church and its founder.<ref name="Straights Times">{{cite web |last=Jin |first=Lim Seng |date=September 1, 1998 |title=Church wins appeal in libel case |url=https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/straitstimes19980901-1.2.31.11 |publisher=The Straits Times |page=26 |access-date=4 January 2024 |archive-date=5 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240105080924/https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/straitstimes19980901-1.2.31.11 |url-status=live }}</ref> In the same ruling, the appeals court held that an article that had also characterized the church as a cult, in the bi-monthly, Singapore-based, Christian magazine ''Impact'', was written fairly from the standpoint of a Christian publication written for the Christian community. The church and Louis were ordered to pay ''Impact's'' legal fees.<ref name="Straights Times"/> |
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===Lawsuits related to alleged coverup of sexual abuse=== |
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Until 2003 the members of the ICOC have asserted that they are the only "true church" following the Bible. <ref> [http://ucd.discipleforum.com/GV/Pacrim/PH/2003/official_otcfaq.htm Frequently Asked Questions On the One Church Teaching ] </ref> This includes but is not 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. |
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Since December 2022, the ICOC along with Kip McKean and the International Christian Churches have been named in multiple US federal lawsuits, alleging that between 1987 and 2012, leaders of the two churches covered up the sexual abuse of children, some of whom were as young as three, and financially exploited members.<ref name=Yeung/> The lawsuits describe instances of child molestation and accuse the ICOC together with founder Kip McKean and associated bodies of creating "a widespread culture of acceptance of the abuse of children".<ref name=Borecka/> The Los Angeles ICOC responded to the lawsuits by stating: "As the Church's long-standing policies make clear, we do not tolerate any form of sexual abuse, sexual misconduct, or sexual coercion, and we will fully cooperate with the authorities in any investigations of this type of behavior".<ref name=Yeung/> |
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== |
==See also== |
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{{Portal|Christianity}} |
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{{Div col}} |
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* [[Churches of Christ]] |
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* [[History of Christianity]] |
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* [[New religious movement]] |
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* [[Restorationism]] |
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* [[Second Great Awakening]] |
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* [[Non-denominational Christianity]] |
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* [[John Oakes (apologist)]] |
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{{div col end}} |
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==Notes== |
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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". |
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{{Reflist}} |
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==References== |
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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. |
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* {{cite book|last=Jenkins|first=Kathleen E.|title=Awesome Families: The Promise of Healing Relationships in the International Churches of Christ|publisher=Rutgers University Press|location=New Brunswick, NJ|year=2005|jstor=j.ctt5hj239 |isbn=9780813536637|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt5hj239}} |
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* {{cite book|first=Gregory C.|last=Stanczak|editor1-last=Flory|chapter=The Traditional as Alternative: The GenX Appeal of the International Church of Christ|editor1-first=Richard W.|editor2-last=Miller|editor2-first=Donald E.|title=GenX Religion|publisher=Psychology Press|location=New York, NY|year=2000|isbn=9780415925709|pages=113–135}} |
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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. |
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*{{cite book|first=Joseph E.|last=Yi|title=God and Karate on the Southside: Bridging Differences, Building American Communities|location=Lanham, MD|publisher=Lexington Books|date=2009|isbn=978-0739138373}} |
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====High commitment expectations for members==== |
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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.”<ref name="letusprey">{{cite journal | author=Wallis, Lynne| title=Let us Prey| journal=The Gaurdian (UK)| year=[[1 Oct]] [[2003]]| url=http://www.rickross.com/reference/icc/ICC318.html}}</ref> 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. |
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=== Personality changes=== |
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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 cannot apply a personality test to divinity; God, having no psychological weaknesses, would have full strength in all dimensions of personality.<ref> Yeakley, F. (Ed.). (1988). The Disciplining Dilemma. Nashville: Gospel Advocate Company. p 19. </ref> |
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== Cultural, philosophical and doctrinal changes == |
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Since the period of time in 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. |
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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#Baptism in Churches of Christ|baptism]] and evangelism. Other churches are gravitating toward [[Evangelicalism]] and [[Protestantism]]. |
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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. |
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=== ICOC and Churches of Christ relations === |
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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. |
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[[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.<ref>[http://www.freewebs.com/sbeat/icoccocessay.htm The ''"Church of Christ"'' and the International Churches of Christ ]</ref> However, the Worldwide Church of Christ (www.wwcoc.org) has chosen not to be affiliated with the ICOC or the mainline Church of Christ. |
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== ICOC plan for United Cooperation == |
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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, <ref>[http://www.icocinfo.org/about.html icocinfo.org about us] </ref> the membership of International Churches of Christ in 2005 is 92,474, which declined 12.5% from [[2004]].<ref>[http://www.disciplestoday.com/Headlines/061006_10ChurchesAddToUnityProposal.aspx ICOC Plan for United Cooperation.]</ref> |
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As of [[May 15]],[[2006]] a total of 343 Churches agreed to and committed to the Plan for United Cooperation. <ref>[http://www.exigo.com/public/1421/WebSites/17/images/20070308_ChurchesUnityProposal.pdf List of Churches agreed to and committed to the Plan for United Cooperation. ]</ref> |
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{{Sectstub}} |
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===Plan for United Cooperation document=== |
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Within the ICOC, there is 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's teachings." <ref>[http://www.disciplestoday.com/Headlines/images/20060311.APlanForUnitedCooperation.pdf Plan for United Cooperation document]</ref> |
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{{Sectstub}} |
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== See also == |
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*[[Churches of Christ]] |
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*[[Early Christianity]] |
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*[[First Christian Church]] |
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==Notes== |
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===References=== |
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<small> |
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{{reflist}} |
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</small> |
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==External links== |
==External links== |
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{{commons category}} |
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===International Churches of Christ cooperation websites=== |
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* {{Official website|http://www.dtoday.net/ }} |
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*[http://www.disciplestoday.com/ Disciples Today -International Churches of Christ Cooperation Link ] ''A web portal by Reformed & Progressive International Churches of Christ members.'' |
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* [http://www.icochistory.org/ Official history] |
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*[http://www.hopeww.org/index.htm HOPE Worldwide] ''An International Churches of Christ relief ministry''. |
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*[http://www.dtodayinfo.net/directory.aspx International Churches of Christ websites] |
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*[http://www.dpibooks.org/default.aspx Discipleship Publications International] ''DPI -International Churches of Christ Books'' |
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{{Restoration Movement}} |
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===News and opinions=== |
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{{Authority control}} |
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The growth, methodologies and goals of the ICOC have engendered a great deal of contention, with the church (and its past and present leaders) gathering both vocal adherents and vociferous critics. Consequently, online resources devoted to the ICOC tend to fall into one of three categories: |
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====Generally neutral==== |
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*[http://www.icochotnews.com/ Icochotnews.com] ''created by Justin Renton and Mike Taliaferro'' |
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*[http://www.icocinfo.org/links.html ICOC Info.org] ''Latest Updates on the International Churches of Christ -Unofficial information.'' |
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==== Generally critical ==== |
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<div style="font-size: 85%">''(International Churches of Christ are not part of Portland International Church of Christ (Portland Movement)'' |
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</div> |
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*[http://www.disciplestoday.com/Headlines/051112_Brothers_Statement_to_Kip_McKean.aspx Brothers from the ICOC Statement to Kip McKean ]''2005'' |
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*[http://www.rightcyberup.org/ RightCyberUp] ''website by Dave Anderson (the founder of RCU) |
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*[http://www.disciplestoday.com/Headlines/051014_Brothers_Letter_To_Kip_McKean.aspx International Churches of Christ "Brothers Letter" To Kip McKean ]''(Brothers - "Marking Letter by 84 ICOC church leaders" worldwide) October 14, 2005'' ''ICC Divides: Core Separating from Kip McKean Faction'' |
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*[http://www.phoenixvalleychurch.org/news/20050907_ChloupekResponse.htm Phoenix Letter] ''2005'' ''Response to the Starting of a New Church in Phoenix'' |
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'' |
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*[http://www.reveal.org/ ''"Reveal"'' - Charismatic Organization ] ''1996-2006 A smal group and website by [http://www.devsite.org/ Catherine Hampton] who is today an [http://www.oca.org/ Eastern Orthodox Church member] and Michelle Campbell ([http://www.abundantlifenow.org/ who is a Member of a Charismatic Organization] CA and pursuing a career in law'') ''to contribute to former members'' |
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*[http://www.laicc.net/content/churchletter.htm LA letter in 2006] ''An Open Letter To The Los Angeles Church From the Elders and Evangelists of the Los Angeles International Church of Christ - When Kip McKean Starting of a New Church in Los Angeles'' |
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==== Generally positive ==== |
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*[http://www.chemicalrecovery.org/news.php Chemical Recovery Ministry] ''An International Churches of Christ ministry''. |
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''Several International church sites:'' |
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<div style="font-size: 89%"> |
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* [http://www.allnationscoc.com/ '''All Nations''' ] * [http://www.aucklandchurch.com '''Auckland'''] * [http://www.bostoncoc.org/index.htm '''Boston''' ] * [http://www.bacc.cc/index.htm '''Bay Area''' ]* [http://www.icibsb.org.br/ '''Brasília'''] * [http://www.krisztusegyhaza.hu '''Budapest''' ]* [http://www.chicagochurch.org/ '''Chicago''' ]* [http://www.glasgowchurch.org.uk/ '''Glasgow''' ] * [http://www.gachurchofchrist.org/index.cfm '''Greater Atlanta''' ] * [http://www.gbcoc.net/ '''Greater Baltimore''' ] * [http://www.greaterlasvegaschurchofchrist.com/ '''Greater Las Vegas''' ]* [http://www.hongkongcoc.org/ '''Hong Kong'''] * [http://www.kcchurchofchrist.org/ '''Kansas City''' ] * [http://www.laicc.net/index.htm '''Los Angeles''' ] * [http://www.thelexingtonchurch.org/ '''Lexington''' ] * [http://www.limassolchurchofchrist.org/index.htm '''Limassol''' ] * [http://www.usuarios.lycos.es/icmadrid/ '''Madrid'''] * [http://www.malaysiachurches.org '''Malaysia'''] * [http://www.icmeca.org/ '''Mexico''']* [http://www.ccmilano.net/web/ '''Milano'''] * [http://www.ecmontreal.org/SiteV3/Site/ecmontreal.org.html '''Montréal''']* [http://www.nashvillechurch.org/cms/index.php '''Nashville''' ] * [http://www.nyccoc.net/index.htm '''New York''' ]* [http://www.neworleanschurch.org/joolma/ '''New Orleans''' ]* [http://www.ncoc.ru/ '''Novosibirsk''' ] * [http://www.gpcc.org/ '''Philadelphia''' ] * [http://www.savannahsaints.com/index.cfm '''Savannah''' ] * [http://www.sfamily.co.kr/ '''Seoul''' ]* [http://www.seattleicoc.org/ '''Seattle''' ] * [http://bgcoc.gg3.net/ '''Sofia''' ] * [http://thespringfieldchurch.com/ '''Springfield''' ] * [http://www.spbcoc.ru/ '''St. Petersburg''' ] * [http://www.sydneycoc.org/ '''Sydney''' ] * [http://www.taiwanchurch.org.tw/index_en.php '''Taiwan''' ] * [http://www.tbco.org/ '''Tampa Bay''' ] * [http://www.tccnet.org/ '''Tokyo''' ] * [http://www.canadianchurches.org/tcc/default.html '''Toronto''' ] * [http://www.wpgcc.org/wpgcc/ '''Winnipeg''' ]* [http://www.vcoc.ru/ '''Vladivostok''' ] * [http://www.vancouverchurchofchrist.org '''Vancouver''' ] * [http://www.zagrebicc.org/faqDtls.aspx?flag=2&CatId=11 '''Zagreb''' ] |
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</div> |
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''Restoration Unity pages:'' |
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*[http://www.restorationunity.com/ RestorationUnity.com] ''Representing greater unity among restorationist churches'' ( [[Churches of Christ]], ICOC, [[Independent Christian Church]] / church of Christ (inst), [[Disciples of Christ]] ) |
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*[http://www.restorationunity.com/content/view/154/28/ VBS Unity ICOC / CoC ] ''The Omaha Church of Christ (ICOC) and the Southwest Church of Christ (non-instrumental CoC) have teamed up for their Vacation Bible School (VBS). |
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{{DEFAULTSORT:International Churches Of Christ}} |
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[[Category:Christian denominations established in the 20th century]] |
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[[de:Internationale Gemeinden Christi]] |
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[[et:Rahvusvahelised Kristuse Kogudused]] |
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[[fr:Église internationale du Christ]] |
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Revision as of 13:51, 8 July 2024
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International Churches of Christ | |
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An International Church of Christ worship service | |
Classification | Protestant[1] |
Orientation | Restorationist |
Polity | Congregationalist |
Associations | |
Region | Global (144 nations)[5][better source needed] |
Official website | International Churches of Christ |
The International Churches of Christ (ICOC) is a body of decentralized, co-operating,[6][better source needed] religiously conservative and racially integrated Christian congregations.[3][7] In March 2024, the ICOC numbered their members at 112,000.[3][better source needed] A formal break was made from the Churches of Christ in 1993 with the organization of the International Churches of Christ.[8]: 418
Former members of the church have alleged that it is a cult[9] and have accused it, along with the International Christian Church, of covering up sexual abuse of children.[10][11] Janja Lalich, an academic expert on cults and coercion, has stated that in her view, the ICOC has at minimum some of the "hallmarks of a cult".[10] As of August 2023[update], some US branches of the church were the subject of multiple lawsuits.[11]
History
Origins in the Stone-Campbell Movement
The ICOC has its roots in a movement that reaches back to the period of the Second Great Awakening (1790–1870) of early nineteenth-century America. Barton W. Stone and Alexander Campbell are credited with what is today known as the Stone-Campbell or Restoration Movement. There are a number of branches of the Restoration movement and the ICOC was formed from within the Churches of Christ.[12][13][14] Specifically, it was born from a discipling movement that arose among the Churches of Christ during the 1970s.[8] This discipling movement developed in the campus ministry of Chuck Lucas.[8]
In 1967, Chuck Lucas was minister of the 14th Street Church of Christ in Gainesville, Florida (later renamed the Crossroads Church of Christ). That year he started 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, the 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".[15]
The ministry grew as younger members appreciated many of the new emphases on commitment and models for communal activity. This activity became identified by many with the forces of radical change in the larger American society that characterized the late sixties and seventies. The campus ministry in Gainesville thrived and sustained strong support from the elders of the local congregation in the 'Crossroads Church of Christ'. By 1971, as many as a hundred people a year were joining the church. Most notable was the development of a training program for potential campus ministers.[16]
From Gainesville to Boston: 1970s–1980s
Among the early converts at Gainesville was a student named Kip McKean who had been personally mentored by Chuck Lucas.[17] McKean was introduced to the Florida Church of Christ's controversial recruitment style in 1967.[18] Born in Indianapolis,[19] McKean completed a degree while training at Crossroads and afterward served as campus minister at several Churches of Christ locations. By 1979 his ministry grew from a few individuals to over three hundred making it the fastest growing Church of Christ campus ministry in America.[12][13][14] McKean then moved to Massachusetts, where he took over the leadership of the Lexington Church of Christ (soon to be called the Boston Church of Christ). Building on Lucas' initial strategies, McKean only agreed to lead the church in Lexington as long as every member agreed to be 'totally committed'. The church grew from 30 members to 3,000 in just over 10 years in what became known as the 'Boston Movement'.[12][13][14] McKean taught that the church was "God's true and only modern movement".[20] According to journalist Madeleine Bower, "the group became renowned for its extreme views and rigid teaching of the Bible, but mainstream churches quickly disavowed the group".[21]
David G. Bromley and J. Gordon Melton, sociologist and historian of religion respectively, note how International Churches of Christ grew quickly in the 1980s, but that "Even as ICOC developed, however, its relationships with several established institutional sectors deteriorated". The church's "doctrine signaled the movement's self-perceived superiority to other Christian churches in teaching that it alone had rediscovered biblical doctrines critical to individual salvation and insisting on rebaptizing new members to ensure their salvation". They note that further tensions developed as a result of the church's "aggressive evangelizing tactics" and use of 'discipling' or 'shepherding' practices, whereby new members were provided spiritual guidance and had their personal lives closely supervised by more established members. "Members were taught that commitment to the church superseded all other relationships", write Bromley and Melton. As a result, "the main branch of the Churches of Christ disavowed its relationship with ICOC; a number of universities banned ICOC recruiters; and ICOC became a prominent target of media and anticult group opposition".[22]
In 1985 a Church of Christ minister and professor, Dr. Flavil Yeakley, administered the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test to the Boston Church of Christ (BCC), the founding church of the ICOC. Yeakley passed out three MBTI tests, which asked members to perceive their past, current, and five-year in the future personality types.[23][24][25] While over 900 members were tested, 835 individuals completed all three forms. A majority of those respondents changed their perceived or imagined personality type scores on the three tests in convergence with a single type.[23][24] After completing the study, Yeakley observed that "The data in this study of the Boston Church of Christ does not prove that any certain individual has actually changed his or her personality in an unhealthy way. The data, however, does prove that there is a group dynamic operating in that congregation that influences its members to change their personalities to conform to the group norm".[26]
By the end of 1988 the churches in the Boston Movement were for all practical purposes a distinct fellowship, initiating a fifteen-year period during which there would be little contact between the CoC and the Boston Movement. By 1988, McKean was regarded as the leader of the movement.[16] It was at this time that the Boston church initiated its program of outreach to the poor called HopeWorldwide.[2] Also in 1988 McKean, finding that running the organization single-handedly had become unwieldy, selected a handful of men that he and Elena, his wife, had personally trained and named them World Sector Leaders.[27] In 1989 mission teams were officially sent out to Tokyo, Honolulu, Washington, DC, Manila, Miami, Seattle, Bangkok, and Los Angeles. That year, McKean and his family moved to Los Angeles to lead the new church "planted" (a euphemism the church uses for "established")[28] some months earlier. Within a few years Los Angeles, not Boston, was the fulcrum of the movement.[16]
The ICOC: 1990s
In 1990 the Crossroads Church of Christ broke with the movement and, through a letter written to The Christian Chronicle, attempted to restore relations with the Churches of Christ.[8]: 419 By the early 1990s some first-generation leaders had become disillusioned by the movement and left.[8]: 419 The movement was first recognized as an independent religious group in 1992 when John Vaughn, a church growth specialist at Fuller Theological Seminary, listed them as a separate entity.[12][16] TIME magazine ran a full-page story on the movement in 1992 calling them "one of the world's fastest-growing and most innovative bands of Bible thumpers" that had grown into "a global empire of 103 congregations from California to Cairo with total Sunday attendance of 50,000".[29] A formal break was made from the Churches of Christ in 1993 when the group organized under the name "International Churches of Christ."[8]: 419 This new designation formalized a division that was already in existence between those involved with the Crossroads/Boston Movement and "original" Churches of Christ.[8]: 418 [30] In September 1995, the Washington Post reported that for every three members joining the church, two left, attributing this statistic to church officials.[31]
Growth in the ICOC was not without criticism.[32] Other names that have been used for this movement include the "Crossroads movement," "Multiplying Ministries," and the "Discipling Movement".[15] Since each city had a single church, its membership might be large and geographically disperse; if so, it was divided into regions and then sectors of perhaps a few small suburban communities. This governing system attracted criticism as overly-authoritarian,[33] although the ICOC denied this charge. "It's not a dictatorship," said Al Baird, former ICOC spokesperson; "It's a theocracy, with God on top."[29] The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported in 1996 that "The group is considered so aggressive and authoritarian in its practices that other evangelical Protestant groups have labeled it 'aberrational' and 'abusive'. It has been repudiated by the mainstream Churches of Christ, a 1.6 million-member body from which it grew".[34]
Growth continued globally and in 1996 the independent organisation "Church Growth Today" named the Los Angeles ICOC as the fastest growing Church in North America for the second year running and another eight ICOC churches were in the top 100.[12][35] By 1999, the Los Angeles church reached a Sunday attendance of 14,000.[16] By 2001, the ICOC was an independent worldwide movement that had grown from a small congregation to 125,000 members and had planted a church in nearly every country of the world in a period of twenty years.[12][35]
The ICOC: 2000s
Membership growth slowed during the later half of the 1990s.[36] In 2000, the ICOC announced the completion of its six-year initiative to establish a church in every country with a city that had a population over 100,000.[27][37] In spite of this, numerical growth continued to slow. Beginning in the late 1990s, problems arose as McKean's moral authority as the leader of the movement came into question.[12][13][14] Expectations for continued numerical growth and the pressure to sacrifice financially to support missionary efforts took its toll. Added to this was the loss of local leaders to new planting projects. In some areas, decreases in membership began to occur.[16] At the same time, realization was growing that the accumulated costs of McKean's leadership style and associated disadvantages were outweighing the benefits. In 2001, McKean's leadership weaknesses were affecting his family, with all of his children disassociating themselves from the church, and he was asked by a group of long-standing elders in the ICOC to take a sabbatical from overall leadership of the ICOC. On 12 November 2001, McKean, who had led the International Churches of Christ, issued a statement that he was going to take a sabbatical from his role of leadership in the church:
During these days Elena and I have been coming to grips with the need to address some serious shortcomings in our marriage and family. After much counsel with the Gempels and Bairds and other World Sector Leaders as well as hours of prayer, we have decided it is God's will for us to take a sabbatical and to delegate, for a time, our day-to-day ministry responsibilities so that we can focus on our marriage and family.
Nearly a year later, in November 2002 he resigned from the office and personally apologized citing arrogance, anger and an over-focus on numerical goals as the source of his decision.[12][13][14]
Referring to this event, McKean said:
This, along with my leadership sins of arrogance, and not protecting the weak caused uncertainty in my leadership.[38]
The period following McKean's departure included a number of changes in the ICOC. Some changes were initiated from the leaders themselves and others brought through members.[12][39] Most notable was Henry Kriete, a leader in the London ICOC, who circulated an open letter detailing his feelings about theological exclusivism and authority in the ICOC. This letter affected the ICOC for the decade after McKean's resignation.[12][39]
Critics of the ICOC claim that Kip McKean's resignation sparked numerous problems.[40] However, others have noted that since McKean's resignation the ICOC has made numerous changes. The Christian Chronicle, a newspaper for the Churches of Christ, reports that the ICOC has changed its leadership and discipling structure.[17][41] According to the paper, "the ICOC has attempted to address the following concerns: a top down hierarchy, discipling techniques, and sectarianism".[42] In the years following McKean's resignation, the central leadership was replaced with "the co-operation agreement" with over 90% of the churches affirming to this new system of global co-ordination.[43]
Over time, McKean attempted to re-assert his leadership over the ICOC, yet was rebuffed. Sixty-four Elders, Evangelists and Teachers wrote a letter to McKean expressing concern that there had been "no repentance" from his publicly acknowledged leadership weaknesses.[44] McKean then began to criticize some of the changes that were being made, as he did in the 1980s toward Mainline Churches of Christ.[45] After attempting to divide the ICOC he was disfellowshipped in 2006[45][46] and founded a church that he called the International Christian Church.[45]
Church governance
The International churches of Christ are a family of over 750 independent churches in 155 nations around the world. The 750 churches form 34 Regional Families of churches that oversee mission work in their respective geographic areas of influence. Each regional family of churches sends Evangelists, Elders and Teachers to an annual leadership conference, where delegates meet to pray, plan and co-operate world evangelism.[47][48] Mike Taliaferro, from San Antonio Texas, says "The co-operation plan is a far better way of co-ordinating and unifying a church family of the size and global nature of the ICOC. No longer can one man make sweeping decisions that affect all the churches, considering that many of those churches he may never have visited. Building unity and consensus through prayer and discussion takes time but is worth it. The spiritual fruit of the Delegates Conference in Budapest is testimony to the success of this much less authoritarian approach to that which we had in the past."[49] "Service Teams" provide global leadership and oversight. The Service Teams consists of an Elders, Evangelists, Teachers, Youth & Family, Campus, Singles, Communications & Administration, and HOPEww & Benevolence teams.[47]
Ministry Training Academy
Since 2010,[citation needed] the education and ministerial training program in the ICOC is the Ministry Training Academy (MTA). The MTA consists of twelve core courses that are divided into three areas of study: biblical knowledge, spiritual development, and ministry leadership. Each course requires at least 12 hours of classroom study in addition to course work. An MTA student who completes the twelve core classes receives a certificate of completion.[50]
ICOC's relationship with mainstream Churches of Christ
With the resignation of McKean, some efforts at reconciliation between the International Churches of Christ and the mainstream Churches of Christ are being made.[needs update] In March 2004, Abilene Christian University held the "Faithful Conversations" dialog between members of the Churches 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 Churches 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. Despite improvements in relations, there are still fundamental differences within the fellowship. Early 2005 saw a second set of dialogues with greater promise for both sides helping one another.[51]
Beliefs and practices of the ICOC
Beliefs
This section may rely excessively on sources too closely associated with the subject, potentially preventing the article from being verifiable and neutral. (April 2024) |
The ICOC considers the Bible the inspired word of God. Through holding that their doctrine is based on the Bible alone, and not on creeds and traditions, they claim the distinction of being "non-denominational". Members of the 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 Acts 2. They believe that anyone who follows the plan of salvation as laid out in the scriptures is saved by the grace of God, through their faith in Jesus, at baptism.[3] They are a family of over 700 churches spread across 155 nations of the World. They are racially integrated congregations made up of a diversity of people from various age groups, economic, and social backgrounds. They believe Jesus came to break down the dividing wall of hostility between the races and people groups of this world and unite mankind under the Lordship of Christ (Ephesians 2:11-22).[3][52]
Like the Churches of Christ, the ICOC recognizes the Bible as the sole source of authority for the church and it also believes that the current denominational divisions are inconsistent with Christ's intent. Christians ought to be united.[citation needed] The ICOC like the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), in contrast to the CoC, consider permissible practices that the New Testament does not expressly forbid.[53]
The ICOC teaches that "anyone, anywhere who follows God’s plan of salvation in the Bible and lives under the Lordship of Jesus, will be saved. Christians are saved by the grace of God, through their faith in Jesus Christ, at baptism."[3] Scriptures used to support this view include Ephesians 2:10, Romans 3:22, Acts 2:38 and Matthew 28:18–20.[3] They claim that "faith alone" (e.g., saying the Sinner's Prayer) is not sufficient unless an individual by faith obeys God and gets baptized, believing that baptism is necessary for the forgiveness of sins. This is based on James 2:14–26 [17][54] The belief in the necessity of baptism is in agreement with the prevailing view in the Churches of Christ, and Restoration Movement[55] It is in contrast with the beliefs of Baptist churches that teach that faith alone is adequate for salvation. For Baptists, baptism is an outward sign of a salvation that has already occurred by virtue of a person's faith.[54]
One True Church (OTC) doctrine
Originally, the ICOC taught that only baptisms within ICOC member churches were legitimate and hence only members of ICOC churches had had their sins forgiven and were saved. This is known as the One True Church(OTC) doctrine.[56]
In 2003, however, after the departure of McKean, the leadership of ICOC issued letters of apology stating that they had been "too judgmental". As a consequence, many within ICOC began to accept that baptisms outside of ICOC churches, particularly those of family members who belonged to other Christian denominations, could be legitimate.[54] [57]
This is consistent with their historical roots in the Churches of Christ, which believe that Christ established only one church, and that the use of denominational creeds serves to foster division among Christians.[58]: 23, 24 [59][60] This belief dates to the beginning of the Restoration Movement; Thomas Campbell expressed an ideal of unity in his Declaration and address: "The church of Jesus Christ on earth is essentially, intentionally, and constitutionally one."[61]: 688
Lifestyle beliefs
The ICOC is opposed to abortion, recreational drugs, and non-marital sexual relations. Homosexuals are welcome, but they must lead a life of chastity.[62]
Practices
Sunday worship
A typical Sunday morning service involves singing, praying, preaching, and the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. An unusual element of ICOC tradition is the lack of established church buildings. Congregations meet in rented spaces: hotel conference rooms, schools, public auditoriums, conference centers, small stadiums, or rented halls, depending on the number of parishioners. Though the church is not static, neither is it "ad hoc" — the leased locale is converted into a Worship Facility. "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 reach out to more people in order to help them become Christians."[63]
This practice of not owning buildings changed when the Tokyo Church of Christ became the first ICOC church to build its own church building.[citation needed] This building was designed by the Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki.[64] This became an example for other ICOC churches to follow.[citation needed]
One Year Challenge
To provide an international service opportunity for college-age students, the ICOC has a program called the "One Year Challenge" (OYC), where graduating students take a year off and go and serve another church in the Third World[65] or a recently planted church in the First World looking to reach younger people with the gospel.[66] The One Year Challenge program currently[when?] operates in ten countries, including: China, Taiwan, The Czech Republic, Hungary, Haiti, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, The U.K. and The U.S.[67]
Discipling
McKean era (1979 - 2002)
A distinguishing feature of the ICOC under McKean was an intense form of discipleship. McKean's mentor, evangelist Chuck Lucas, developed this practice based in part on the book "The Master Plan of Evangelism" by Robert Coleman. Coleman's book taught that "Jesus controlled the lives of the apostles, that Jesus taught the apostles to 'disciple' by controlling the lives of others, and that Christians should imitate this process when bringing people to Christ."[68] Under McKean, "discipling" entailed members being "assigned a more senior adviser who is always available and frequently present in their lives, even at intimate moments, which mentors them through relationship difficulties. In this practice, individuals interact with other group members in hierarchical relationships".[69] According to Kathleen E. Jenkins's ethnography of the church, McKean viewed discipling as "the most efficient way to achieve the movement's stated goal: 'to evangelize the world in one generation'".[70]
The church's emphasis on discipling during this period was the subject of criticism. A number of ex-members expressed problems with discipling in the ICOC.[71] Critics and former members allege that discipling "involved public scorn as a way to humiliate vulnerable members, to keep them humble".[72] Jenkins notes that "[t]his ICOC structure has been greatly criticized by anti-cult organizations, university officials (the ICOC has been banned from several campuses), and ex-members".[7]
Discipling under McKean was mandatory. All disciples (i.e., baptized members) had to have a discipler. They had to check in with their discipler frequently, such as daily or weekly. All aspects of a disciple's life were subject to the guidance and approval of their discipler. This included the necessity for dating people within the ICOC on a regular basis (if the disciple were single) and determining how much money had to give to the church (typically 15%- 30% of income plus additional funds for special projects).[73] Disciples were also held accountable for how many new people they met on a daily basis and recruited into the church. Anyone criticizing the authority of a discipler was publicly rebuked in group meetings.[74]
Those who left the ICOC were to be shunned.[75] Disciples were told that only those baptized within the ICOC were saved. All other people were damned. Furthermore, anyone that left the church would also lose their salvation.[76]
Nonetheless, many disciples, including some who left, got a great deal out of the structure of the discipling system. The found "meaning and community" and formed close friendships across racial and class lines within the ICOC.[77] Sociologist Dr. Joseph E. Lee posits that the strict discipling program helped lead to a lowering of barriers between races and classes. He found this to be a general characteristic of organizations (e.g., martial arts schools) with strong formal beliefs and discipline.[78][79]
Post McKean era (2002-present)
With the departure of McKean in 2002, the ICOC transitioned from a top-down organization to a "loose federation of autonomous local churches".[80] This led to a change in discipling practices. One of the local ICOC churches, the Chicago Church of Christ, made discipling voluntary and not mandatory. Instead of a top-down hierarchy, they adopted a "servant leadership" model.[80]
US college campuses
Since his college days in the 1970s, Kip McKean, and the churches he has lead (e.g., ICOC and its predecessors), have made recruiting on college campuses a priority.[81] U.S. News & World Report ran an article in 2000 discussing proselytizing on college campuses. The article's author, Carolyn Kleiner, describes the ICOC as "[a] fast-growing Christian organization known for aggressive proselytizing to college students" and as "one of the most controversial religious groups on campus". Kleiner states that "some ex-members and experts on mind-control assert [it] is a cult". Furthermore, "[a]t least 39 institutions, including Harvard and Georgia State, have outlawed the organization at one time or another for violating rules against door-to-door recruiting, say, or harassment." In response to the question "A zealous group to be sure, but is it a cult?", U.S. News & World Report also quotes ICOC spokesperson Al Baird, who says "We're no more a cult than Jesus was a cult" and Professor Jeffrey K. Hadden, who agrees with Baird, saying "every new religion experiences a high level of tension with society because its beliefs and ways are unfamiliar. But most, if they survive, we come to accept as part of the religious landscape".[82]
Academics have complained that their students who get involved with the group tend to lose interest in their studies.[83]
Racial integration in ICOC churches
ICOC churches have an overall higher degree of racial integration than many other religious congregations. This is a priority for the denomination. Racial prejudice is viewed as a state of personal sinfulness which is done away with once a person is baptized and becomes a member. Jenkins also notes that "mandatory close and frequent social interaction forced members to develop such strong cross-racial and ethnic networks".[7] Writing in 2004, Kevin S. Wells reported that "The fact that ICOC congregations are typically multicultural has [...] gained the positive attention of national media in recent years".[84] In 2017, the ICOC formed an organization called SCUAD (Social, Cultural, Unity. and Diversity) that would "seek to champion racial conversation, education, and action among ICOC churches" [85] By 2021, many local ICOC churches had instituted their own SCUAD groups. There was, however, a certain amount of backlash from members who saw the SCUADs' explicit discussion of racism as a form of critical race theory. Nonetheless, by 2022 most congregations had begun conversations about "racial inclusion, diversity and justice" although few had engaged in the self examination necessary to lead to structural change.[85]
Legal issues
Lawsuit by an ICOC member church alleging defamation
On November 23, 1991, two Singapore Newspapers, The New Paper (English) and Lianhe Wanbao (Chinese), published articles stating that the Singapore Central Christian Church (a member of ICOC) was a "cult". The church sued the papers, alleging defamation. An initial court ruling held that what the papers had written was fair and in the public interest. An appeals court, however, overruled the lower court, stating that the papers had stated that the church was a cult as if that was a fact, when it was not a fact, but a comment. The papers were each ordered to pay the church S$20,000. The New Paper had to pay the founder of the church, John Philip Louis, S$30,000. The papers also had to pay the legal fees of the church and its founder.[86] In the same ruling, the appeals court held that an article that had also characterized the church as a cult, in the bi-monthly, Singapore-based, Christian magazine Impact, was written fairly from the standpoint of a Christian publication written for the Christian community. The church and Louis were ordered to pay Impact's legal fees.[86]
Lawsuits related to alleged coverup of sexual abuse
Since December 2022, the ICOC along with Kip McKean and the International Christian Churches have been named in multiple US federal lawsuits, alleging that between 1987 and 2012, leaders of the two churches covered up the sexual abuse of children, some of whom were as young as three, and financially exploited members.[11] The lawsuits describe instances of child molestation and accuse the ICOC together with founder Kip McKean and associated bodies of creating "a widespread culture of acceptance of the abuse of children".[10] The Los Angeles ICOC responded to the lawsuits by stating: "As the Church's long-standing policies make clear, we do not tolerate any form of sexual abuse, sexual misconduct, or sexual coercion, and we will fully cooperate with the authorities in any investigations of this type of behavior".[11]
See also
Notes
- ^ “Though some in the Movement have been reluctant to label themselves Protestants, the Stone-Campbell Movement is in the direct lineage of the Protestant Reformation. Especially shaped by Reformed theology through its Presbyterian roots, the Movement also shares historical and theological traits with Anglican and Anabaptist forebears." Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, "Protestant Reformation", in The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, Churches of Christ, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004, ISBN 0-8028-3898-7, ISBN 978-0-8028-3898-8
- ^ a b "HOPE worldwide". hopeww.org. Archived from the original on 1 April 2022. Retrieved 29 June 2006.
- ^ a b c d e f g "About the ICOC". "Disciples Today" - official ICOC web site. Archived from the original on 15 March 2024. Retrieved 27 March 2024.
- ^ "IP > Featured Items". ipibooks.com. Archived from the original on 30 August 2007. Retrieved 28 August 2007.
- ^ "Leadership". 14 March 2024. Archived from the original on 8 December 2023. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
- ^ ICOC Cooperation Service Team Chairmen (28 August 2009). "Plan for United Cooperation Summary". icocco-op.org. International Churches of Christ Co-operation Churches. Archived from the original on 25 September 2013. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
- ^ a b c Kathleen E. Jenkins (2003). "Intimate Diversity: The Presentation of Multiculturalism and Multiracialism in a High-Boundary Religious Movement". Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 42 (3). Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, vol. 42, no. 3: 393–409. doi:10.1111/1468-5906.00190. JSTOR 1387742. Archived from the original on 18 March 2024. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f g Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, Churches of Christ, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004, ISBN 0-8028-3898-7, ISBN 978-0-8028-3898-8, 854 pages, entry on International Churches of Christ
- ^ Jenkins 2005, p. 2.
- ^ a b c Borecka, Natalia (19 March 2023). "US Christian group accused of covering up sexual abuse of minors". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 26 September 2023. Retrieved 3 September 2023.
- ^ a b c d Yeung, Ngai; Moskow, Sam (28 February 2023). "Church leaders concealed sexual abuse of young children, lawsuits allege". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 4 September 2023. Retrieved 4 September 2023.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Stanback, C. Foster. Into All Nations: A History of the International Churches of Christ. IPI, 2005
- ^ a b c d e Farah Stockman (17 May 2003). "A Christian community falters". The Boston Globe. p. 1. Archived from the original on 14 March 2024. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
- ^ a b c d e Farah Stockman (17 May 2003). "A Christian community falters". The Boston Globe. p. 4. Archived from the original on 14 March 2024. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
- ^ a b c Paden, Russell (July 1995). "The Boston Church of Christ". In Miller, Timothy (ed.). America's Alternative Religions. Albany: State University of New York Press. pp. 133–36. ISBN 978-0-7914-2397-4. Retrieved 7 August 2007.
- ^ a b c d e f John F. Wilson (2010). "The International Churches of Christ:A Historical Overview". Leaven:Vol 18:Iss. 2, Article 3. Archived from the original on 15 March 2024. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
- ^ a b c Bobby Ross Jr. (September 2012). "Revisiting the Boston Movement: ICOC growing again after crisis". christianchronicle.org. Archived from the original on 2 October 2013. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
- ^ Stanczak 2000, p. 114.
- ^ "Kipmckean.com - Get Your Answers Here!". Kip McKean. Archived from the original on 24 August 2007. Retrieved 28 August 2007.
- ^ Bromley, David G. (2021). "Sources of Challenge to Charismatic Authority in Newly Emerging Religious Movements". Nova Religio. 24 (4): 26–40. doi:10.1525/nr.2021.24.4.26.
- ^ Bower, Madeleine (26 March 2023). "Inside NSW's most bizarre religious sects". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 6 September 2023. Retrieved 6 September 2023.
- ^ Bromley, David G.; Melton, J. Gordon (2012). "Reconceptualizing Types of Religious Organization". Nova Religio. 15 (3): 4–28. doi:10.1525/nr.2012.15.3.4.
- ^ a b Langone, Michael (1993). "1". Recovery from Cults. New York: W. W. Norton and Company. p. 39. ISBN 9780393701647.
- ^ a b Gasde, Irene; Richard A. Block (1998). "Cult Experience: Psychological Abuse, Distress, Personality Characteristics, and Changes in Personal Relationships". Cultic Studies Journal. 15 (2): 58. Archived from the original on 1 December 2014. Retrieved 2 September 2013.
- ^ Yeakley, Flavil (1988). The Discipling Dilemma. Gospel Advocate Company. ISBN 0892253118. Archived from the original on 1 July 2012. Retrieved 7 September 2012.
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 May 2022. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
{{cite web}}
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- ^ Barbeliuk, Mark (May 1996). "The Church That's Brainwashing Australians". Reader's Digest.
- ^ a b Ostling, Richard N. (18 May 1992). "Keepers of the Flock". Time. Archived from the original on 14 December 2006. Retrieved 12 July 2007.
- ^ Leroy Garrett, The Stone-Campbell Movement: The Story of the American Restoration Movement, College Press, 2002, ISBN 0-89900-909-3, ISBN 978-0-89900-909-4, 573 pages
- ^ "Campus Crusaders: The fast-growing International Churches of Christ welcomes students with open arms. Does it let them go?". Washington Post. 3 September 1995. p. F1, 4–5. ProQuest 903450905
- ^ "IcocHotNews Poll: Do We Still Have Discipleship Partners? Surprising Results". icochotnews.com. Archived from the original on 24 September 2014. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
- ^ Davis, Blair J. (March 1999). "The Love Bombers". Philadelphia City Paper. Archived from the original on 4 April 2008. Retrieved 9 July 2007.
- ^ "Some call sect 'abusive'". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 17 November 1996. p. A20. ProQuest 391759338
- ^ a b Dave Saltenstall (22 October 2000). "A Church of Christ or Cult of Cash". New York Daily News. Archived from the original on 13 March 2024. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
- ^ Mike Taliaferro, "Has a New Era Begun for the ICOC?" Archived 28 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine Disciples Today, 30 January 2013
- ^ McKean, Kip (4 February 1994). "Evangelization Proclamation" (PDF). International Churches of Christ. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 June 2007. Retrieved 9 July 2007.
- ^ McKean, Kip (21 August 2005). "The Portland Story". Portland International Church of Christ. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 9 July 2007.
- ^ a b Jenkins 2005, p. 240-246.
- ^ Callahan, Timothy (1 March 2003). "Boston movement' founder quits". Christianity Today. Archived from the original on 6 October 2013. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
- ^ "Revisiting the Boston Movement – ICOC Growing Again After Crisis". Christian Chronicle. September 2012. Archived from the original on 2 October 2013. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
- ^ "Church Growth: The Cost of Discipleship?-Despite early allegations of abuse of authority, the International Churches of Christ expanded rapidly". Christianity Today. September 1997. Archived from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
- ^ "List of Co-Operation Churches". Disciples Today. Archived from the original on 16 September 2013. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
- ^ Brothers the ICOC. "Brothers' Letter to Kip McKean". disciplestoday.org. Archived from the original on 9 March 2014. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
- ^ a b c Carrillo, Robert (2009), "The International Churches of Christ (ICOC) Archived 3 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine," Leaven Archived 2 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine, Vol. 17, Issue 3, Article 11, Pepperdine University (accessed 28 November 2013)
- ^ Brothers the ICOC. "Brothers' Statement to Kip McKean". disciplestoday.org. Archived from the original on 9 March 2014. Retrieved 22 April 2014.
- ^ a b Roger Lamb. "International Churches of Christ (ICOC) Co-operation Churches - ICOC Service Teams". icocco-op.org. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
- ^ "International Churches of Christ (ICOC) Co-operation Churches". icocco-op.org. Archived from the original on 9 November 2013.
- ^ Budapest Editorial. YouTube. 28 May 2012. Archived from the original on 21 February 2020. Retrieved 11 September 2017.
- ^ "ICOC Ministry Training Academy Guidelines". ICOC Ministry Training Academy. Archived from the original on 10 June 2015. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
- ^ "ICOC, 'mainline' leaders meet at Abilene Christian". The Christian Chronicle. 28 October 2005. Archived from the original on 4 January 2024. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
- ^ "What We Believe". ctcoc.co.za. Archived from the original on 9 March 2016.
- ^ William E. Tucker; Lester G. McAlister (1975). Journey in Faith: A History of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Chalice Press. pp. 242–247. ISBN 9780827217034.
- ^ a b c Gordon Ferguson (2 December 2009). "Baptismal Cognizance: What do you need to know when you are baptized?". Disciples Today (official ICOC web site). Archived from the original on 28 March 2024. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
- ^ Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, ed. (2004). The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, Churches of Christ. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. ISBN 978-0-8028-3898-8. ISBN 0-8028-3898-7, ISBN 978-0-8028-3898-8
- ^ Jenkins 2005, p. 140.
- ^ Jenkins 2005, p. 243.
- ^ V. E. Howard, What Is the Church of Christ? 4th Edition (Revised) Central Printers & Publishers, West Monroe, Louisiana, 1971
- ^ O. E. Shields, "The Church of Christ," Archived 29 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine The Word and Work, VOL. XXXIX, No. 9, September 1945.
- ^ J. C. McQuiddy, "The New Testament Church", Gospel Advocate (11 November 1920):1097–1098, as reprinted in Appendix II: Restoration Documents of I Just Want to Be a Christian, Rubel Shelly (1984)
- ^ Douglas Allen Foster and Anthony L. Dunnavant, "Slogans", in The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, Churches of Christ, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004, ISBN 0-8028-3898-7, ISBN 978-0-8028-3898-8,
- ^ Yi 2009, p. 75.
- ^ David Frey (July 1999). "The Fear of God: Critics Call Thriving Nashville Church a Cult". InReview Online.
- ^ Tokyo Church of Christ Archived 20 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine page on the McGill University website (accessed 21 February 2011)
- ^ "Some people, taking the One Year Challenge in South Africa, tell their story". icochotnews.com. Archived from the original on 27 July 2014. Retrieved 25 April 2013.
- ^ disciplesadventures.org
- ^ "One Year Challenge". oneyearchallenge. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
- ^ Daniel Terris (8 June 1986). "Come All Ye Faithful". The Boston Globe. p. 42.
- ^ Neitz, Mary Jo (2007). "Review of "Awesome Families: The Promise of Healing Relationships in the International Churches of Christ"" (PDF). Contemporary Sociology: A Journal of Reviews. 36 (1): 53–54. doi:10.1177/009430610703600131. JSTOR 20443664.
- ^ Jenkins 2005, p. 25.
- ^ Giambalvo, Carol (1997). The Boston Movement: Critical Perspectives on the International Churches of Christ. American Family Foundation. p. 219. ISBN 0931337062.
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- ^ Yi 2009, p. 62.
- ^ Yi 2009, p. 75-76.
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- ^ Yi 2009, p. 75-78.
- ^ Yi 2009, p. 78.
- ^ Yi 2009, p. 12.
- ^ Yi, Joseph (2015). "The Dynamics of Liberal Indifference and Inclusion in a Global Era". Society. 52 (3): 264–274. doi:10.1007/s12115-015-9897-z.
- ^ a b Yi 2009, p. 79.
- ^ Daniel Terris (8 June 1986). "Come All Ye Faithful". The Boston Globe. p. 13.
- ^ "A Push Becomes A Shove Colleges get uneasy about proselytizing". U.S. News & World Report. Archived from the original on 27 June 2008.
- ^ Balmer, Randall (2004). Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press. p. 353. ISBN 9781932792041.
- ^ Wells, Kevin S. (2004). "International Churches of Christ". In Foster, Douglas A.; Blowers, Paul M.; Dunnavant, Anthony L.; Williams, D. Newell (eds.). The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. pp. 418–419. ISBN 0-8028-3898-7.
- ^ a b M.R. Burns (2023). "Paul's Approach to Social Superiority in the Corinthian Church Applied to Racial Superiority in the 21st Century Church". Doctoral thesis, Bethel University. Archived from the original on 16 March 2024. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
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References
- Jenkins, Kathleen E. (2005). Awesome Families: The Promise of Healing Relationships in the International Churches of Christ. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. ISBN 9780813536637. JSTOR j.ctt5hj239.
- Stanczak, Gregory C. (2000). "The Traditional as Alternative: The GenX Appeal of the International Church of Christ". In Flory, Richard W.; Miller, Donald E. (eds.). GenX Religion. New York, NY: Psychology Press. pp. 113–135. ISBN 9780415925709.
- Yi, Joseph E. (2009). God and Karate on the Southside: Bridging Differences, Building American Communities. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. ISBN 978-0739138373.