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Date Posted: 12:32:17 10/12/04 Tue
Author: John
Subject: History of ICC reform efforts
In reply to: Chris 's message, "A comparision of ICC with UBF" on 08:56:43 10/12/04 Tue

Thank you for the welcome. Due to the nature of the changes (or lack thereof) in the ICC it is not so easy to say that I am a former ICC member or a current ICC member. I do not consider myself a member because my local congregation is beginning to hold joint social events with a Vineyard church, publicly taught that the pyramid structure is wrong, and the discipling concept has been abandoned. Our minister is getting a theology degree from a Presbyterian school and his preaching has already demonstrated a different paradigm of focus. However, if you go to member sites like ICoCInfo or the new semi-official site KNN Reloaded, my church is listed. They didn't ask to list us, they just did as a big assumption. Pretty soon, my church is going to change our name to get away from the whole 'church of christ' stigma entirely. However, I'm sure that both these sites will list us again and there's debate within our leadership about that.

In any case, I appreciate a place to discuss similarities away from common ICoC discussion areas. The forums go through cycles and the current cycle is one of some pretty wild speculation.

Reform in the ICC has been underway for quite some time, however, all such efforts have been called 'divisive' and 'slanderous'. Very few of these efforts have been publicly acknowledged - and even those few have been acknowledged only after public pressure.

The first efforts were lead by Jerry Jones when he left in 1986. First, some background. Dr. Jones had been in Crossroads since the 70s and moved to Boston in 1985. Having a Doctorate of Theology, his position within the Boston Church of Christ was to give the Boston Movement some credibility. He and Gordon Ferguson became the primary teachers in Boston, along with Kip McKean delivering the necessary bombast from time to time. It was also during this time that the leaders in Boston contacted Flavil R. Yeakley to perform a study on why the Boston Movement was so growing so quickly. The center of the discipling movement had shifted from Florida to Boston and the leadership in Boston felt it necessary to provide justification for the shift and to solidify the methods and practices of 'discipling' churches. Up until this point, each church was pretty autonomous and did what they wished, although by 1987, Kip was demanding that evangelists come to Boston to be trained. (The evangelist would come to Boston, Boston would send a 'trained' minister to the evangelist's congregation to preach until the evangelist returned after his training.)

In short, both efforts (the enlisting of Jerry Jones and the objective study by Flavil R. Yeakley) backfired. Both men pointed out flaws in the structure of the church and the nature of so-called discipling. Because Dr. Jones publicly taught against the Boston churches, he was marked as divisive and characterized as a greedy person making money from confusing disciples. Dr. Yeakley's study has never been publicly mentioned. To this day, any outside perspective or criticism is typically shunned and/or minimized.

In 1991, Rick Bauer, an editor for the official ICC magazine "Upside Down" tried to set up a meeting with leaders in Boston and with Kip in LA to discuss doctrinal issues as well as the pyramid structure and unhealthy discipling practices. Rick was pursuing a theology degree in Denver (a Crossroads church, not a Boston church) when he went to Boston to be "trained". Boston sent a minister to Denver to reconstruct the church there while Rick was being trained. This meeting never took place, Rick only published accounts of what transpired after he was marked by the Boston church. Since then, like Dr. Jones, he has been minimized and ridculed as trying to make money from speaking against the ICC.

Also in 1991, Ayman Akshar, a former administrator for the London Church of Christ exposes the financial problems of the church in London. After a government investigation, the church is fined and ordered to pay back taxes to the government. Administrative policy changes for overseas churches and offcially changed everywhere in 1994 when new policy is published.

In 1994, a "Kingdom Teachers Conference" was called by Douglas Jacoby and others. The purpose of the original meeting was to coordinate the ongoing training in churches around the world. Some in that meeting were looking to go deeper than the First Principles' study series and the result of these efforts produced "Deep Convictions" a 30 day study of various topics such as Discipleship and Evangelism, but also included a seven day study of Grace. The offical results of the first teachers' meeting in 94 were broadcast to churches wouldwide under the heading of "Wine, Women, and Song".

It is not a sin to drink alcohol, but it was a sin to be drunk.
Music in worship service is not a sin.
It is okay for women to baptize women and for women to disciple women.

As these annual meetings continued, however, various teachers began discussing the effects of ICC doctrine and practice. Concerns were raised about the unique interpretation of Mat 28:18 - 20 that only 'baptized disciples' were saved as well as the evangelist-centered leadership style mandated by Administrative policy. The first teacher's conference was the only one that provided public statements. Based on comments made at the 2003 Teacher's Seminar (the first conference open to any attendees), changes were discussed as early as 1996 that needed to be implemented in all ICC congregations. For whatever reasons, it was decided that these changes should be introduced gradually and with minimal confrontation.

Although it is not confirmed, it appears that Sam Laing was given a license to try out some of these new reforms about this time. In his congregation, for example, KNN was rarely shown and talk of the LA church was minimal. One over another discipling was discouraged, but one-WITH-another was encouraged. Messages from the pulpit began to address other areas of the Bible outside of evangelism. These ideas also spread to Atlanta spearheaded by Steve Sapp, evnagelist and Geographical Sector Leader (techincally, Sam's boss). More research should go into the Souteastern Churches early reforms in the 90s, this I know only from personal experience.

Also in 1994, Ed Powers, and evangelist in the Indianapolis Church of Christ found that he had issues with the discipleship structure and leadership from LA. He also had concerns in regards to contribution money and the elitism of the ICC as the only ones saved. What happened next is not entirely certain. What is known is that several folks from LA came to Indianapolis, including Kip McKean. The result of this was the creation of the Circle City Church of Christ (led by Ed Powers) and the 're-planting' of the Indianapolis Church of Christ. When Kip wrote later about the events in Indy, he said:

"A very sad chapter in our history was written in March of this year. Ed Powers, the lead evangelist of the Indianapolis Church of Christ, like Korah, being filled with bitterness and selfish ambition, deceived the entire congregation and caused many to lose their faith and turn away from God. Several World Sector Leaders, namely Doug Arthur, Al Baird, Marty Fuqua, Bob Gempel and I flew to Indianapolis to confront this division in the body of Christ. The victory is that 220 of 700 remained faithful to God, his church and his movement. As for those who continue to oppose us, they are lost-- not because their baptism became invalid, but the Scriptures are clear that those who oppose and grumble against God's leaders and divide God's church are, in fact, opposing God (Exodus 16:8; Numbers 16). Thus, the rebellious become lost because they do not have a true faith."

In 1995, Al Baird spoke publicly about the 'discipling crisis' during a conference in Africa. He estimated that former members outnumbered current members 2 to 1. Unfortunately, he goess on to say that people that leave are worse off than those staying. In light of recent events, it is difficult for me to determine if he meant difficult because of the abuse of the system or difficult because they were now going to Hell. The quote follows:

“I’ve got two points this morning. The first point is: the kingdom has a shepherding crisis. I picked those words very carefully. I thought about saying, ‘the kingdom has a shepherding problem.’ Brothers and sisters, we are far beyond the problem stage, we are in the crisis stage. How many of you look at the kingdom stats every month? Some of you are liars. We can’t wait to see where we stack up on the kingdom stats. You look at 1994: there were 30,000 baptisms in the kingdom of God – I praise God for 30,000 baptisms, it’s the most in modern-day times in the kingdom of God. But also look below that: in addition to 30,000 baptisms there were almost 20,000 fallaways. You heard it right: 30,000 baptisms, 20,000 fallaways. …How would you like to stand up before your church on Sunday morning, and say, brothers and sisters, I want you to look to your left and to your right, because on the day of judgement, you’re not going to make it. Two out of three of you are not going to make it. We’ve got a shepherding crisis, are you with me church?”

In 1997, Joseph Owade and Lucas Mboya wage a very public war against the Nariobi Christian Church. They specifically protest against tithing, bashing other churches, and the elitism of the ICC. Their protests are never mentioned publicly.

That same year, Gordon Ferguson, one of the four "Kingdom Teachers" publishes a book called Discipling. In it he gently challenges the notion of one-over-another discipling. He specifically challenges the notion that a discipler must be obeyed saying that there is a difference between advice and Scripture. There was no reaction to this book that I'm aware of. Drawing from various sources, it appears that if the intent was to change the nature of shepherding or discipling in the ICC, it did not accomplish its goal. His book, Prepared to Answer published in 1998, contained material criticizing denominations and the mainline church of christ. This book is out of print and Gordon has publicly apologized for its content.

In 1999, John Engler in Denver begins a "Barnabas Ministry" as an apologetic to the ICC while acknowledging its errors. Surviving criticism, he wrote about many of the problems within the ICC and proposed solutions. On his website, there are many thoughtful articles about the study series (First Prinicples), the pyramid structure, Matthew 28:18-20 (baptized disciples are the only ones saved) and Matt 6:33 (Seek first the church's needs). In 2001, he published a book called "The Grass Isn't Always Greener" that talks about the suffering of leaving the ICC. Since then, John himself has left the ICC and continues to help those inside and outside the ICC.

In 2001, Kip McKean goes on a 'sabbatical'. Althought it is never publicly stated, his oldest daughter left the ICC while attending her freshman year of college. He had dismissed the World Sector leaders over Central America a couple years earlier when one of their children left the ICC.

In January 2002, Gordon Ferguson and Wyndham Shaw publish a book entitled "The Golden Rule of Leadership". This book directly confronts the pyramid structure and calls for group leadership. Reaction to the book is swift. Some ignore it as a solution to a problem that doesn't exist. Others embrace it as a new and potentially better way to lead. In San Francisco, the book is banned until the Net World Sector conference is held later that year.

In November 2002, a Unity Meeting was held to discuss the future of the ICC. By Administrative Policy, a successor to Kip had to be named, or the World Sector Leaders could run the ICC as a group. Instead, the men openly discuss the problems within the ICC, including the pyramid structure. Some of the evangelists at that meeting return to their congregations and make serious attempts at reform. Some churches hold open meetings to discuss the problems, issues, and hurts of members. Some churches do nothing at all. The official report of this meeting says only that the men attending pledged to remain unified in brotherhood.

It is against this backdrop that the Henry Kreite letter appears in Feb 2003. Intended as a letter to the leadership worldwide and in LA, it is posted on the internet and spreads overnight all over the world. Reaction to the letter was swift and dramatic:

Most of the World Sector leaders resign as well as many of the Geographic Sector leaders. Most of the World Sector corporations dissolve. (Exceptions include the Net World Sector Corporation centered in San Francisco, the ICOC parent corporation in LA, and the ICC Missions Corporation, also in LA). Evangelists resign in droves and regular members leave en masse from larger churches. Many members strike back through contribution - those staff members that didn't resign are fired for lack of money to pay for them. Some churches struggle to pay generous severances to former staff. Smaller churches struggle to stay afloat or fold. Most dramatic is that many members and leaders now discover that they have to fend for themselves and are ill-equipped to handle the legal, financial, and ethical aspects of church polity.

Many apologies ensue as well as letters of response. Some are sincere, some are posturing. Letters of response range from criticism of Henry Kreite's character, to mild praise, to tremendous praise.

There's more to the recent changes than what I have written here. I included the background because I think it gives insight into why Henry's Letter had such a dramatic effect. We all knew what was going on, but we never asked each other about it.

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