International Churches of Christ

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International Churches of Christ, autonomous, non-denominational christian congregations. It has also been called the "Boston Movement". International Churches of Christ generally emphasize their intent to simply be part of the original church established by Jesus Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection, which became evident on the Day of Pentecost as described in the New Testament in Acts 2. International Churches of Christ emphasize the use of only the New Testament to find doctrine, ecclesiastical structure, and moral beliefs, while maintaining that the Old Testament is also the inspired Word of God, is historically accurate, and that its principles remain true and beneficial (although its laws are not binding under the new covenant in Christ unless otherwise taught in the New Testament).

Alternate meanings: International Churches of Christ discussed in this article are not part of the Church of Christ, Independent Christian Churches, the Disciples of Christ, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the United Church of Christ, Church of Christ, Scientist, any Church of Christ within the Latter Day Saint movement, the Churches of Christ in Australia; the Fellowship of Churches of Christ in the United Kingdom; the Associated Churches of Christ in New Zealand; or the Philippines-based Iglesia ni Cristo.

Contents

[edit] Origins

[edit] Restoration Movement

The roots of the International Churches of Christ lie in the Restoration Movement of the early 19th century, which promoted a return to the practices of the 1st century Christian churches as described in the New Testament. The American Restoration Movement of the 18th and 19th centuries was an emergence of seekers who perpetuated ideals that have existed throughout church history regarding inspired truth over ecclesiastic tradition or dogma. This movement was in some ways similar to the Reformation and was sometimes referred to as "the new Reformation." The Restoration Movement promoted a return to the purposes of the first century churches as described in the New Testament and is considered by some historians to be part of the Second Great Awakening.

See also: Restoration Movement

[edit] Churches of Christ

The approximate number of a cappella Churches of Christ in the United States is 13,000, including about 1.3 million individual members. The International Churches of Christ an offshoot of the Church of Christ, originating in an evangelistic effort known as the Crossroads Movement in Gainseville, Florida. The movement's headquarters were later established in Boston, Massachusetts and the title International Churches of Christ was formalized there in 1981 after becoming centralized structure.

See also:Churches of Christ

[edit] Crossroads Church of Christ

A chief influence on the development of the International Churches of Christ was the "Crossroads Movement", growing out of the campus ministry of the 14th Street Church of Christ (later called the Crossroads Church of Christ) at the University of Florida. Campus minister Chuck Lucas created a very successful style or method of ministry and evangelism. The church established a school of ministry to teach its unique discipling methods. These methods may have been learned from the "Shepherding Movement" that came to prominence within Charismatic and Pentecostal churches in Florida during the 1960s and 1970s. Kip McKean and other "Boston Movement" leaders, including McKean's brother Randy, were trained at the Crossroads school. Lucas resigned in 1985, in the wake of a homosexual scandal, leaving the Crossroads movement. Though the Crossroads Church of Christ eventually repudiated McKean's "Boston Movement" in the late 1980s, its foundational role cannot be overlooked. McKean and others developed their methods based on those taught by Lucas.

Ministries "campus ministries" were not very common among the churches of Christ at the time the Crossroads Movement came to fore, though they had existed at larger universities for some time, primarily in Texas and Tennessee. Between 100-200 Crossroads-trained campus ministers began serving at churches of Christ throughout the country, primarily at public universities, and were successful in the conversions of many new members using small group Bible studies, called "Bible talks" or "soul talks." In the late 1970s and early 1980s, many of the campus ministries came under fire, both within their sponsoring congregations and in the public arena, for using discipling techniques that were considered too controlling. Many campus ministers resigned, or were dismissed, and formed new congregations, typically in the same cities and often with the encouragement of Crossroads-movement leadership. Campus ministries were occasionally precluded from holding meetings on campuses when too many complaints about their methods were received by university officials.

McKean himself had been working with the Heritage Chapel Church of Christ in Charleston, Illinois, receiving financial support from the prosperous Memorial Church of Christ in Houston, Texas. However, in April 1977, Memorial withdrew its financial support from McKean and another evangelist, due to McKean's methodology and doctrinal positions. McKean stayed on with the Heritage Chapel Church of Christ despite this lack of funding for another 2 years.

[edit] Evangelization Proclamation document

Evangelization Proclamation document
Evangelization Proclamation document

A 1994 document recounts the church's official version of its history at that time (which some have contested). This proclamation included a "Six-Year Plan" to establish an ICOC church in every country with a city of at least 100,000 people, by the year 2000. This was later amended to "by the end of the year 2000" without explanation.

After recounting the now contested history of how the church was called by God to fulfill the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-10), the document goes on to summarize the church's strategy for doing so. It claimed that God required total commitment from everyone in the ICOC in order to "change the course of human events" by evangelising the whole world.

This document was also signed by the World Sector Leaders, and was distributed throughout the ICOC congregations.

Link: HTML Text of Evangelization Proclamation

Alternate Link: PDF Text of Evangelization Proclamation

[edit] Growth of ICOC

The Lexington Church of Christ, outside of Boston, Massachusetts, was considering closing its doors when they decided to hire Kip McKean as minister in 1979. Within two years, the Lexington church grew from 30 members to over 300. In 1981, McKean and the church began to fulfill a "vision" of organizing churches in key world metropolitan centers, especially those with populations greater than 100,000. By the early 1990s, almost 150 churches had been organized. While this growth was widely publicized, McKean determined that a central strategy for funding and organizing new churches was needed. Until that time, individual congregations would organize, train, and fund their own mission teams.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the International Churches of Christ went through a period of rapid growth. A movement of churches was established with the world divided geographically into seven World Sectors. A single International Churches of Christ church was established as a "pillar" for each sector and this church became responsible for missionary work in that area. Lines of responsibility were also passed down from one church to another, with the Boston Church of Christ as the flagship.

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. Though still widely known as the "Boston Movement", the official name was adopted in 1993. The official website claims the church had 135,039 members in 434 congregations by January of 2003. However, such figures are widely disputed outside of International Churches of Christ. Currently, the total membership of International Churches of Christ is around 95,000.[citation needed]

[edit] The Indianapolis Church of Christ

This section requires more specific details, and independent references to back them up.

The first major challenge of the International Churches of Christ leadership occurred in 1994, when Ed Powers, evangelist for the Indianapolis Church of Christ, openly questioned several of the more controversial aspects of the International Churches of Christ, including mandated giving and the exclusivity doctrine of salvation. The Indianapolis Church of Christ was surpassing 1,000 in attendance at that time and was a major congregation in the Midwest region of the United States. In a special meeting of the congregation, Ed Powers challenged several of the International Churches of Christ -enforced practices which he identified as quenching the joy and spiritual health of the members of the congregation. Upon learning of this special meeting, leaders from across the United States, including Kip McKean, flew into Indianapolis and effectively split the church. As a result, there were now two congregations in Indianapolis: the newly formed Indianapolis International Church of Christ and the now-estranged and renamed Circle City Church. Ed Powers later retired from the ministry of the Circle City Church and Keith Bradbury became evangelist for the congregation." Steve Cannon currently oversees the Indianapolis International Church of Christ.

[edit] Changes in the International Churches of Christ

In early 2001, some of the World Sector Leaders (Regional Evangelists directing geographic areas of churches) began to question the effectiveness of the present leadership structure as well as the qualifications of Kip and Elena McKean to continue in their global leadership role. By September, the issue had reached a head in which the majority of World Sector Leaders agreed that significant changes were necessary. In November 2001, the McKeans announced that they were stepping down from leading the Los Angeles Church of Christ in order to take a sabbatical for an unspecified amount of time in order to focus on "marriage and family issues." All of the McKeans' adult children had disassociated themselves from the movement. This was not the only issue for the sabbatical, but it was a visible "thorn" in Kip McKean's side.

At this time, the International Churches of Christ administration, under the leadership of Andy Fleming (former missionary to Scandinavia and the Soviet Union), began to formulate a plan for a massive reduction in the overhead of the worldwide organization. The goal of this administrative plan was to refocus the resources of the local congregations on building up their own ministries as well as guaranteeing continued 'goodwill' in future missions contributions. By the end of 2002, the overhead had been reduced by 67%, and Fleming resigned as the Chairman of the Board.

[edit] Kip McKean's resignation

In November 2002, the McKeans announced their resignations from their roles as World Mission Evangelist, Women's Ministry Leader and Leader of the World Sector Leaders. The World Sector Leaders also announced the disintegration of their leadership group with the suggestion that a new representative leadership group including evangelists, elders and teachers, be formed with an initial meeting in May 2003. In February 2003, Henry Kriete, a leader in the London Church of Christ, wrote an open letter titled "Honest to God: Revolution Through Repentance and Freedom" to the leadership of the International Churches of Christ, criticizing many of its practices. Kriete called for the leaders of the International Churches of Christ to renounce, abandon and repent of its systemic abusive practices, financial capriciousness, arrogance, and controversial teachings. While perhaps originally intended for leaders' eyes only, many rank-and-file members were able to obtain and read copies of the letter over the internet. It remains massively distributed to this day and is posted on a number of websites. The majority of churches throughout the International Churches of Christ eventually accepted the letter. While reactions to the letter caused large rifts, many hurt feelings and scarred faith, many church members, though not all, believe that its writing and widespread dissemination was an act of God intended to compel the church to redress many of its abuses and un-biblical practices. As a result of the letter, many churches in the International Churches of Christ no longer require the strictly assigned discipling relationships that once characterized the International Churches of Christ. Overall, the removal of the hierarchical structure that was part and parcel of the assigned discipling relationships has allowed the leadership and the general membership to become far closer than in the past and there is far less intimidation of "ordinary" members. For example, there is now open opposition to leadership when they are not perceived to be doing what is right. However, it should be noted not all leaders accept the challenges. Furthermore, while many members enjoy the freer, less constrictive fellowship, many also lament the loss of closeness and constant biblical counseling that were a part of the assigned discipling relationships. While a significant number of those relationships were perceived as authoritarian and abusive, many members also acknowledge some of those relationships were also extremely helpful, faith-building and, sometimes, life-saving.

[edit] Church organization and services

[edit] Congregational autonomy

Since the breakdown of its structure, there are currently no official headquarters for the International Churches of Christ. In the past, the Boston church was the hub and location of the movement's universal leadership. Before this breakdown Kip McKean was recognized as the earthly leader of the church.

[edit] Congregational Leadership

Church government is congregational, rather than denominational. Elders (i.e., bishops, shepherds, pastors, overseers), are seen as the spiritual leaders of the congregation.

[edit] Evangelist, Preacher

The Evangelist, Preacher, or Minister prepares and delivers sermons, teaches Bible classes, performs weddings, 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.

[edit] HOPE Worldwide

[edit] Chemical Recovery Ministry

[edit] Kip McKean and the Portland ministry

In July 2003, Kip and Elena McKean moved to Portland, Oregon to lead the Portland International Church of Christ. Since that time McKean has been making an effort to reunite as much of the former International Churches of Christ as possible yet maintain what he sees to be biblical convictions.

In August 2005, Kip McKean effectively divided International Churches of Christ churches and members between those willing and those unwilling to follow him by announcing "Portland leadership believes it is time for a progressive 'calling-out of the remnant of disciples' from dying, former International Churches of Christ Churches."3 McKean declared that he would call each church to return to biblical teachings, and if current leadership were not inclined to permit this, he would encourage the formation of a new church and lend his support to them. The vast majority of churches within the International Churches of Christ have not endorsed McKean's plans and few appear to be inclined to do so in the future. A few churches, notably Phoenix, Boston and Seattle, have publicly announced opposition to McKean's efforts.

[edit] Belief & practices

International Churches of Christ have also accepted and adapted certain beliefs and practices foreign to the majority of the Churches of Christ.

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 church, and to the church here on earth. A number of congregations today have modified this to now admit that God's church here on earth is not just the International Churches of Christ, but the International Churches of Christ is a subset of God's church here on earth.

[edit] Modern Disciples

Disciples are people who are living or who have lived since the time of Christ and have repented, been baptized and continue to live for Christ. The International Churches of Christ believe that the doctrine of once saved, always saved is flawed and is very easy to see through scriptures like Matthew 24:12-13 God calls true disciples to be committed to God for life, not just at the time of baptism.

[edit] Controversy

The International Churches of Christ have been surrounded by controversy over the years; media sources from Christianity Today (an 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

Many, if not most, of those articles have described allegations of emotional abuse and high levels of control. The ICOC has been listed as a group of concern by several cult watch groups. Many former members have described the group as a cult, a point which has been strongly contested by the group's leaders and lay members. However, some former leaders of the group are now amongst those characterizing the group as a cult.

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.

Criticism

The church has received much criticism from many groups, both religious and secular, as well as by former members. Former members have created websites such as "reveal.org" which host information strongly critical of the church. Gustavo Sassano, formerly the top-ranked leader of the group in Argentina, wrote an article, "Why I Left", wherein he documents many of the claims former lay members have made about extreme levels of control and emotional abuse. In that article, he describes "breaking sessions" wherein, following the examples of higher level leaders, he had been taught to shout at and humiliate people until "they cried and agreed to do whatever the breakers thought that person should do." He goes on to state that doing this was standard practice.Much of the criticism has focused on:

"Discipling"

Much of the controversy surrounds the practice of "discipling", in which each member is assigned to a "discipling partner" with whom the member is expected to discuss every aspect of his or her life including, but not limited to, individual Bible study, sins, daily habits, relationships, financial contribution to the church, and efforts in evangelism. This practice, related to the Shepherding Movement first begun by the Fort Lauderdale Five in the mid-1970s, was once mandatory in every International Church of Christ. However, since the changes that began in 2003, there have been adjustments to the practice. Although many congregations have retained the former practices, others have experimented with alternative means of "discipling", such as giving the members some measure of choice in who their assigned "discipleship partner" will be. Some current members admit that some members have abused discipling. In light of the 2003 events, many churches have reevaluated what the Bible says about discipling and this is the reason that it is a choice of the individual as to who their disciplship partner is.

Assertions of ICoC as "True church"

Members of the ICOC have asserted that they are the only "true church" following the Bible. This includes but is not limited to denouncing "not true, 'just religious' Christians" and that 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 spread the good news and convert people to just plain christianity, regardless of which church people choose to be in.

"Finance"

There have been accusations of financial impropriety including allegations made by International Churches of Christ critics, former International Churches of Christ staff and even current International Churches of Christ leaders. Many of these people or groups above claim that International Churches of Christ staff live lavish lifestyles with members' monetary donations. In these situations, it is asserted that there is a double standard being practiced by the leadership; demanding sacrificial lifestyles from the rank and file and putting a huge emphasis on giving by the general membership while enjoying an affluent church-funded lifestyle themselves.[citation needed]

The persuasion of International Churches of Christ members about criticism on finance

The International Churches of Christ's principle: Leaders can not really fully devote themselves to leadership and evangelism while encumbered by other 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.

Other

Control

The ICOC has enforced, overtly and/or covertly, an extensive set of behavioral norms created by the leaders governing such issues as dating, financial management, marriage, living arrangements, and monetary contribution requirements. The exact level of control exerted by leaders over followers in the International Churches of Christ has varied over time and from one leader to another. Many of the claims of high levels of control have been stated to be issued in the form of "advice" that members have been required to seek out. This advice has been claimed by former members to have been on any topic, not just those typically considered to be religious in nature. Former members who have published claims about their experiences in the International Churches of Christ have frequently alleged that they were required to always seek advice. There are inconsistent reports on the degree to which said advice was expected to be followed; however, published accounts by former members have repeatedly included claims that "advice" was expected to be followed as if they were commands. Admission of the existence of extreme levels of control have been published by leaders of the group, most notably Henry Kreite. It was once official doctrine of the International Churches of Christ that any instructions given by a leader to a follower should be obeyed unless the member were instructed to "sin", commit a crime, or the instructions violated the member's conscience. The published accounts by former leaders, including those issued when the ICOC broke "fellowship" with Kip McKean, have consistently detailed extreme cases of emotional abuse and demands for absolute obedience.

"Questionable practice"

Other questionable practices have been alleged, Including the use of "sin lists" (lists of individual members' sins passed around to leaders, sometimes also including background information on individual members).

Former members

One of the notable features of the International Churches of Christ is that the high pressure environment of the church led to a rapid turnover of membership. By the 1990s, though the movement was relatively young, the number of ex-members well exceeded the number of members. Many ex-members insist this church is an unjust cult, while current members deny the assertion and defend the movement vigorously. There exists a group of former International Churches of Christ members comprising the "Reveal" organization which founded reveal.org website, which claims it is dedicated "to provid[ing] complete criticism information about Kip McKean and the former Boston movement's beliefs and practices".

"Elitist belief"

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".

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.

[edit] Cultural, philosophical and doctrinal changes

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.

As of 2005 there are three (sometimes overlapping) groups within the International Churches of Christ. There are those who have held firmly to what has traditionally distinguished the International Churches of Christ: discipling, Bible Talks (small groups), baptism and evangelism. Other churches are gravitating toward Evangelicalism and Protestantism.

The Circle City Church (formerly the Indianapolis Church of Christ) is now an independent and non-denominational congregation, but has made several overtures to open dialog with the now largely independent congregations of the International Churches of Christ, including the Indianapolis International Church of Christ congregation.

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 held the "Faithful Conversations" dialog between members of the Church of Christ and International Churches of Christ. 1 Those involved were able to apologize and initiate an environment conducive to building bridges. A few leaders of the Church of Christ apologized for use of the word "cult" in reference to the International Churches of Christ. The International Churches of Christ leaders apologized for alienating the Churches of Christ and implying they were not Christians. Although a better atmosphere for cooperation and understanding was generated, there are still fundamental differences within the fellowship. Early 2005 saw a second set of dialogs with greater promise for both sides helping one another.

Harding University is contemplating a distance learning program geared toward those ministers who were trained in the International Churches of Christ. 2

[edit] United Cooperation

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

As of May 15, 2006 a total of 343 Churches agreed to and committed to the Plan for United Cooperation.

[edit] Plan for United Cooperation document

[edit] Advocacy

The group's advocates have long been pointing out the International Churches of Christ members' commitment to live out their faith:

  • When the divorce rate within the Evangelical churches is relatively the same as the national average, the International Churches of Christ boasted extremely low figures in their congregations.[citation needed] Prior to 2003, the church claimed a divorce rate of 0%. This fact, according to the church, was based upon two members of the church could not divorce. A divorce was only acceptable if a member was married to a non-member and the non-member wanted a divorce, or if one member of the church, "fell away" (left the church) and divorced their member spouse. These were the only two instances, besides physical abuse, that were acceptable for the divorce of a church member and did not count toward the church's divorce rate percentage.[citation needed]
  • When only one out of every eight churches bother to evaluate their membership's evangelism effort (Barna: 2006), the International Churches of Christ determined to live out the Great Commission.[citation needed] (However, there are quotes that seem to show that some members of the International Churches of Christ have preached to focus on baptizing only certain classes of people)

[edit] Notable Members

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] Official direcrory

[edit] Official church sites

[edit] Official sites taken down

[edit] Related Organizations

[edit] Historical Documents

[edit] News, Forums, and Opinions

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:

[edit] Generally neutral

  • ICOC Info.org Latest Updates on the International Churches of Christ -Unofficial information.
  • ICOC Blogspot Tracks topics from the various ICOC discussion sites.
  • KipMcKean.com Unofficial information about Kip McKean. Contains quotes, audio files and documented information
  • ICOC discussion forum Discussion of the beliefs and practices of the controversial International Churches of Christ
  • ICOC Commentary Blogspot Commentary by a former member on the ICOC.

[edit] Generally positive

[edit] Generally critical

[edit] Several on-line church sites

[edit] References

3"The Portland Story". (August 21, 2005).

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