The International Churches of Christ (ICOC), sometimes known as the Boston Movement, are a group of Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement Christian churches.

History

The history of the International Churches of Christ begins in 1979, when Kip McKean led 29 people into what became known as the Boston Church of Christ. Despite this recent origin, the International Churches of Christ are tied to the Barton Stone-Alexander Campbell Restoration Movement, as well as being affected by non-Restorationist influences.

A chief influence on the development of the ICOC 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 Charasmatic and Pentecostal churches in Florida during the 1960's and 1970's. Kip McKean and other "Boston Movement" leaders, including McKean's brother Randy, were trained at the Crossroads school. However, Lucas resigned in 1985, in the wake of a sexual scandal, leaving the Crossroads movement essentially rudderless and paving the way for McKean to guide the burgeoning 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 aimed at college students, or "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 churches of Christ throughout the country, primarily at public universities, and were successful in the conversions of many new members to the churches of Christ using small group Bible studies, or "soul talks." In the late 1970's and early 1980's, 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 or manipulative. 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.

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

While this growth was widely publicized, McKean determined that a central strategy for funding and organizing new church "plantings" was needed. Until that time, individual congregations would organize, train, and fund their own mission teams.

While the doctrines of the ICOC are rooted in the Restoration Movement, these churches have also accepted and adapted certain beliefs and practices foreign to the majority of the Churches of Christ and other Restoration churches. The ICOC, or Boston Movement, inherited the exclusivism of its parent body, and not only separates from the majority of Christendom, but the Churches of Christ as well. In this they are a true church movement (recognizing only repentant baptized disciples as part of the true church). The ICOC 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.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the ICOC went through a period of rapid growth and new church plantings. A hierarchy of churches was established with the world divided geographically into seven World Sectors. A single ICOC church was established as a "pillar" for each sector and this church became responsible for missionary work in that area. Lines of authority were also laid 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 of International Churches of Christ was adopted in 1993. The official website indicates the church had grown to 135,039 members in 434 congregations by January of 2003.

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 top leaders of the movement, Kip and Elena McKean, 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." One of the McKean's adult children had disassociated herself from the movement. This was not the only issue for the sabbatical, but it was a visible "thorn" in McKean's side.

At this time, the ICOC administration, under the leadership of Andy Fleming (former missionary to Scandinavia and 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

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 ICOC, criticizing many of its practices. Kriete called for the leaders of the ICOC to renounce, abandon and repent of its systemic abusive practices, financial capriciousness, prideful attitudes, and aberrational teachings. While perhaps originally intended for leaders' eyes only, many rank-and-file members were able to read copies of it. It remains massively distributed to this day. The majority of churches throughout the ICOC eventually accepted the letter. While it caused large rifts and many hurt feelings and scarred faith, it is now generally regarded by church members as from God. Many churches in the ICOC no longer require the strict assigned discipling relationships that once characterized the ICOC. Overall, the leadership and the church are far closer than in the past and there is now open opposition to leadership when they are not perceived to be doing what is right. 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 ICOC characteristics and practices, whereas some have pursued reformation. Results of each course of action vary from church to church; some thrive/stagnate with traditional ICOC methodology, while some thrive/stagnate, having chosen to utilize a reformed or progressive approach.

As of 2005 there are three (sometimes overlapping) groups within the ICOC. There are those who have held firmly to what has traditionally distinguished the ICOC; discipling, Bible Talks (small groups), baptism and evangelism. Some Reformed congregations have sought to eliminate controversial elements while still holding to the key characteristics such as baptism and evangelism. Other churches are gravitating toward Evangelicalism and Protestantism.

As part of the cultural, philosophical and doctrinal changes within the former ICOC (Pre 2002), efforts are being made by some Progressive ICOC 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. Leaders of the Church of Christ apologized for use of the word "cult" in reference to the ICOC. The ICOC 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 ICOC. ²

In July 2003, Kip and Elena McKean moved to Portland, Oregon to lead the Portland International Church of Christ. Since that time, it is widely believed that McKean has been making an effort to reunite as much of the former ICOC as possible, and bring about a return to the uniform practices that were standard before the changes inspired by Henry Kriete's letter.

In August 2005, Kip McKean effectively divided ICOC 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 ICOC Churches." 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 ICOC 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.

The most recent development is the effort to rebuild and restructure the overall leadership organization for the entire ICOC. Solicitations for governing structures and methods of inter-congregational relationships have been requested by November 1st, with the goal of completing a final proposal by Feb. 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, who can trace their roots back to their old egalitarian Church of Christ days. Yet, attitudes varies from church to church as to how much authority, if at all, should the new leadership structure 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. (As of January of 2006, there are still more than 100,000 members in over 500 churches worldwide.)

Controversy

The Christians in the church, known as Disciples, have often surprised those they meet, due to their strong beliefs. There are both positive and negative responses: to some, most of the members do exhibit rigorous faith in that they are seriously living out their faith; to others, they are just "too committed," almost fanatical. However, their members do enjoy certain degree of controversy and point to the fact that Jesus has always been, by his words and action, a controversial figure. Yet, it is also interesting to note that the degree of committment and the style of each church vary greatly.

Criticism

The church has received much criticism, mostly from former members. Several common complaints have focused on:

2. When the mentality of consumerism dominated the culture of Evangelicalism, the ICOC mobilized their members in community service for the poor.

4. When only one out of every eight churches bother to evaluate their membership's evangelism effort (Barna: 2006), the ICOC determined to live out the Great Commission. Tryggestad, Erik (March 17, 2004). Apologies, tears highlight ICOC talks in Abilene

²"Harding Grad, Chicago ICOC group meet". (October 17, 2004).

Krisztus Magyarországi Egyháza