Part IX: The Dream: The Evangelization of the World in a Generation

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[acc title=”Part I: Old Testament Prophecy”]
“While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were broken to pieces … But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth.” Daniel 2:34-35

Are present day disciples called to evangelize the world in our “generation?” Many teachers have minimized this centuries long dream of God or have simply chosen to ignore it in their treatises concerning “Christian freedom,” “the role of evangelists and elders,” and “autonomy of individual congregations.” Let us also consider that though “Christian movements” have over centuries “gone around the world,” the evangelization of the world in a lifetime has not been accomplished since the first century. (Colossians 1:6) Therefore, in future articles in this series, Scriptures will be shared that will reveal that world evangelism is not only God’s dream for each generation, but that by faith it is possible!

God’s eternal plan from before the beginning of time was to create a people that would love him forever. In the Old Testament God uses prophecy and foreshadowing to reveal His heart for a lost world. We must remember that the Old Testament was the “Scriptures” of the Christians in the first century. Foreshadowing occurs when our sovereign God orchestrates the physical events of the Old Testament to parallel the spiritual truths He reveals in the New Testament. For example, the Hebrews’ slavery in Egypt parallels our slavery to sin in our old lives. The blood of a lamb smeared over the doorposts saved each Hebrew firstborn from physical death. This parallels the blood of Jesus, the Lamb, saving us from eternal death. (John 1:29) Crossing the Red Sea represents baptism (1 Corinthians 10:1-2); the wanderings in the desert correspond to our new Christian lives; the crossing of the Jordan represents our physical death. (We sing about this in the song “Jordan River.”) And finally their Promised Land is our heaven! Understanding the Old Testament foreshadowing of New Testament doctrines is essential to deeply appreciating the breadth of God’s love and His plan of salvation.

As we begin to comprehend God’s desire to teach us about His love, let us examine some of the most convincing Old Testament prophecies about world evangelism and God’s eternal Kingdom. In Genesis 12:1-3 God tells Abram, “I will make you into a great nation…and all people on earth will be blessed through you.” The first level of fulfillment of this prophecy is in the building of a physical nation – Israel. Exodus 1:7 reads, “But the Israelites were fruitful and multiplied greatly and became exceedingly numerous, so the land was filled with them.” We learn from this passage that it was in Egypt that God began to form a great nation through human families physically multiplying (being fruitful) in great numbers. (This is a foreshadowing of spiritual fruitfulness by the multiplying of disciples under the new covenant.) However, the second level of fulfillment is the concept of all people – Jews and Gentiles – being blessed through Abraham’s seed – Jesus. This promise is further detailed in Genesis 22:17 when God sees Abraham’s faith when he was willing to “sacrifice his one and only son,” (more Old Testament foreshadowing.) Then the promise is given, “your descendants will be as numerous as… stars in the sky.” In Deuteronomy 1:10, Moses preached this promise was fulfilled in the Jews by the time he led the Jews out of Egypt. However, we by faith understand it also means all Christians of all time because Genesis 22:18 adds all nations on earth will be blessed, both Jew and Gentile! You and I as disciples are part of the fulfillment of this prophecy! God has always desired to be loved and glorified by all nations!

Isaiah 2:1-4 is another powerful prophecy of the New Testament Kingdom and world evangelism. God tells a hurting and backsliding Israel there will be a day, when the mountain (Old Testament symbolism for kingdom/nation) of the Lord’s temple will be established as chief among the mountains and all nations will stream into it. (This initially begins to be fulfilled in Acts 2:5, see verse five!) Then God adds in verse four, “Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.” This is because we will have brothers in all nations and we would not want to kill our brother! Also, in Isaiah 11:1-9, the prophecy of a kingdom built from the stump of Jesse (the remnant Jews) will someday be a unique fellowship where previous adversaries “will neither harm nor destroy” as referenced by “the wolf will walk with the lamb.” Then in verse 9, the great proclamation of this grand vision is concluded by “the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the earth.” Only through world evangelism could this be fulfilled.

Finally for this article we will study the vision of King Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel retells the dream in Daniel 2:31-35 and then interprets it in verses 36-45. In this dream there is a huge statue of gold, silver, bronze, and iron. Daniel says these metals represent certain kingdoms. Borrowing from our high school history courses, we know that gold represents the Babylonian Kingdom, silver the Medo-Persian Empire, bronze symbolizes Alexander the Great’s Kingdom and the iron the Roman Empire. According to the dream, during the days of the Roman Empire “a rock was cut out, but not by human hands… it struck the statue on its feet of iron… and smashed it… the wind swept away without leaving a trace…However, the rock struck the statue and became a huge mountain and FILLED THE WHOLE EARTH.”

Obviously, if something is “not made by human hands,” it is of God! The rock is Christ! The mountain is the Kingdom – the church – and those of faith in heaven, for this kingdom will never be destroyed! (Daniel 2:44) However, let’s focus on Daniel 2:35. In the dream, the rock becomes a mountain and fills the whole earth! This is what God desires for His Kingdom, to “fill the whole earth!” God through prophecy lays the foundation for Jesus and His Great Commission to the apostles, “Go and make disciples of ALL NATIONS baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit…” (Matthew 28:19) This is how God plans to bless all people on earth! Simply stated, this is the mandate of God for world evangelism.
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[acc title=”Part II: The Lost World”]
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Romans 3:23

In Romans 1:16 Paul writes, “I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew and then for the Gentiles.” In the eyes of God, all mankind is divided into two groups. First are the Jews, those who possess the law and the true knowledge of God. The second group is the Gentiles, those who do not have the law.

In Romans 1:18-32 Paul preaches emphatically that all Gentiles are lost, because of “all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness.” Since God has revealed His eternal power and divine nature in creation, Paul states, “Men are without excuse,” to not follow God’s precepts. In the second half of chapter one, Paul specifically details many of the sinful acts of man. The Holy Spirit is very clear, the Gentiles are lost.

In Romans 2 and 3, Paul decrees that all Jews are lost! Many of these Jews “brag about the law,” but “dishonor God by breaking the law.” He goes on to ask the rhetorical question, “What advantage is there in being Jewish?” He answers by saying, “They have been entrusted with the very words of God.” Then he writes that through the law, they became “conscious of sin.” Therefore, since no mortal man can keep the law without at least one transgression, no Jew will be declared righteous by perfectly keeping the law.

Romans 3:19 declares, “the whole world is held accountable” by God. Chapters 1-3 are summarized in Romans 3:23, “All [both Jews and Gentiles] sin and fall short of the glory of God!” All are lost and our only hope is “faith in Christ’s blood.” (Romans 3:25) Many through the centuries have asked the question, “What about the man in Africa, that does not have the Word of God? How could a “just” God condemn him?” Romans 2:12-16 specifically addresses this most crucial issue, because if people are not lost without the Bible, there would be no motivation for world evangelism.

In essence, Romans 2:12-16 teaches that those who have the law (which we parallel to the Bible) will be judged by the law – the Bible. No one is perfectly obedient to the Word; all fall short – they sin. Therefore, all who have the Bible are lost. Then Paul says that those without the law (which can be paralleled to those without the Bible) will be judged apart from the law, apart from the Bible. Now that’s fair! “The requirements of law are written on their heart,” therefore God judges them by their conscience. Since no one perfectly lives up to their conscience, all who do not have the Bible, are lost.

When we come to a deep conviction that we live in a lost world, we must come to an equally deep conviction about what the Bible teaches about salvation. The entire theme of the book of Romans is “The righteous will live by faith.” (Romans 1:17) In Romans 4, Paul explains that being justified before God has always been by faith not works. He shows that the father of faith Abraham was saved, not because of circumcision or the law but by his faith: “Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness.” To reinforce this concept, in verse nine another rhetorical question is asked, “Was Abraham justified by faith before or after circumcision?” The answer is before. Then Paul explains this concept so all who are uncircumcised (Gentiles) may call Abraham their father of faith as well as the Jews who do so by lineage. Therefore, the Jew is saved by faith and the Gentile has no need for circumcision. Both Jew and Gentile can only be justified by faith.

In Romans 5:1-10, Paul reminds the Christians in Rome they were “powerless,” “ungodly,” “sinners,” and “enemies” before they became disciples. In chapter six, he reminds all that they died to their old lives in baptism and they were, like Christ, “raised to a new life.” Let us never cheapen the grace of God by under emphasizing our degenerated state without God. Our only hope of salvation is to respond in faith – believe intellectually in the resurrection of Christ, be cut about our sins crucifying Jesus, repent by turning away from sin and deciding to be a disciple and then being baptized for the forgiveness of sins to receive God’s promised Holy Spirit! (Acts 2:36-42) To be saved by faith means to respond to God’s grace through repentance and baptism.

Perhaps the most overwhelming teaching of God’s Word is that the world is lost. Only the gospel has the power of salvation. And as Paul preaches in Romans 10:14-15, “How can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they believe without someone preaching to them?… How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” Let us be uncompromising on this truth: the only plan God has provided for the world to be saved, which begins with our next door neighbor, is by our feet taking the gospel to them – world evangelism.
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[acc title=”Part III: The Lost Plan”]
“Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the Book of the Law in the temple of the Lord. “Go and inquire of the Lord… for the remnant in Israel and Judah about what is written in this book that has been found. Great is the Lord’s anger that is poured out on us because our fathers have not kept the Word of the Lord.”
2 Kings 22:8, 13

During the reigns of Manasseh and Amon, God’s people drifted so far from Him that they lost the Book of the Law! Most scholars believe this “Lost Book” was Deuteronomy! After King Josiah’s zeal for God began the restoration of the temple, the Book of the Law was found by the High Priest in the temple! When the Spirit-filled words of this book were read to Josiah, he tore his clothes, wept and asked the Lord, “What are the consequences for not keeping the Word?” Because of his humility and brokenness, God gave him and his people mercy. Motivated by this mercy, Josiah’s restoration movement becomes even more radical. Of primary importance, he unifies the remnant by initiating a public renewing of God’s covenant as found in the lost Book, first with the elders and then with all the people. Guided by Deuteronomy, radical sweeping changes now rapidly occur in worship and life. This culminates in the greatest celebration of the Passover ever! (2 Kings 23:22)

For us over 2600 years later, it is almost unimaginable that our “brothers of faith” could have lost the entire Book of Deuteronomy! In our day, something especially shocking has been lost; God’s plan to give everyone on earth the opportunity to be saved. Truth: Jesus is God’s only path for salvation. (John 14:6) Truth: there is only one Biblical response to be saved – faith, repentance and baptism. (Acts 2:38) However, hidden in God’s Word for centuries, most have lost God’s only plan to save the entire world in a lifetime – the multiplication of disciples. Truth.

This plan is fully revealed through the three year ministry of Jesus. From the beginning of his ministry, Jesus knew He was the hope of both Jew and Gentile – all who were “poor…prisoners…blind…and oppressed.” (Luke 4:18) The very mention of this radical vision in His home synagogue in Nazareth at the beginning of His ministry resulted in an uproar and a brutal attempt to kill Him. (Luke 4:28-30)

After this incident, Jesus traveled “throughout Galilee preaching the good news of the kingdom.” (Matthew 4:23) Many followed him from Judea, Jerusalem, the Decapolis, and the region across the Jordan! He preached to the masses. True to His Father’s vision, Jesus made disciples. After about six months, Jesus went up on a mountain where he prayed all night for one of the most crucial decisions of his ministry. In the morning, “He called his disciples to Him and chose twelve of them” (Luke 6:13) He called them apostles – “messengers” – “that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach.” Jesus was not only training preachers, but by revealing God’s principle of focusing on a few, he was discipling as a group the future leaders of a new kingdom. By walking with Him daily the Twelve learned the Word of God and saw how to preach effectively. Equally as important, they saw how to impact individuals. Interestingly, in John 4:1 the Pharisees note that Jesus was baptizing more disciples than John. “Although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples.” Different than John the Baptist as well as in modern denominations where only the preacher wins souls, Jesus was multiplying His effort with the Twelve doing the baptizing, not Him.

The Twelve, after watching Jesus call people to repentance as well as perform miracles, were sent out two by two to preach the Word and cast out demons! (Mark 6:7) Gradually Jesus calls the apostles to do more and more on their own. The apostles represent a second generation of disciples. By Luke 10 Jesus appoints 72 others to be preachers of the Word, admonishing them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.” This is an interesting number. Perhaps Jesus allowed the six pairs of apostle to be the leaders of their own twelve! This would have allowed the paired apostles to begin to replicate how Jesus had walked and worked with them!

When the seventy-two returned to share about their successes, they were fired up! (Luke 10:17) After this time of sharing, Jesus pulled the Twelve aside privately. He says, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I tell you many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see, but did not see it.” He wanted them to mark this momentous moment of the multiplying of a third generation of disciples! Though slow and numerically few, His every effort was intended to build a movement that would change the world.

After His resurrection, Jesus returns to Galilee where He gives the Great Commission, “Go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you…” (Matthew 28:19-20) Implicit in this command is a teacher-student discipling relationship. It begins before baptism and then continues afterwards, as we are to teach each other to obey the commands. However, if one studies the ministry of Jesus, we see other types of discipling relationships. Jesus set up adult-adult relationships by pairing up the apostles as well as “group discipling” by Jesus, the leader of the group. The apostles were commanded by word and example to put into practice all of these types of discipling relationships.

After Jesus’ ascension, in 29 AD, the faithful numbered 120. This included the Twelve, the 72, Jesus’ mother and brothers and the women followers of Jesus. (Acts 1:14-15) No doubt, this group believed in discipling and on their first day of preaching, 3000 were baptized! Three thousand new disciples were “added to their number” The unique power of the movement of Jesus was His call to be as committed as Him and to put into practice His ministry of discipling. From this point the number of disciples exponentially multiplies! “The Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47)”The number of men grew to about 5000…” (Acts 4:4) “Nevertheless more and more men and women believed…and were added to their number.” (Acts 5:14) “In those days where the number of disciples was increasing…” (Acts 6:1) “The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly…” (Acts 6:7) “The church [the movement – no autonomy] throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria… grew in numbers…” (Acts 9:31-32) “The Word of God continued to increase and spread…” (Acts 12:24) “They spoke so effectively [in Iconium] that a great number of Jews and Gentiles believed.” (Acts 14:21) “So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers.” (Acts 16:5) “These are the men who have turned the world upside down for Jesus!” (Acts 17:6 RSV) By 62 AD, Paul writes the whole world has heard. The whole world had been evangelized!

Today many churches in the ICOC fellowship have either abandoned discipling relationships or compromised them by teaching there is no such thing as teacher-student (one-over-one discipling) relationships in the Scriptures. This is devastating false teaching. (2 Timothy 4:1-4) No wonder so many disciples are confused, lonely, lukewarm and lacking zeal for souls. One person teaching another is the essence of the method and ministry of Jesus. Let us not forget Josiah’s humble response to the words of the lost Book of God. His concern was that God is angry when we fail to obey his Word. Making disciples is a command of God for every true Christian. Jesus built God’s movement on the now lost plan of multiplying disciples. It was and still is the only plan of God to evangelize the world. And to God be the glory!
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[acc title=”Part IV: Christ’s Love Compels Us”]
“For God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
John 3:16

God’s love for a lost world is utterly incomprehensible. God loves lost souls so much that he sent Jesus to die for all sins of all mankind of all time. Our appreciation of this “amazing grace” is directly proportional to how much we are motivated to live the Christian life. (1 Corinthians 15:10) In motivating each disciple in Corinth to become passionate ambassadors for Christ, Paul writes, “For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15) Paul continues and exhorts the Christians to no longer look at people from a worldly perspective – we must see those around us as hurting and lost. Paul reasons that we who are in Christ have become “a new creation, the old has gone, the new is come;” therefore he admonishes, “Since God reconciled us to himself through Christ, he then gave us the ministry of reconciliation.” (2 Corinthians 5:18) It is interesting to note in 2 Corinthians 5:19 that “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ … and he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.” Paul is saying, yes, Jesus died for the entire world’s sins, but God has given the responsibility to win a lost world to disciples – we all have become ministers of reconciliation! In denominational churches, only the paid staff are ministers. In churches composed of disciples, every member should be a minister!

In Chapter 6:4-9, Paul pointedly shares the price he has paid to preach the Word, “Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed.” This is the price to be a servant of God, a minister of reconciliation, an ambassador of Christ – a disciple. By no means does this earn our salvation, but it should be our response to receiving God’s grace.

If our family of churches is going to evangelize the world in our generation we must go back to the cross. When we remember how much we have been forgiven, then our evangelism, sacrifice, lifestyle and relationships will be motivated out of this overwhelming appreciation for God’s grace. Today, too many churches preach a message of “cheap grace.” Cheap grace says, “Just feel good that you are saved; after all you are not saved by works.” True, works do not save us, but grace cannot be without effect. (1 Corinthians 15:10) Church leaderships with the theological persuasion of cheap grace, will not call church members to spend time with God everyday or to be involved in one another’s lives by discipling, by obeying the “one another” passages. These members simply come to church when “they feel like it.” In many of our churches, the preachers are not calling their congregations to go out and share their faith. There is simply a lukewarm commitment. Where there is lukewarmness, we can be sure the Word and God’s grace are not being preached. (Revelation 3:14-21) Cheap grace is only a Satanic fate of salvation. One can lose the grace of God. In 2 Corinthians 6:1 Paul admonishes, “Since you are God’s fellow workers do not receive God’s grace in vain.”

Today, sadly in most autonomous congregations, preachers are afraid to preach the truth, some because they themselves are confused by Satan (John 8:43-45) and do not have a clear message. Others hold back from fear of church boards, elders, the people, and losing their jobs. (Where do we find preachers restricted in the Bible?) These same preachers and members alike pull back out of suspicion and cowardice from fellowshipping some churches because they do not want to be associated with controversy which always comes with the radical call of grace, commitment and discipleship. They selectively preach Scriptures that do not challenge the people, and just as in Jeremiah’s time God says, “my people love it this way.” (Jeremiah 5:31) In many parts of the United States and the world, disciples report that their congregations have little fire in the services, with little zeal in their singing, little discipling, little warmth, and very few baptisms. Last week a visiting disciple to Portland shared his thoughts about being in the service. He said, “This is so refreshing. I have not been in an exciting worship service for so long. I’m moving here because this is the church I was converted in!” If we are to win the world, preachers must preach the Word at any cost, just like Stephen, just like Paul, just like Jesus.

Let me once again acknowledge and apologize for any sins whether intentional or unintentional (Leviticus 4) that I have directly or indirectly caused for any who are involved in discipling relationships. It is true that many of our churches drifted from preaching the cross as a disciple’s preeminent motivation. Numbers were too often used to motivate people to evangelize and it crushed them. Discipling became too authoritarian and controlling. We drifted from teaching obedience to the Word of God, to immature (and many mature) disciples calling for obedience to their opinions. Also in many cases, we failed to change the dynamics in the discipling relationships as people grew older physically as well as in the faith. In all discipling relationships, there should be a gradual shift from a teacher/student, mentoring dynamic to an adult-adult relationship. However, now is the time of forgiveness and not a bitter reaction or rejection of God’s only plan to win a lost world – “making disciples.” (Matthew 28:19) Remember, unrepentant bitterness will cause you to lose the grace of God. (Hebrews 12:15)

In the Portland Church, the leadership teaches that God expects newly baptized Christians to be in teacher/student discipling relationships. The very term disciple means student or learner! Carpenters have apprentices, doctors have interns, athletes have personal trainers and coaches, high school students have tutors and mentoring programs, and we believe the key to remedy and prevent further hurts is choice. In Portland we teach from the Bible that everyone is expected to be in discipling relationships. (We call these Discipleship Partners.) However, each member chooses how many, who it is, and the two of them define whether the relationship will be more teacher/student or adult/adult. Also every week, the leadership expects each member to be in an evangelistic, discipling group – Bible Talk. However, once again each member chooses the Bible Talk in which he or she will participate. In early January of this year, Wallace Arsmeier, Ron Inloes and myself studied with a man who committed a very serious crime. Also, he had persecuted his wife, who is a disciple, to the point of her almost falling away. When we studied sin, he confessed everything and cried uncontrollably. After his baptism, still under house arrest, he bought his wife a new car, new house and gave generously to our Missions Contribution all out of his retirement fund! He did this without any advice, but simply out of his gratitude for God’s grace. Last weekend was his first in prison. He called me collect. I asked, “How are you doing?” He said, “Awesome. I’m reading my Bible and have shared my faith with my fellow prisoners everyday so far!” This brother understands the grace of God and God’s call to be an ambassador for Christ! Yes, under the law of the United States he must serve time. But in Christ there is no law and he is totally forgiven by the blood of Christ. Now his Kingdom dream is to start a prison ministry!

One person once wrote, “To Jesus there was no difference between domestic and foreign missions, all was world evangelism.” As disciples we must individually and collectively humble ourselves before the cross. This will unleash the inexhaustible motivation of grace. Then and only then will we be the lifelong ministers of reconciliation God has called us to be. Disciples are God’s only plan to win a lost world. And to God be all the glory!
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[acc title=”Part V: Shock and Awe”]
“Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
Matthew 24:9-14

In this frightening passage, Jesus preaches to His disciples what will happen to His Kingdom, the then “modern day movement of God.” Encouragingly in verse 14, Jesus prophesies that indeed the “gospel of the Kingdom” will be preached around the world in their lifetime, and then the end will come. “The end” is not the end of time or the second coming of Jesus, but the end of the temple and the physical “Jewish nation” in 70 AD. Jesus’ prophecy of taking the gospel to the whole world is fulfilled by the time Paul writes Colossians in 62 AD! He exclaims, “All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing.” (Colossians 1:6) However, Jesus tells the apostles while preaching to all nations, they will be “persecuted and put to death” and “hated by all nations because of Him.” Then came the passage that shocked me. In verses ten and eleven Jesus said when the Word was preached around the world, “many will turn away from the faith,” they (fellow disciples) will “betray and hate each other,” and “many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.” These two verses describe what is now taking place in so many of our family of churches.

Recently, I received this email feedback from the article “The Mandate for World Evangelism Part III: The Lost Plan.”
This disciple wrote:

“Amen, amen, amen! My husband and I are so encouraged! We are in _________, USA and are deeply concerned about the recent decisions our so-called leaders have made. True discipling has ceased, evangelism is spoken like it is a dirty word, autonomy had occurred (dis-unity) and more.

My husband and I have been praying about all this and finally tried to approach the leader of the church today regarding these things. Sadly, Satan had a tremendous victory. My husband and the evangelist were speaking with highly elevated voices. My husband got angry when the evangelist said he would not call people to evangelize or challenge people to date only disciples. The leader told my husband, “If you don’t like the way things are being done then you can leave.”

He also told us we have not contributed at all to the church. (Totally a lie and very hurtful.) At that point the leader said that the conversation was over.

Anyway, reading your article made me cry because ________, USA has forgotten the Word of God. Please pray for us. We have been disciples for 13 years and love God. Our church here is unraveling before our eyes. Some see, others are oblivious and sucked in. We don’t know what to do, except pray! Help! We literally are stuck in the desert! Love your true brother and sister in Christ, ____ and___ _________.

The above disciple couple realizes that the work of God, building a unified brotherhood of churches around the world through discipling, is being destroyed by those who preach autonomy. Many preach autonomy motivated by bitterness from the mistakes and sins of our past. They too are deceived by Satan because they refuse to see their own sins of rebellion and severed relationships. They label the heroes of our past as pharisees and criticize their “leadership style.” Yet their own congregations continue to shrink and have little zeal for souls. Once more I stand in awe of God, as Jesus’ words in Matthew 24:12 ring true, “The love of many will grow cold.”

The email asked for help. So I called and talked with the brother. I shared Matthew 24 with him and gave him the advice of Jesus in verse 13, “But he who stands firm to the end will be saved.” Perhaps the greatest lesson I have learned these past two years is to draw close to God. Too many of us have confused God and the church. Do not get me wrong, I still want to be in a church that loves and trust each other with our lives. (1 Corinthians 13:4-7) However, the church is imperfect and at times will utterly disappoint us. Why? Because it is full of imperfect men like you and me. God is perfect and he will never forsake us. (1 Hebrews 13:5)

In 1 Hebrews 13:6, I have gained courage to boldly preach the Word remembering, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” At the end of the conversation, this brother asked, “What more can I do?” I simply said to seek out a congregation where God is honored, discipling is practiced and many are being baptized. That night, they called me back saying they are traveling several hours to come to Portland’s married retreat in April! They are willing to do whatever it takes to stand firm! We should not be shocked by this kind of commitment. This level of commitment should be the ideal and the standard! Therefore, let us always be in awe of God and His unwavering love for us – by this faith, we will stand firm.

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[acc title=”Part VI: Clarification by Definition”]
“Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire… He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”
John 8:43-47

1. Sal·va·tion (s l-v sh n)- Jesus is the only way of salvation. (Acts 4:12) Every person is saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 2:8-9) To accept this grace and become a true Christian each person must believe Jesus is the resurrected Son of God, repent of his or her sins, make the decision to be a disciple, and to complete their obedience to the gospel, be baptized in water to receive the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:38) From the early days of the Boston Movement (International Churches of Christ) we referred to Christians as baptized disciples (or simply as disciples) because the terms “Christian” and “believer” were so fuzzy and so undefined in the secular and religious worlds. (Acts 11:26)

2. Church U·ni·ver·sal (y n -vûr s l) – The church universal comprises all disciples of the world that God sees when he looks down from heaven into people’s hearts, whether they are in the ICOC, the mainline Churches of Christ (non-instrumental), the conservative Christian Churches (instrumental), in breakaway small groups, or a single disciple in a denominational church. God adds baptized disciples to his “church universal.” (Acts 2:41, 1 Corinthians 12:12-13)

3. Vis·i·ble Church (chûrch) – In the ICOC, the visible church exists as congregations where we have applied God’s standards in building congregations to be composed of only baptized disciples. This was one of the distinctive qualities of the ICOC. Even now in Portland, to be baptized you must be a disciple, to place membership you must be a baptized disciple and to be restored you must be willing to live the life of a baptized disciple.

4. God’s King·dom (k ng d m) – This is the same as the church universal. In the apostles’ time “Kingdom,” “movement,” “church universal,” “visible church” and “brotherhood” were synonymous. Today, a baptized disciple is in God’s Kingdom, the church universal, but not necessarily in God’s movement or visible church.

5. Broth·er·hood (br th r-h d ) – In 1 Peter 2:17 the Christians are admonished to “love the brotherhood of believers,” the church universal. However, scholars as well as church members have used the term “brotherhood” or “fellowship” to refer to a collection of churches sharing the same ideologies. For example, the mainline Churches of Christ considers itself a brotherhood, a fellowship. The International Churches of Christ considers itself a brotherhood, a fellowship.

6. Rem·nant (r m n nt)- At different points in history the sins of God’s people made Him so angry, He was forced to bring disaster on these people. These extreme measures were necessary to refine a few, a remnant, that is purified of heart and able to hear His collective call to be His people, His movement. For example, Noah and the seven others saved during the flood, or the remnant that returned to Jerusalem from the seventy year exile in Babylon. (Ezra 1:5)

7. Move·ment (m v m nt)- These individuals are bonded together in a “fellowship,” a “brotherhood,” that has a common mission. Movement implies growth numerically and expansion geographically.

8. Au·ton·o·my (ô-t n -m )- An autonomous congregation is one that is void of influence, direction, and authority from an outside individual or group. (This is the practice of the mainline Churches of Christ and the conservative Christian Churches.)

9. Great Com·mis·sion (k -m sh n) – Jesus called the eleven faithful apostles to evangelize all nations. (Matthew 28:16-20) This command extends to each generation to evangelize the world in their generation. Some have questioned whether it is God’s command to go to every nation in their generation. Literally in the Greek text of Matthew 28, Jesus commands the eleven apostles to, “disciple and baptize all the nations.” Implied in this is that this command be obeyed in their lifetime – one generation. Jesus called the apostles to be “witnesses to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

Prayerfully, the past five articles on “The Mandate of God For World Evangelism,” have renewed our convictions that it is God’s dream for an evangelized world in our lifetime. Jesus came to save the world by dying for our sins, but He also came to save the world by building a new spiritual Kingdom, a movement that would sweep through the nations. The physical kingdom of Israel consisted of twelve tribes. These twelve tribes were the descendents of the twelve sons of Jacob the grandson of Abraham. These twelve sons’ families multiplied exponentially into twelve tribes which numbered approximately two million people by the time they left Egypt! (Numbers 1:44-46) To parallel the twelve tribes, Jesus selected twelve apostles. He walked with and discipled these men for three years and then charged them with the Great Commission. He gave them the “now lost plan” of multiplying disciples (Part III). And in their generation, the world heard the gospel! (Colossians 1:6)

With the advent of autonomy in many International Churches of Christ, brotherhood and world vision have been lost. In some nations, the national leaders want no part of their foreign spiritual fathers in the faith. Many churches in large cities are splitting into smaller churches or “autonomous” regions! Particularly in America, unity (which allows the forceful advancement of the gospel) in larger congregations is a rarity.

For the last few years, many have misunderstood the phrase the “Modern Day Movement of God.” Movement implies growth numerically
and expansion geographically. For the visible church, expansion is certainly the mission of God, “who wants all men to be saved.” (1 Timothy 2:3-4) When growth and expansion are no longer taking place, a group of Christians ceases to be a movement; they become lukewarm and merely a fellowship. From 1979-2001, in the ICOC movement, there was a always a time when some churches were not growing, but the church as a whole was still baptizing and planting new churches. When a church was struggling, overseeing evangelists following in the footsteps of Paul, tried to give them special attention to help them “turn it around,” just as we would help individuals who were struggling. A disciple or a church may go through periods without growth, but we either grow or die.

Confusion has reigned for many years within the ICOC concerning the concept that, an individual can still be a disciple, be saved, and be a member of a church partly composed of disciples and partly of non-disciples. During the 1980’s, some brave souls from the mainline Churches of Christ and conservative Christian Churches came into the Boston Church and our plantings, collectively called “the Boston movement” because they saw something they had never seen before, a church composed of only disciples. (In 1994 we named ourselves the ICOC.) In essence, the ICOC was a unified remnant of disciples out of the Campus Ministry movements (preeminent was the Crossroads Movement) and the mainline Churches of Christ and the conservative Christian Church fellowships. Some were rebaptized, some were not. Here’s an excerpt from a recent email:

“They were mainliners [so] my father-in-law sold his business and moved to Toronto to be close to the [ICOC] church. They studied the Bible and the whole family was baptized!”

However, heroes such as George and Irene Gurganus and Pat Gempel were not rebaptized coming into the Boston movement from the mainline churches. In mainline churches, they had been converted to the “lordship of Christ” (the terminology of that day) and then baptized. (The common use of the terminology of “baptized disciples” began in Boston.)

Many have asked my opinion about the meeting in Abilene between some of the leaders of the mainline Churches of Christ and some of the leaders of the International Churches of Christ. I applaud the opening of the lines of communication. Some in the mainline Churches of Christ are disciples, our brothers. However, one of the main reasons for the separation between the two “brotherhoods” was the ICOC’s call and commitment that each congregation be composed solely of disciples. Why? We had a vision to evangelize the world. ICOC congregations were unified not autonomous because we realized we needed the spiritual, financial, and people resources of all the congregations to accomplish this task. God perpetuates His movement through disciples making disciples. From this concept, the ICOC planted churches that planted churches into 170 nations.

Now, with the questioning and in some cases the abandonment of “discipling,” the acceptance of autonomy, no overseeing evangelists, the distinctiveness of the ICOC churches from the mainline has greatly lessened. Sadly, some who were among our members feel they were deceived because we said the ICOC was “the true church.” Granted, we were not clear there are Christians in other “fellowships.” Yet by “true church,” we simply meant it was a church as in the Bible, composed of only disciples. This uniqueness produced a dynamic fellowship and outreach, unseen in church history since the first century. Though there were flaws and sins in our building of the churches, a closeness and warmth existed between all ICOC churches around the world because of the cross of Christ and our common mission.

Having attended Harding Graduate School (sponsored by the Churches of Christ), served as a minister for seven years in the mainline church and for a year as the campus minister to one of their colleges (Northeastern Christian Junior College) – I know there are true Christians in their membership, but many are uncommitted. Also autonomous congregations by definition are disunified and will never be a united movement necessary to evangelize the world. For example in Nashville, USA alone there are 120 different mainline Churches of Christ. Over the last year, some ICOC churches have dropped the “International” part of their name – desiring to be totally identified with the mainline. Let us have clarity. It is time for evangelists, elders and members to be candid with God and themselves that in many places, the ICOC movement is becoming lukewarm. A defining question must be asked, “Are the International Churches of Christ ‘the’ movement of God, or at least ‘a’ movement of God, or are we quickly becoming a fellowship of saved disciples?”
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[acc title=”Part VII: Forgiveness”]
“Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times…. Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.”
Matthew 18:21-35

Today, Easter Sunday, we are celebrating the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We will sing, preach and pray in thankfulness for His grace that forgives all our sins. Jesus died on the cross and in fact became sin for even the “worst of sinners”, so that everyone who follows Jesus would have a new life, a new purpose and a new hope.

Jesus died for:

Adam and Eve – They were “unrighteous parents” as they brought sin and death into the world. (Romans 5:12)

Cain – He was bitter towards his brother Abel. In a “fit of rage” fueled by jealousy and hatred, Cain killed Abel. (Genesis 4)

Abraham – Our “father in the faith,” who gave his wife Sarah to another man out of fear for his life, twice! It would be surprising if Sarah did not struggle with bitterness towards Abraham.

Tamar (daughter-in-law of Judah), Rahab, and the two women that Solomon judged – He died for all four of these “sinful women” who offered their bodies for money.

David – An awesome leader that led Israel to unprecedented victories, but committed adultery and then murdered one of his “mighty men” to cover up his sin.

Amnon – Who “emotionally abused,” “molested” and “raped” his half-sister Tamar.

Absalom – Who used charm, manipulation and the promise of a “better leadership” to steal the hearts of the people of Israel from his father, David. (2 Samuel 15:1-12)

Ahithophel – The once trusted advisor who betrayed David for Absalom. (2 Samuel 15:1-12) He later commits suicide.

Peter – Who was one of Jesus’ best friends, who denied Him three times at His moment of greatest need.

The Prodigal Son – Though a story, Jesus died for everyone who for whatever reason, left their parent’s teaching of righteousness and went into the world.

Barabbas – Jesus died for him and every criminal, imprisoned or not, such as: Jack the Ripper, Jeffrey Dahmer, Adolf Hitler, and Osama Bin Ladin.

Judas – Jesus died for this longtime friend and disciple who betrayed Him for money with a kiss.

Demas – A fellow preacher and disciple of Paul. (Colossians 4:14) He later deserted God, because he loved the world. (2 Timothy 4:10)

Alexander the Metalworker – A non-Christian who “strongly opposed the message” of Christ as well as the messenger, Paul. He harmed and hindered Paul’s work. (2 Timothy 4:14-15) Christ died for all His persecutors, even the thieves on the cross.

“Enemies of the cross” – Disciples who persecuted Paul and the message of the gospel. (Philippians 3:18) Paul writes in2 Corinthians 11:26, he was “in danger from false brothers.”

You and me – Jesus died for each of us. Our innumerable sins crucified him.

Jesus taught we must follow His teachings and His example to be true disciples. (John 8:31-32) He taught to be forgiven, one must forgive. If we remain bitter from hurts caused by sin and do not forgive our unrighteous parents, unrighteous brothers and sisters, our unrighteous preachers and elders, our unrighteous wives or husbands, our unrighteous disciplers, our unrighteous children (both physical and spiritual), our unrighteous friends, unrighteous strangers, our unrighteous persecutors, then at the judgment God will not forgive us. Without Jesus, we are just as unrighteous as anybody who has sinned against us. In fact since every sin we commit is ultimately against God, how many more times have we sinned against God, than any one person has sinned against us. No one has the “right” to be bitter. Let’s not have the heart of the unmerciful servant! Renounce and repent of the bitterness that comes from being unwilling to forgive even the most hideous of sins. Jesus died for all sinners. Therefore, forgive from the heart each sinner that has sinned against you.

To have world evangelism, God’s church must be unified. To be unified we must love and continually forgive our fellow disciples. Yes, people’s unrighteousness may have “hurt” us as many as 77 times, but let us be a merciful people and forgive 77 times, 78 times, 79 times…and so reflect the mercy of our Father in heaven. Let’s celebrate being free from the penalty of sin and the power of bitterness.
[/acc][acc title=”Part VIII: “Is It Worth It?””]
“While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table. When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. “This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.” Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”
Matthew 26:6-13

Jesus was anointed at Bethany just two days before the “Last Supper.” A nameless woman poured a very expensive perfume onto Jesus’ head. The disciples in the house of Simon the Leper were shocked, because in their minds the perfume could have been sold and the money given to the poor. Immediately after this passage of the “money controversy” surrounding Jesus’ anointing, Matthew records that Judas began his betrayal and went to the chief priests. Seemingly this was the “straw that broke the camel’s back” for Judas. (Fueled by mistrust, conflicts about money have embittered many to turn against Jesus.)

In the above passage, Jesus rebuked this woman’s critics, his own disciples! He explained this is His anointing before his burial! Then he said, “whenever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.” (Matthew 26:12) Jesus knew by faith the gospel would be preached throughout the world in the apostles’ lifetime. He built a movement of disciples who were willing to “do anything, go anywhere, give up everything” including surrendering their lives to accomplish the monumental dream of world evangelism. Jesus’ words about the world impact of the gospel, reinforces what the previous seven articles have taught, that God desires the world to be evangelized in a generation.

In a closer examination of this passage, other issues must be raised. Jesus says that this woman’s story will be told in memory of her. What will be told in our memory? What eternal impact will our lives have? And is the price of world evangelism worth it? Interestingly, in Mark’s account of this moving event, Mark adds that Jesus said of this humble woman, “She has done all she could.” (Mark 14:8 – J.P. Phillips) What an incredible commendation by our Lord!

Are we as individuals doing all we can for Jesus and world evangelism? Forget for a moment the challenges in the ICOC churches and your particular situation. Are we winning souls and after our friends are baptized continuing to “teach them to obey everything [Christ] commanded?” (Matthew 28:20) To love God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself must include a lifestyle dedicated to being a “fisher of men.” (Mark 1:17) But if one is not catching any fish, or even baiting the hook, is one a fisherman? If one is not making disciples, is one a true disciple? How can we say we love God and not be passionate about His mission?

Sunday was an incredible Easter service! The singing was angelic, the communion encouraging, Carma’s baptism was so inspiring, the response to our continuing study of Romans was so heartfelt. Many heard God’s upward call in Romans 8:37 that admonished each of us to walk in the Spirit as “hypernikomen” – “super conquerors!” (translated in the NIV as “more than conquerors”) Sunday, God increased our attendance to 332, which is a record! (Let us not forget, that by the end of last summer, our membership was reduced by over half leaving only 120 members at that time.) As your evangelist and partner in the gospel, I would like to take this time to commend all of you in the Portland Church because it is evident, everyone is doing “all you can for the Lord.” Individually and collectively, all of us have been humbled by our sins, mistakes, setbacks, and the ensuing criticisms. Yet where Satan intended to harm, God has purified our lives and motives in the fires of criticism and hardships. Having been discipled by God, we should be even more capable to be about the mission of Jesus than ever! (Hebrews 12:7-12)

Our Lord went to the cross abandoned and hated by most — which was so powerfully portrayed in Mel Gibson’s movie, “The Passion of the Christ.” However, the memory of Jesus for those who later responded to Him was one of overwhelming gratitude. Let us never forget, He was always more hated than loved by the world. Ask Jesus, “Was it worth it?” Surely His answer will be, “Look at all those who are in heaven for eternity with me.” (Hebrews 12:2) Paul expanded on this theme when he wrote to the disciples in Thessalonica, “For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you? Indeed, you are our glory and our joy!” (1 Thessalonians 2:19-20) His joy and glory and crown were all the disciples he had initially won to Christ when he, in three weeks, started the Thessalonian Church (Acts 17:1-4), as well as all those who believed in their message: the fruit of making disciples! Though we, like the nameless woman who anointed Jesus, may be unknown in the world, be confident that our names and sacrifices are known to God. The greatest act of faith “expressing itself through love” is to lay down our lives while preaching the message of the cross which changes the course of eternity for all who dare respond. Let it be said of us that “they have done all they could.” Then and only then is there hope for the world to be evangelized in our generation. And to God be the glory!
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[acc title=”Part IX: The Dream: The Evangelization of the World in a Generation”]
“Jesus replied, ‘You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.'”
Matthew 22:29

It has become necessary to write one more essay in the series, The Mandate of God for World Evangelism. “The dream to evangelize the world in a generation” was the compelling vision and unifying mission of the Boston Movement. (ICOC) We believed this dream was God’s dream and had not been accomplished since the first century. We believed every disciple should be willing to “do anything, go anywhere and give up everything” for God to use them in this momentous undertaking. Our faith in God and His plan of making disciples, as revealed in Jesus’ ministry, would allow disciples to multiply around the world in a generation. Today, if questioned very specifically several leaders of the former ICOC churches have quietly renounced their belief in this dream. Correspondingly, confusion among disciples has arisen on this issue. It is very concerning when leaders are in error because they do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. To regain clarity, there are two fundamental questions that must be answered. First, what does it mean to evangelize the world? And the second, what and how long is a generation in God’s Word?

To evangelize the world was explicitly commanded by Jesus to the apostles in Matthew 28:19-20. Did this mean everyone in the world would become a disciple? No. In fact Jesus taught only a few would find “the narrow way.” (Matthew 7:13-14) Did it mean everyone would go through the “first principles study series?” No. One can become a disciple in the duration of a “chariot ride” by simply being taught to love God with all ones heart, soul, mind and strength, to follow and live like Jesus and be baptized for the remission of sins! (Acts 8:26-39) THE PRIMARY ISSUE OF WORLD EVANGELISM FOR JESUS IS PROCLAMATION, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.” (Mark 16:15) In Acts 5:28, the charge against the apostles was “You have filled Jerusalem with your teaching!” This impact, enhanced by the ripple effect of persecution, was accomplished in seven years. By 60 AD Paul writes in Colossians 1:6 saying, “All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing.” Even after the world was evangelized, people were still becoming disciples!

Before I moved to Boston, the disciples of Heritage Chapel Church of Christ “filled Charleston, Illinois” (all 18,000 people) with the gospel in just under three years! Everyone had heard about the church, through disciples preaching the Word and the ensuing persecution. In Boston, through God’s power we filled that city of four million with the gospel, with the help of the Boston Globe Newspaper, in less than 10 years! However, in both cities people were still becoming Christians after the city was saturated with the gospel. To evangelize the world, would be to fill it with the teaching of Jesus as the early Christians did Jerusalem.

The second question of the length of a generation can easily be found in such quotes as Exodus 1:6-7, “Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, but the Israelites were fruitful and multiplied greatly and became exceedingly numerous, so that the land was filled with them.” This generation was the span of Joseph’s and his brother’s lives. Joseph began overseeing Egypt at 30 years old! Joseph lived to 110! Therefore, this generation lasted about 80 years! Judges 2:7,10 reads, Though no age is given for Joshua when he began leading God’s people, like Caleb he was probably around 80. He dies at 110 and the elders around him outlive him for perhaps 20 years. Minimally this generation would span 50 years! Too many have looked at a modern definition of a generation; for example, the generation of Baby Boomers to Generation X was only 28 years, (birthdates 1946-1964). However, Biblically a generation is at least 50 to 80 years…a lifetime. This indirectly was Jesus’ explicit command to the faithful eleven, “Go to all the nations and baptize them!” Inferred, the apostles were to accomplish this task through the multiplication of disciples in their lifetime.

Many of the leaders who no longer believe in “the dream to evangelize the world in a generation,” thought that the “push and pressure” to grow, plant churches and expand into new countries was excessive. I personally am not of that persuasion. I do believe that some churches and Christians were exasperated by these costs. Let me be clear, it was and is wrong to exasperate a fellow leader or disciple. However, it is sad that they were silent and did not speak up for years, because bitterness came into their hearts causing them to resent “the dream” and its corresponding people and monetary sacrifices. Gone is that intense urgency to save souls, since we no longer feel the urgency of accomplishing God’s dream in our generation, our lifetime. Today there exists in many churches an overreactive “pendulum swing” away from a hot, passionate proclamation to a lukewarm indifference to the very mission that saved their souls! Also, those that broke off from or left the ICOC no longer saw a need to “pool” their collective resources of people and money to plant and sustain churches in particularly the third world. Today these splinter groups are doing little or nothing for world evangelism. Rightfully, by the intent of God, “the dream” birthed in our movement an urgency, a zeal to pay any price , incredible love between disciples and a unifying interdependence between the churches.

The first KNN story about the disciples in Norway called us all to “grab the dream.” Let’s once again determine to fulfill God’s dream to “evangelize the world in a generation.” God’s Spirit and plan make it possible. The price is incredibly high, but Jesus has already paid the ultimate price. One question still remains, will we follow in His steps willing to pay the same price or abandon all urgency, true unity and an undying love for Christ?

Kip McKean
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To my brothers and sisters in all the congregations of the International Churches of Christ.

Preface
Introduction
Seeds of Faith
Restoration in Boston
World Revolution
One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism
A Remnant Returns
Church Leadership
Continual Restoration
From Boston to Moscow

Preface:

by Al Baird
“Let it begin here!” cried the American revolutionists in Lexington and Concord over two centuries ago. The British band played The World turned Upside Down as their troops marched into battle. No one knows who fired the first shot, but it soon became the “Shot heard ’round the world.” Revolution had come. What more fitting a theme for July 4th than Revolution? In 1992, Kip McKean wrote “Revolution Through Restoration” for Upside Down magazine. In it he describes the beginning of the church in Lexington, Massachusetts, and how it has truly become today’s “shot heard ’round the world.” This article explains who we are as God’s modern-day movement and where we came from, better than any other single piece of which I am aware. For this reason I frequently give a copy to someone with whom I am studying the Bible or to someone from the media who wants to know more about us. What more fitting a theme for July 4th… than Revolution? [ In 1992 ], Kip McKean wrote “Revolution Through Restoration” for Upside Down magazine. In it he describes the beginning of the church in Lexington, Massachusetts, and how it has truly become [today’s] “shot heard ’round the world.” This article explains… who we are as God’s modern-day movement and where we came from, [better] than any other single piece of which I am aware. For this reason I frequently give a copy to someone with whom I am studying the Bible or to someone from the media who wants to know more about us.

Introduction:

by Kip McKean
Revolution was and is in each step and breath of those who dare follow this man called Jesus. Revolution comes about only when there is at least one person willing to take a stand for God and say “the present system” is wrong and thus will not accomplish the purposes of God. All of God’s purposes center on His glory and meeting the needs of people. Jesus was the ultimate revolutionary. After the first several centuries of Christianity, men tried to reform from within an apostate movement. When the Christian establishment rejected these men and women, denominations formed that genuinely attempted to be God’s movement. These predecessors, who strove to return to the Bible even to the point of death, are to be commended for their faith. Now in our day, we are confronted with unbelieving seminaries and dying denominations with systems of doctrines that have been compromised and crystallized short of the Word of God. However, His Spirit continues to call all men and women to make the ideals of Scripture become our everyday standard and sole authority. Therefore, revolution in Christianity–a return to the doctrines and lifestyles of the first century church–can only occur when we abandon the apostatized systems and their poisoned foundations of traditions and hypocrisy. This path is both frightening and exhilarating, for only by studying the Bible and then by trial and error implementation of these rediscovered teachings can a movement be forged like the original that shook the entire world in one generation. Enemies and critics, Pilates and Judases will abound, for with each restoration of Scripture a more clear, narrowing and convicting, path appears. The restoration of ancient paths evokes the same ancient reactions God’s movements have always received. Therefore, I felt the need to write a more complete explanation primarily for those who are seeking the truth but have heard only our critics, and secondly, to encourage and strengthen God’s people everywhere. My prayer is that this treatise will produce a deep, abiding sense of gratitude to our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. I write this article not as an apostle inspired by God, for I am not. I am simply a Christian who dreams that God’ s modern day movement will never stop restoring and living out God’s Word.

Seeds of Faith:

by Kip McKean
I was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, on May 31,1954. Like many young men of the ’60s, I was inspired by those who refused to compromise and were willing to sacrifice everything for “the worthy cause.” This conviction was also deep in my family’s heritage as we have always been called higher by the courage of one of our ancestors, Thomas McKean. He not only signed the Declaration of Independence, but also was the President of the Congress of Confederation, the highest office in the land, when news arrived from General Washington that the British had surrendered. My father, serving as an admiral in the U.S. Navy, not only became a strong influence, but also my early role model for leadership and excellence. Always very outgoing and warm, my mother gave me a great passion for life. My heroes became John F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who paid the ultimate price for their dreams. In time, my greatest hero became Jesus. Until the middle of high school, I was not a particularly religious person. However, at the end of tenth grade, I became very involved in a growing, fundamental Methodist church in Maitland, Florida. The leader of the youth group, Jim Gillean, a very warm and generous family man, the preacher, Hugh Lake, and the other Bible school teachers consistently reached out to me and encouraged a simple faith in the inspiration and inherence of the Bible. The youth group had a tremendous camaraderie, and, because of this love, I began to love Jesus and to read the Word daily. I came to a deep conviction that Jesus died for my sins and was physically resurrected from the dead on the third day. Just before my senior year my father was transferred to Chicago and, though I remained religious, I was pulled more and more into the world. At the end of my freshman year at the University of Florida, I was invited by Sam Laing, a Sigma Chi fraternity brother, to a devotional of 90 college students. This devotional was sponsored by the 14th Street Church of Christ (later renamed Crossroads). This church in Gainesville had begun a pilot program in campus ministry for the Churches of Christ five years earlier. The Churches of Christ wanted to impact the campuses and initially modeled their efforts after Campus Crusade and called this program Campus Advance. Here I was taught to give up everything for Christ and be baptized for the remission of my sins to become a Christian. This commitment I made in the early hours of April 11, 1972. That summer at home in Chicago, I became very sick. Boils covered the upper part of my body. Bandages were wrapped around my body for the next three months. God was testing and humbling me, particularly through the severe scarring on my face. The members of the little Church of Christ I attended in the Chicago area never came to visit me. This incident in my life certainly sensitized me to meeting people’s needs. Then, even though my doctors strongly advised me otherwise because of my weak health, I returned to Gainesville so I could once more be part of a strong fellowship of college students. The campus ministry was where my dream to become a minister began. In my sophomore year, I believe God reinforced this dream when my younger brother, Randy, my best friend as we grew up, was diagnosed with cancer his senior year of high school. I believe God was teaching me that life is fragile and brief, like a mist, but our souls are eternal. God’s heart desire is for us to be saved by having a relationship with Him and then saving others. The Lord allowed me to baptize Randy six months later! (Our sister Dana and her husband Bob were baptized sixteen years later.) Meanwhile, the innovations of “one another Christianity,” evangelistic small group Bible studies, and the vision of dynamic campus ministries were put on my heart through the powerful preaching of Chuck Lucas and his associate, Sam Laing. Seeds of discipling were placed in my life as I saw personally how one man could affect another’s daily lifestyle and eternal destiny for God. In 1975, shortly after graduating from the University of Florida as a Phi Beta Kappa, I was asked to be the campus minister for Northeastern Christian College, a mainline Church of Christ school located near Philadelphia. Here I saw how uncommitted the so called Christian students were: drugs, drunkenness, prejudice, immorality, and lukewarmness were in many of the students’ lives. I came to a deep conviction that being religious is not the same as being righteous. I also attended Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary where I was challenged by one of the deans that the Bible was not the “only” inspired Word of God. Intimidated, yet convicted by faith, I strongly responded to the dean’s challenge. I told him that if there are any other “holy writs” besides the Bible, then Christianity is reduced to simply another philosophy like Confucianism, Islam, Buddhism or Hinduism. To me, Christ and his Word were and are the only Way, the only Truth and the only Life. I was also disillusioned by the lead minister in the King of Prussia Church of Christ who publicly and privately chastised me on my “narrow view of the Bible.” I came very close to quitting the ministry, not only because of these ordeals, but also because I felt so ineffective. After 10 traumatic months, I was asked by the elders of the Heritage Chapel Church of Christ in Charleston, IL, to initiate a campus ministry to Eastern Illinois University. My personal wounds were quickly healed by the concern of the lead minister, Roger Lamb, and by marrying my best friend in all the world, Elena Garcia-Bengochea on December 11,1976. Thinking that more formal training in the Bible was the answer to my challenges, I attended the Harding Graduate School of Religion in Memphis, Tennessee, for two summers. I drew the following conclusion from the Bible and from the lives and ministries of the seminaries’ graduates (Eastern Baptist and Harding): though helpful in scholastic pursuits, seminary was not the way to train ministers, but rather, one minister walking with another, like Jesus and the twelve. Between 1976 and 1979, I spoke in numerous churches around the United States as the campus ministry in Charleston grew from a few to 300! I was exposed to several different elements in the Churches of Christ. The spiritual condition of most of the Churches of Christ ranged from lukewarm to disgusting (Revelation 3:14-19). After almost 200 years since the inception of the Churches of Christ movement in the United States, the average Church of Christ was about 100 in membership and less than half attended the midweek services. The average church had but eight baptisms in a year and six of these were children of the members. Of those baptized out of the world, less than 10% remained faithful and half of the members’ children who were baptized fell away. The divorce rate was around 33% (about the same as the world), according to the Institute of Marriage and Family Studies at Abilene Christian University. Alarms were constantly being sounded about the declining numbers of full time ministers and missionaries. Reuel Lemmons, in his editorial February 9, 1982, in the Firm Foundation declared that over 8,000 Churches of Christ had closed their doors in the previous 20 years. Even Flavil Yeakley, later an opponent of the Boston church, reported in his book, Why Churches Grow, in which Mac Lynn’s first accurate survey revealed only 965,439 actual members in the mainline churches as opposed to the 2.5 million that had been claimed. He discovered that instead of an estimated 15,000 congregations, there were actually only 10,165 mainline churches, “only 24 with a membership of 1,000 or more, only four with a membership From Jerusalem to Rome, From Boston to Moscow 6 of 2,000 or more, and only one with a membership of more that 3,000.” The largest Church of Christ congregation outside of the borders of the United States was and is only 500 in attendance. Yeakley also wrote, “…in 1980 the Church of Christ in the United States did stop increasing and started decreasing in total membership. It is clear that if the 1965-1980 trend were to continue unchanged, the church of Christ would cease to exist in this nation in just a few years.”” Some of their own prophets have said in the book, The Worldly Church, “The impact of secularization among Churches of Christ appears today in three trends: the emergence of a prudential gospel, the turn to the self, and the veneration of wealth and status.” It is no wonder these mainline churches reacted to Jesus’ call to commitment. However, during these years, I gradually came to a deep conviction that no matter how dynamic a campus work, unless a whole church is “totally committed,” the campus ministry’s impact would be limited. I, along with others, witnessed the slow decline of the Crossroads campus ministry movement because “no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out [and be ruined] and the wineskins will be ruined ” (Luke 5:37). Indeed, many churches (wineskins) with campus ministries split and many young campus ministers (wine) quit the ministry. I thus decided that I would not send the ministers I would train to attend seminaries or to minister to existing churches, but would start new ones–“new wine must be poured into new wineskins” (Luke 5:38). Another valuable lesson was gleaned from the Crossroads church when they became heavily criticized by the world and some of the different elements in the Churches of Christ. Sadly, in time the leadership backed down on some of their convictions and innovations for the sake of remaining in “fellowship” with all the other elements of the modern Churches of Christ. During my years at Charleston and Memphis, I devoted myself to studying the Old Testament. At this major turning point in my life, I came to a deep conviction that, unlike the traditional Church of Christ which claimed only to be a “New Testament church,” a better understanding of God’s eternal plan would cause us to be a Bible church. I found the eternal Kingdom of God to be a crucial part of all the Scriptures beginning in Genesis, fulfilled in the New Testament with the establishment of the church and concluding in the book of Revelation with heaven to come. Along with this, I came to differ with the Churches of Christ whose creed is “to speak where the Bible speaks and be silent where the Bible is silent.” This creed dictated that one must have specific authorization by command, example or necessary inference from the Bible to do anything. It developed a legalistic, pharisaic mind set that sowed the seed for much dissension and division producing the factions of the Churches of Christ. For example, the whole mandate to only “call Bible things by Bible names” is contradictory because the word “Bible” is not even in the Bible! From the Scriptures I came to believe the opposite. I believe that we should be silent where the Bible speaks and speak where the Bible is silent. In other words, a Christian should simply obey where the Bible speaks and only speak (have opinions) where the Bible is silent. In building a life, a church or a “system” for a movement, we are “free” to do anything the Scriptures do not specifically, by command, by example or by necessary inference prohibit (Colossians 2:6-23). The truth seeker will always strive to be faithful to the direction and the spirit of the Scriptures. From Jerusalem to Rome, From Boston to Moscow

Restoration in Boston:

by Kip McKean
During my last year in Charleston, the elders of the Lexington Church of Christ in Massachusetts, contacted me to be their pulpit and campus minister. Though this mainline church was desperate as they considered closing their doors because their number had shrunk to about 30, I hesitated for five months. I told the people in that congregation that in order for me to come, every member must vow to become (in the terminology of that day) “totally committed.” On June 1,1979, history was made as 30 would be disciples gathered on a Friday night in the living room of Bob and Pat Gempel. Our collective vision was a church where not only the college students were totally committed, but also the teens, singles, marrieds and senior citizens. This was a radical concept not witnessed in any other church or movement in my experience to this day. Another building block in our ministry came about when Pat Gempel and I had a strong disagreement during our first month. It was quickly settled by Elena, myself and Bob and Pat as we vowed, as the two most influential families in the church, to always be unified in Christ. The four of us became best of friends. This commitment to unity laid the foundation for a great church and a movement that was truly family – the family of God. As in all families, a commitment to unity is not a onetime event. It is a lifetime process. Satan continually attempts to divide the believers and sow mistrust and insecurity. Elena’ s and my relationship with the Gempels taught us how to build and maintain family in the church. (Since then this godly principle has helped us form a team approach to leadership which maximizes the talents and contributions of each leader.) To this very day, our friendship with the Gempels has been nurtured through times of victory and peace as well as misunderstanding and actual conflict. I personally dislike conflict, as most people do, but conflict Scripturally resolved forges closer relationships (Matthew 5:23,24; 18:15-35). This commitment to honesty, forthrightness and caring has been repeated over and over throughout the Kingdom. “Family” lasts a lifetime and weathers the storms because our foundation is not each other’ s perfection, but the rock of Jesus’ love and grace. [Now there are over 100 churches! In every one of them there is a different ambience, but every disciple feels at home in any of our congregations, no matter their race, sex or nationality. The unselfish unity and warmth among the churches and their evangelists, elders and other leaders distinguish our movement as disciples. “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. All men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another” (John 13:34,35).] Early on I developed a series consisting of nine Bible studies on the “first principles” (Hebrews 6:1-3). The members of the church were called to memorize these studies and then teach others to become Christians. The most impacting was called “Discipleship” where, from my study of Scripture, I taught what was clear in Acts 11:26: SAVED = CHRISTIAN = DISCIPLE, simply meaning that you cannot be saved and you cannot be a true Christian without being a disciple also. I purposely developed this study to draw a sharp biblical distinction between the Lexington (later renamed Boston) Church of Christ and all other groups. I taught that to be baptized, you must first make the decision to be a disciple and then be baptized. I saw that people in and outside of our fellowship had been baptized without this understanding and then, in time, developed a disciple’s commitment to make Jesus Lord of their entire life. I taught that their baptism was invalid because a retroactive understanding of repentance and baptism was not consistent with Scripture. Upon conviction by the Scriptures, most people in the Lexington (Boston) church were rebaptized: Doug Arthur, Joyce (Crosby) Arthur, Lynne (Hembree) Green, the Morehead family, the Foss family, the Crosby family, and, just before he arrived, Steve Johnson. Others like Bob and Pat Gempel, Paul and Helen McNiel, Lisa Johnson, Chris (Timmis) Fuqua, Jim Lloyd, Don Lee and Doug Blough were not rebaptized, as they felt after studying the Word, their conversions were true. Out of these convictions from the Scriptures came one of the crucial characteristics unique to our movement–a true church is composed only of disciples (Luke 9:23; John 4:1; Acts 2:41,42). I have never believed or taught that anyone has to be baptized into the Boston Church of Christ to be saved. The Scriptures clearly teach you must be baptized into Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and then, the Lord adds you to his church (Acts 2:36-47; Romans 6:3,4; 1 Corinthians 12:13; Acts 2:41,42). However, I do not know of any other church, group or movement that teaches and practices what we teach as Jesus taught in Acts 2:41,42: one must make the decision to be a disciple, then be baptized for the forgiveness of their sins to be saved and receive the Holy Spirit. When one is born again at baptism (Titus 3:5), one must have Jesus’ heart and attitude to do anything, go anywhere and give up everything for God. After baptism each disciple is taught to obey all the commands of Jesus as one grows and goes making disciples. If this is what God teaches in the Bible, then we are God’s movement. One very interesting and crucial event occurred in the fourth year of our existence a building we bought in downtown Boston burned down. We were all heartbroken, but God was just guiding our way. Church history, we found that the first church buildings did not exist until the third century. We concluded that buildings had taken too much money from people and slowed the growth of the church. We then rented the Boston Opera House for Sundays and we met in homes (house churches) for our midweek services. In this way, the elders and I decided to invest our funds in people instead of mortgages, interest and stone. At that time, we were the only Church of Christ of any kind in Boston proper. We took the name, the Boston Church of Christ, because the churches in the Bible were simply called by the name of their city. In time, we also came to a conviction from chapters 2 and 3 of Revelation that there was to be only one church in one city, according to the Bible. After all, if one church multiplied disciples, then it would, in time fill the whole city with the teachings of Jesus (Acts 5:28). During these times, we altered the form of our worship. No longer did we have Sunday school or Sunday evening services (both of these began in the 1800s in America). But we intensely studied Bible passages individually every day and together at our midweek service. On Sundays our church services became two hour celebrations of singing, communion, prayers, baptisms, fellowship and exhortive preaching from the Word! Perhaps also unappreciated by the casual observer was the challenge to meet the needs and keep faithful the unprecedented number of new Christians – over 2,000 in the first six years in Boston! In the ’60s and ’70 s in the denominational world, there had been much discussion and writing on the “body life” of the church and “shepherding” one another. Thus, in the Crossroads movement, one another Christianity was expressed in a buddy system called “prayer partners,” where each person chose their own “buddy.” With so many new Christians in the Boston church, I felt this approach was not directive enough. Building upon this concept, I came up with “discipleship partners.” In these relationships, the evangelists, elders and women’s counselors, after discussion and prayer, arranged for an older, stronger Christian to give direction to each of the younger, weaker ones. They were to meet weekly, but have daily contact (Hebrews 10:24,25). (Obviously, the younger discipleship partner also gives input and advice to the stronger disciple, as in any healthy relationship.) We also saw in Scripture that Jesus primarily trained men through groups the apostles and the 72 (Luke 10:1-24). Therefore, we began discipleship groups for every Christian. (This group would usually meet at the midweek service.) Through this approach, each Christian could naturally build relationships with other Christians in addition to their discipleship partner. Studies were done by several church growth experts that proved the greater the number of relationships in the church a new Christian possesses is directly proportional to his likelihood of remaining faithful to God. Interestingly, Dr. Milton Jones in Discipling: The Multiplying Ministry insightful comments, “A new Christian who has good relationships on all levels will achieve a maturity in Christ that is greater than other Christians who have been Christians for years, but only have [casual, non focused] relationships. With the previously discussed system, everyone in the church would have people to meet their needs, and the multitudes of people being baptized would remain in Christ by continuing to be taught and making disciples themselves (Matthew 28:20). These restorations caused incredible controversy. However, the retention rate through all these years of all the baptisms has been about 50%, which is over five times as high as the rate in the various elements in the Churches of Christ.

World Revolution:

by Kip McKean
In 1981-82 the Lord put on my heart a vision for the world. This passion grew even greater as I was influenced by former missionaries and the mission efforts of the Sunset School of Preaching. However, given the restored Bible concept of one church in one city and a true church being composed solely of disciples, my plan was a simple one. If we could place a small group of disciples (church planting) in each of the key metropolitan centers of the world, they, in turn by the multiplication of leaders and disciples, could send church plantings to each of the capital cities of each nation. Then these capital city churches could send out church plantings to all the other cities of that nation and the nation would then be evangelized in one generation just like the first century church (Colossians 1:6, 23). These “key” churches were called “pillar churches,” for a world brotherhood was envisioned to be built on their foundation. Dr. Donald McGavran, the “father of modern church growth” (in the broadest definition of Christianity), saw the Boston movement as unique in that we had a plan to evangelize the entire world from our rapidly growing church. Dr. John Vaughn, editor of Church Growth Today and Director of the International MegaChurch Research Center, recently wrote in a statement to us, “The Boston Church of Christ, as an evangelism/discipleship and church planting movement, represents one of the most aggressive and rapidly growing worldwide movements of this decade. The national and global focus makes it a movement that even its critics cannot ignore.” In the latter part of 1981, Doug Arthur and Jim Lloyd decided they wanted to plant a church in London, England. After working with them on their plans for several weeks, I called Marty and Chris Fuqua, whom Elena and I had trained for the ministry in Charleston and Boston. We asked them if they would lead a church planting in the city of Chicago. After much prayer, the four of us decided the team would be composed of disciples from my old ministry in Charleston, disciples from Marty’ s present work in the campus ministry at Northern Illinois University and any disciples from mainline churches in the Chicago area, like Cecil and Helen Wooten. To further strengthen the work, later I asked my good friend Roger Lamb to serve as coevangelist with Marty. The Chicago church began with about 50 members in June 1982 and now has 2500 every Sunday. I will never forget the night before Doug, Jim and their courageous team left for the shores of England. It was a moving tear-filled time of prayer in the Gempels’ living room. God answered these pleas of faith as the London church began in July 1982 with only eight disciples from Boston on the mission team. Today God has blessed them with 1500 every Sunday. (This is the largest Church of Christ of any kind outside of the United States.) Also in 1982, 182,100 people attended the first annual Boston World Missions Seminar. In 1983, for our third church planting, 18 disciples led by Steve and Lisa Johnson were sent from Boston to New York City, a metropolis of 18 million lost souls. The New York church now meets in the Javits Center with almost 4,000 every Sunday! In 1985 the Holy Spirit sent out church plantings from Boston to Toronto, Canada and Providence, Rhode Island. Later in 1986, the mission team to Johannesburg was sent out, an historic event in South Africa because the church was multiracial from its inception. Also that year our first foreign speaking church plantings were sent to Paris, France, and Stockholm, Sweden, led by four of the dearest friends to Elena and myself, Frank and Erica Kim and Andy and Tammy Fleming, respectively. The great commission of Jesus to take the gospel to every nation in one generation is initially overwhelming. However, through God and implementing His only plan–make disciples who make disciples—all things are possible! I realized the training that produced great evangelists such as Doug Arthur, Steve Johnson and Marty Fuqua must exist not only in Boston, but in hundreds of churches around the world, if we were to fulfill this commission. In all the different elements of the Church of Christ, there was no formal means of “appointing” or “ordaining” an evangelist. We came to believe that the best way to become an evangelist was to train full time (Luke 5:1-11). and walk with and imitate the one you desired to become like as they followed Jesus (I Corinthians 4:6,11:1). When a person began to train fulltime, we called them interns. After several months–in some cases years when the people of that ministry had confidence in the intern’ s walk with God and his ability to impact people’ s lives to become more like Christ, the man was formally made an evangelist. He was given a charge in the presence of God and in front of the church by the laying on of hands of the evangelist who trained the young man (2 Timothy 3:10-4:5). The incredible wisdom of Jesus’ plan is that this process can be learned and imitated anywhere in any language and in any culture. [There are now, on every continent, collectively over 1,000 men and women training full time for the ministry with plans for churches composed solely of disciples in every nation of the world by the year 2,000!] Another aspect of restoration that enriched the movement was led by Pat Gempel and Elena McKean. That was the creation of formal training for women leaders and the discipling of all women. Thus, a dynamic women’s ministry was created. This opportunity for leadership excited the sisters and attracted non Christian women to God’s movement. Many women in the traditional church perceived their role as “second-class” since they simply prepared meals for fellowship dinners. Thus, with no real purpose, many became lazy
and/or discouraged in their daily Christianity. Other women “raised in the church” responded differently to the traditional role, became rebellious, poured their lives into worldly pursuits or left the church completely because they longed to make an impact with their lives and God given talents. Pat, Elena and I, by studying the Word together, came to understand that God commands women to be responsible for and lead the other women. Ultimately, women could then put their all into the church because they saw from Scripture their purpose was exactly the same as the purpose for men–to change the world by making disciples (Romans 16:1,2,3,4,6,12,13,15). In our churches, except for the older women, all women are discipled by other women (Titus 2:3-5). This avoids many of the possible temptations and tensions in male-female relationships and allows women to more effectively disciple other women as they are obviously more insightful into women’s needs than men (Titus 2:1-8). We believe that the formal offices of elder, deacon and evangelist can only be occupied by men according to the Scriptures. (1 Timothy 3:1-13; Titus 1:6-9). We call our women leaders “women’ s counselors.” In all of our churches, the women’s ministry is led by a woman leader (who is usually the wife of the lead evangelist) and she has no authority over men (I Timothy 2:12). Since God has given these principles to totally fulfill women, it is no wonder that few, if any, worldly organizations of women can equal the power, radiance and talent in our women’s ministry.

One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism:

by Kip McKean
From 1983 on through the 80’s, many people, especially leaders from the various elements of the Church of Christ, moved to Boston or our plantings to be disciples and to train to build churches. They were in awe of God and the unprecedented growth the Holy Spirit produced in Boston and our daughter churches (Acts 9:31). Men and women came from traditional mainline Churches of Christ, Christian churches, Crossroads campus ministry churches, Milton Jones campus ministry churches, Springfield, Missouri (John Wilson, Tom Jones) campus ministry, bus ministry influenced churches (Garnett Road in Tulsa, Oklahoma; Williamstown in West Virginia; and Lindbergh Road in Anderson, Indiana), Stanley Shipp influenced churches, one cup churches, anti Sunday school churches, anticooperation churches, the “black” Churches of Christ, and several students from Church of Christ sponsored colleges: Harding University, Harding Graduate School of Religion, Oklahoma Christian University, Abilene Christian University, International Bible College, Great Lakes Christian College, Northeastern Christian College, and several schools of preaching (of special note were Sunset and Preston Road in Texas). The amazing thing is that many of these groups had several philosophical and doctrinal conflicts with each other. However, in Boston, the elders, their wives, Elena and I made every effort to forge a bond of unity between all these leaders from the Scriptures and through our working side-by-side with each other for one purpose (1 Corinthians 1:10; Philippians 1:27). We have always welcomed people from any background who are truly seeking God and we continue to be open to still others joining in our revolution through restoration of the Scriptures today more than ever. All of these leaders either went to Boston or our plantings and secured a secular job, hoping some day to be selected to be an intern or they were immediately hired as interns. But all (no matter how extensive their experience or Bible background) had to begin their training as if they were young Christians. For example, everyone was encouraged to take the First Principles Class. We found that these leaders had to unlearn their past traditions and misconceptions before they could really learn how to build churches. The training for someone baptized out of the world in Boston and for someone who moved to train in Boston was exactly the same. Before any man was sent out to lead a church, he had to become a proven builder in Boston or one of our plantings. It was during these days in 1985 that Chuck Lucas left the ministry for personal spiritual reasons. This left a void of leadership for many churches he influenced. Crossroads campus ministry movement faded. The some fifty churches they directly influenced then splintered into many different doctrinal directions. With the passage of time, the mainline Church of Christ’s concept of autonomy and the restorations in Boston, my relationships with others converted at Crossroads had eroded. Realizing this, in the ensuing two years I made a concerted effort to reach out to the leaders of this campus ministry element of the Church of Christ. Many moved to Boston. Of special note were Sam Laing and Tom Brown who were then leading struggling congregations only partially composed of disciples. I vividly remember going to see Tom and his family in Berkeley, California. He pleaded, “I need people in my life. I want myself, my family and, if possible, the church in Berkeley to be ‘grafted into’ the Boston churches.” I also remember flying down to see Sam and his family in the Atlanta area and bonding again through our tears. He had become discouraged and even considered leaving the ministry. God used our time together to give him a vision for one church that could evangelize all of the Atlanta area. Just before Sam moved to Boston, the church that he was serving split. Those who desired to be disciples became the foundation for our Atlanta Church of Christ planting. As Paul wrote, “There are divisions among you…to show which of you have God’s approval” (1 Corinthians 11:18,19). Tom and Sam moved to Boston in the summer of 1987, as simply interns training to build churches. Others converted at Crossroads, many of whom were former friends, resented my efforts to pull them into the Boston movement. They became some of our most verbal opponents. At this time, the Crossroads church publicly distanced itself from the Boston movement because of the Atlanta planting and the many restorations from Scripture that Al Baird and I taught there. (Today the Crossroads church is simply another mainline Church of Christ with less than 400 in attendance.) In all of these trials, the elders, my fellow evangelists and I determined to stay focused on the mission. Many of the men who were leaders in the different elements of the Churches of Christ, who came to train to build churches of disciples, discovered they had not been baptized as disciples themselves. In the world’s eyes, they were rebaptized. In God’s eyes, they were baptized into Jesus Christ (Acts 19:1-5). Of special note are: Nick Young, Preston Shepherd, Willie Flores, John Bringardner, Jerry Jordan, Reese Neyland, Bill Hooper, John Mannel, Dave Peden, Mike Taliaferro, Steve Kinnard, Steve Sapp, Steve Brown, John Lusk, Curt Simmons, Mike Rock, Scott Green, Grant Henley, Ed Powers, Andy Fleming, Gordon Ferguson, Tom Jones, Jeff Tabor, Ed Heinlein, Kevin Robbins, Roy Larson, Dr. Richard Rheinbolt, Tom McCurry, John Reus, Gregg Marutzky, Gregg Metten, Barry Mahfood, Mike Leatherwood, Sonny Sessions and Joe Garmon. Others were not rebaptized, as they felt they had made the decision to be disciples (usually not with that terminology) when they were baptized: Dr. George Gurganus, Sam Laing, Cecil Wooten, Jim Blough, Marty Fuqua, Dr. Marty Wooten, Ryan Howard, Henry Kreite, Joe Woods, Jess Asper, Ed Townsend, Jimmy Allen, Jr., Jimmy Rogers, John Porter, Dave Eastman, Tom Brown, Dave Weger, Phil Lamb, Bruce Williams, Randy McKean, Mike Fontenot, Douglas Jacoby, Ron Drabot, Mark Mancini, Wyndham Shaw, Gerry Frederick, John Partington, Sam Powell, Tom Marks, Steve Gooch, Tim Huffman, Elena’ s brother-in-law Martin Bentley, Camaron Corr and Dr. Jerry Jones (who later left the Boston movement). Many more came to
train. A few of these later turned back in bitterness because of the “hard teachings” they could not “accept” (John 6:60-66).

A Remnant Returns:

by Kip McKean
In late 1986, because so many leaders from so many different elements of the Church of Christ had moved to Boston or our plantings, we decided to call to repentance all types of mainline and all types of campus ministry churches who were willing to pay the price to multiply disciples. First, we would ask the interested church’s lead minister to move to Boston to be discipled and further trained. We replaced them with a Boston-trained evangelist to serve the church. During the initial weeks of this changeover, each member was called to renew their commitment at baptism to be a disciple of Jesus, to be baptized as a disciple of Jesus, or to leave. Sometimes elders were rebaptized: Dr. Al Baird, Roger Lamb, George Havins, and Ron Brumley.Criticism came from outside our churches because, in the mind set of some, since these elders were just baptized, they became novices in the faith. The Bible teaches that a person should not be an elder as a novice so he will not become conceited (1 Timothy 3:6). Since they were already serving in this capacity, and were now humbling themselves, there seemed little chance for them to now become conceited. Thus, this character requirement was not an issue. After these radical changes, these churches grew equally as rapidly as our plantings, for, in fact, there was now no difference. Each church would be composed solely of disciples. I called these efforts “reconstructions” after the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem in the book of Nehemiah. We always renamed the church after the metropolitan (city) area in which the church was located. First of all, we did this to be biblical, as these were the names for local congregations in the Bible (i.e. the church in Ephesus, Revelation 2:1 , etc.) And secondly, it gave the disciples a vision to evangelize all of their metropolitan area. In our first reconstruction in December 1986 in Kingston, Jamaica, Phil and Donna Lamb were a great strength for Elena and me. This experience totally bonded the Lambs and us. I still remember preaching on a very hot and humid Friday night to about 70 people from a weak
congregation in Kingston. The lesson was entitled “Rebuilding the Wall” from chapters 1-6 in Nehemiah. After the lesson, I figuratively drew a line in front of the pulpit and said, “If you want to be a disciple of Jesus, and a member of the new Kingston Church of Christ, and if you want to be a part of this pillar church which will evangelize all of Kingston, Jamaica, and, in time, the Caribbean, please come forward.” Forty three responded! Immediately afterwards we broke up into men and women’s groups. Here those who wanted to openly confessed their sins (Nehemiah 9:1-3; Matthew 3:1-6). By the next morning, all of the 43 were jubilant. Then Phil preached on the power of the Holy Spirit. He charged them to make it their purpose to be fishers of men and to begin by bringing their friends to church the next day. On Sunday, over 200 attended services! The Kingston church started with 48 disciples, including five young leaders from Boston. The first year 115 were baptized, the second 200. The Kingston church now has over 1,000 on Sundays! Later, in the summer of 1987, I worked with the Greens and the Kims on turning the struggling Berkeley congregation into the San Francisco Church of Christ. Now God has blessed them with over 1,400 in worship on Sundays! Then in December, the Williams and I did the reconstruction in San Diego, where they now have nearly 2,500 every Sunday morning! Of great significance at the same time, London reconstructed Sydney, and Chicago reconstructed seven churches in the Midwestern United States. When we built these churches, we taught against the unscriptural church government system practiced in the traditional Churches of Christ. They believed that each congregation was independent and totally autonomous from all the others. We showed from the Bible how congregations were connected through their relationships and how evangelists directed other evangelists in the region (field) they influenced. (The word “autonomy” is not even in the Bible.) We also taught that the lead evangelist worked with, and, for the most part, led and discipled the
elders to direct the affairs of a local church (Titus 1:5; 1 Timothy 5:17). In all, we preached one worldwide brotherhood (1 Peter 2:17) for we observed that independent autonomy violated the command and spirit of Scripture. This teaching stopped churches from learning from each other and from growing, and simply produced a critical spirit toward other churches and no impact throughout the world. Today we have many evangelists who minister to clusters of churches in an area of the world. For example, Gordon Ferguson has recently ministered to the churches in Europe by teaching the book of Romans in short two week periods. As Isaiah wrote, “Only a remnant will return” (Isaiah 10:21,22). I saw all the way through the Bible that God, from time to time, took the few who were faithful and separated them from the unfaithful to have a purified people devoted to him. This action always precipitated His movement in that generation. The examples are numerous: Noah and his family, Abraham and Sarah, Gideon and the 300, David and his mighty men, Nehemiah and the remnant in Jerusalem, and ultimately, the Jews who became the first Christians in the first century! In the many elements of the Churches of Christ and Christian churches where there was no desire for help, we felt an obligation to God to call out the true disciples (or people who desired to be true disciples), asking them to move to one of the Boston churches, sometimes called “multiplying ministry churches.” Thus, we purposefully set about to glean the remnant into what now was clearly a new, modern day movement of God. After pushing myself so hard for so long, I was exhausted and became physically sick during Christmas of 1986. While in bed I realized from my condition that I, and all the other Christians, needed to rely more on God through prayer. During the congregational workshop in January, I stressed the need first for myself and then for the entire church to repent and draw closer to God. Consequently, there was a spiritual revival as I began to teach this in all of our churches. We greatly intensified our focus on Bible study, prayer, fasting, the Holy Spirit, and our personal relationships with God to endure the rigors of the Christian life. Frank and Erica Kim
were a great comfort at this time. I found when praying with them that their prayers were very aggressive in fighting Satan and his demonic angels. The Kims have been an upward call for the entire brotherhood as they are always up before daylight to pray to the Father (Mark 1:35).
It was during this period that some of the influential Churches of Christ (Garnett Road and Sunset), as well as the Christian Chronicle, the most prominent Church of Christ publication, stopped considering us a part of the Church of Christ fellowship. The major issues were: who is a
Christian, independent autonomy of each congregation and rebaptism. I am convinced that jealousy over our growth, which exposed their lack of growth, was a major motivation of this separation(John 3:20, 12:42,43). The charges against us were filled with emotionally laden words
such as “love bombing,” “brainwashing,” and “cult.” The Bible teaches that Christians should not be surprised by persecution (1 Peter 4:12).
Jesus also was falsely accused with the emotionally laden words, “demon-possessed” (John 10:20), “blasphemer” (John 10:33) and even his own family said he was “out of his mind” (Mark 3:21). To Pilate he was accused of subversion, opposing taxes and claiming to be king, these last
charges being two lies and a half-truth (Luke 23:2). Even the early church was accused, “we know that people everywhere are talking against this sect” [cult] (Acts 28:22). My challenge to all of the critics in the Churches of Christ has been: Where are the souls you are saving and where are the churches you have built? We do believe “by their fruit [or lack of fruit] you will recognize them.” (Matthew 7:20) Some of our churches then decided to change their names from Church of Christ to other godly names (like Christian Church or Church of God) to avoid unnecessary criticism. Historically, theologians are marking this hour. For the first time, Dr. John Vaughan in his publication, Church Growth Today, will separately list the Boston family of churches from all the other Churches of Christ. He calls us the “International Churches of Christ (Boston Movement).” In 1987 I was very honored to be asked by my good friend Marty Wooten (we had met at Harding Graduate School) to be a member of the editorial board of a new magazine. It would have a scholarly orientation yet would be useful for even the newest Christian. He named it Biblical Discipleship Quarterly (later called Discipleship Magazine) and it would include challenging articles, news reports and interviews. After I reconstructed the Denver church in 1988, I asked Marty to move to Boston to train. Together we shared a new purpose and vision that Discipleship Magazine would be based in Boston and become the official documentation and information for the Boston movement. (Up to this time, the. Boston Bulletin had served this purpose.) Later I asked Roger Lamb to become the editor, as Marty felt that the Lord had called him to lead the evangelization of Germany and Eastern Europe. (Marty and Cathy Wooten are doing a superior job in their God given field as the Lord has already raised up two churches, Berlin and Munich, both of which are rapidly increasing in disciples.) As of this year (1992) we changed the name of the magazine to UpsideDown from the title of the musical based on the book of Acts written by Steve Johnson and Sherwin Mackintosh. This has indeed become the anthem of our movement, as well as our goal: to turn the world upside down with the gospel (Acts 17:6 RSV). Plans are under discussion and prayer to begin a Spanish version of UpsideDown in 1993 edited by Jess Asper, who coordinates the Spanishspeaking ministries in the United States. Phil Lamb would be responsible for distribution throughout Central and South America.
In 1987 and 1988, the following key foreign mission teams were sent out from Boston: Mexico City with Phil and Donna Lamb (chronicled in Andrew Giambarba’s book, Bent on Conquest), Hong Kong with Scott and Lynne Green, Bombay with Jim and Donna Blough, and Cairo led with undaunted courage by Bob and Laurie Tranchell into the heart of the Muslim world. Also the Kims joined Dr. George and Irene Gurganus in Tokyo. The Gurganuses had started a mainline Church of Christ in Tokyo immediately following World War II. They returned to the United States 10 years later. Upon completion of his doctorate in cross cultural communication, George started the missions program at Harding University and
later directed the missions program at Abilene Christian University. After he had been retired for two years, I asked George and Irene to move to Boston for I was convinced God still wanted to use them. There they became like spiritual grandparents to Elena and me. Following their training in Boston, they inspired the whole brotherhood by returning to the Japanese mission field at 70 years of age! When the Kims arrived, George assisted Frank in reconstructing the small congregation in Tokyo which we then called the Tokyo Church of Christ. Immediately following the reconstruction, the Wall Street Journal called Japan, “the Mount Everest of mission work” because it is over 90% atheistic. Through the Holy Spirit, the preaching of God’s grace, and the cross of Christ, each of these key church plantings experienced unprecedented growth in their region of the world.

Church Leadership:

by Kip McKean
In 1988 after much prayer, fasting, studying the Word and talking with my closest
brothers, I came to the conviction that I needed to focus my ministry on “a few men” (Exodus 18:13-27; 2 Samuel 23:8-39; Luke 6:12-16). I considered crucial qualities such as their relationship with God, the impact of their ministries, and whether they had dynamic, spiritual
wives and great marriages. After all, a church will never rise above the spirituality of its leadership (Luke 6:39,40). Also, since leadership in God’s movement is by relationship, I felt one of the primary requirements for the “focused few” would be that I had personally trained and
discipled them. After a final all-night of prayer, I selected the following brothers to focus my energies upon and gave each a geographical field in the world, so that through a collective effort the world would be evangelized in this generation. I called them World Sector Leaders.

They are:
Douglas Arthur : British Commonwealth, Scandinavia
Steve Johnson : Eastern U.S., Caribbean, Africa
Randy McKean : New England, Europe
Phil Lamb : Central and South America
Frank Kim : Far East
Scott Green : Hong Kong
Marty Fuqua : Midwest and Western U.S., Canada, Russia
Al Baird : Middle East
Bob Gempel : HOPE Worldwide (projects for the poor)

(One of the original world sector leaders, Tom Brown, left the full-time ministry for personal and spiritual problems.) In the early days of the Boston movement, the elders and their wives (Al and Gloria Baird, Bob and Pat Gempel), Elena and myself would make the major decisions for the movement. Since the movement has expanded around the world, the World Sector Leaders now make collective consensus decisions that set the direction of the churches. A World Sector Leaders meeting usually occurs twice each year. Also, to maintain the great unity of the Spirit among the churches, this summer in Boston the first World Missions Leadership Conference will be held. Every lead evangelist, every elder, lead national, local administrator and their wives will attend! I still remember Scott Green preaching, “The greatest challenge to God’s movement at this hour is not persecution from the outside, but disunity on the inside.” This also was a challenge to the first century church (Acts 15; Ephesians 4:4-6; 1 Corinthians 1:10-13). Since every Christian, especially a leader, needs people in his or her life, the Bairds and Gempels, being older, have been involved in our lives and discipled Elena and me in our marriage and family for many years. Of all these leaders, my closest brothers are Doug Arthur and Steve Johnson, who are my most experienced and most trusted men. Doug and Steve have always told me what I needed to hear. This they have done with great gentleness and conviction, having God’s best interest at heart. Like all true disciples, their first allegiance is to Jesus, not a man. In 1989 I asked each World Sector Leader to name an administrator to deal in a godly way with the legalities, administration, and finances for their sector of the Kingdom. This would allow the world sector leaders to be more devoted to prayer and the ministry of the Word. Because of his great integrity and experience, I asked Cecil Wooten to coordinate the efforts of the world sector administrators. Cecil won two purple hearts in World War II and is a former senior vice president of administration for the worldwide CBI Industries, Inc. The world sector administrators presently are: Tom McCurry, Jim Blough, Vivian Hanes, Dan Bathon, Chris Jacobs, Don Lee, and Dr. Jaime DeAnda. Cecil and the other administrators have worked hard to make all of our churches above reproach by requiring outside audits on our churches over 500 in membership by Deloitte Touche, Price Waterhouse or similar firms (2 Corinthians 8:20-21). The financial books and how we spend our money are open to any member at any time. Also in 1989, the Boston church sent out seven mission teams around the world. Of note in the United States was the reconstruction of the Miami/Ft. Lauderdale church led by Sam and Geri Laing. Then that summer the church planting in Los Angeles was initiated by Tom and Kelly Brown. And excitingly, one of our most eloquent preachers and one of my most trusted brothers, Russ Ewell and his dynamic wife Gail led the church planting to Washington, D.C., politically the most influential city of the world. In August of 1989 the last Boston World Missions Seminar filled the Boston Garden with 12,000 disciples from around the globe.
During the ten years that God allowed my family to serve the Boston church, unprecedented growth occurred. Though the original Lexington church had witnessed only two baptisms in the previous three years before June 1979, by restoring the radical concept of a totally committed church, God’s power was unleashed and he gave us 103 baptisms the first year. As more restorations of biblical doctrine and life occurred, so did unprecedented multiplication–never before seen in a modern day Church of Christ. (The most dynamic Church of Christ for decades had only baptized 200 to 300 each year.) In our second year, we witnessed 200 baptisms; 256 our third; 368 in the fourth; 457 in the fifth; 679 in the sixth; 735 in the seventh; 947 in the eighth; 1424 in the ninth; and in our tenth year, l621 were baptized into Christ and our Sunday attendance was approaching 5000 as we were meeting in the Boston Garden. Not only is this the single largest congregation in the long ecclesiastical history of New England, but it also became the largest Church of Christ in the modern world. Though it was very hard for us to leave the relationships in Boston for the mission field, it gives us great joy to know that the current elders, Al Baird, Wyndham Shaw, and Gordon Ferguson and their wives make a great team dynamically lead by Randy and Kay McKean who serve as the lead evangelist and women’s counselor. God has blessed this team of leaders as the membership of the Boston church gets even larger today. Contrary to what our critics have said, we have always stressed excellence in the life of a disciple including academics and job performance. This is reflected in the outstanding men and women baptized out of the world in Boston, who would later become great full-time leaders for the Lord: Frank Kim ( magna cum laude, Harvard), Bob Tranchell, Russ Ewell, David Grantham, Tim Anderson, and Luis Martinez (Harvard); Dr. Jaime DeAnda, PhD. (MIT), Andrew
Giambarba, Elena’s brothers — Geroge and Peter Garcia-Bengochea, John McGuirk (baseball team captain, Boston College), Brian Scanlon (Harvard), Mo Adame (Harvard), Tom Gurrentz, Dr. Mo Bishara (Harvard Medical School), Steve Chin, Dr. Dave Traver (Boston University School of Medicine), Herve Fleurant, Chris Reed, Mark Templay (MIT), Dr. Doug Webber (Yale Medical School), Walter Kotkowski, Ron Marsh, Jim Valente, Eddie Armes, Wilner Cornely, Damien Jean-Baptiste, Javier Amaya (Brown University, IBM), Frank Hines (Harvard), Dean Farmer, Ph.D. (Brown University; post-doctorate, Harvard), and many others. Other great church leaders (many of whom are [non-US] nationals) were baptized in the
church plantings: Mohan Nanjundan, Dr. Peter Swaby, Onyechi Ouguagha, Fred Scott, Chris McGrath, John Louis, Tan Chio Chang, Anthony Galang, Gustavo Sassano, Cory Blackwell, Jeff Sachinger, Garrett Gin, Mike Vassallo, Dave Tebbutt, Caesar Lopez, Josue Ortega, Christopher Lindfeldt, Franck Descotes and Misha Rakovschik. These do not even include the incredible women who serve full time or the thousands of professional and skilled disciples who excel in their occupational fields, their families and their faith (2 Corinthians 8:7). The Boston church is the Jerusalem for God’s modern day movement and thus, has been the center of training evangelists, women’s counselors and mission teams. Through those sent out from Boston, the centers of training multiplied as was the pattern in the book of Acts. Accordingly, perhaps the most thrilling highlight brought about by the hand of God has been the awesome multiplication of disciples on the foreign fields. In New York City, Mike and
Anne-Brigitte Taliaferro were trained and sent by Steve and Lisa Johnson to plant Sao Paulo. Then Steve asked Mike to take charge of the evangelization of the continent of Africa. In the past three years God has blessed the Taliaferro’s work for Christ which has grown from one church to eight churches: Abidjan, Accra, Cape Town, Harare, Lagos, Nairobi and Umtata. The collective Sunday attendance of these congregations is now nearly 3,500! Another Third World challenge where the Lord has blessed us is in the Hindu nation of India. This incredible outreach to nearly one billion people is now overseen by Mohan and Helen Nanjundan, a great brother and sister in the Lord converted and trained by Doug and Joyce Arthur in London. From the initial pillar church in Bombay and the Bangalore church planted by London, there are now churches in Delhi and Madras as well. This summer a new church will be planted which will reach out to the 15 million in the “City of Joy,” Calcutta.
Other inspirational leaders trained by the Arthurs are the Louis who now lead a church of 1,000 in Singapore, the Fontenots in Sydney, and the McGraths and Scotts who lead the London church. In Europe when the church in Paris went through a difficult period, I asked someone in
whom I had total confidence, my brother Randy and his wife Kay, to again forge a base of disciples there. When they went to Boston, they left Brian and Adrienne Scanlon to lead the church on to greater victories. Today the church in Paris has 400 on Sunday mornings and has already planted the church in Brussels. Also in Europe are the works in Amsterdam, Munich, Berlin and Milan, led by the Tranchells. In the Far East, the Kims have sent mission teams from Tokyo to Osaka and Sendai in Japan. They have also discipled the Galangs who have led the Manila church that now has 1,000 on Sundays in only its third year! Amazingly, in the Buddhist cities of Bangkok and Seoul, tremendous inroads are being made for Christ. And in Central and South America, Phil and Donna Lamb have discipled the original 13 members of the Mexico City team to multiply into the leadership for ten churches: Buenos Aires, Santiago, Sao Paulo, Rio, San Juan, Bogata, Puebla, Monterrey and Guadalajara. The key couples the Lambs have worked through to bring about this multiplication of churches are the Porters, the Bentleys, Peter and Laura Garcia-Bengochea, the DeAndas, and the Giambarbas. In Hong Kong, the Greens have raised up the Chins, who have now planted the church in Taiwan. Today, the Taliaferros, the Nanjundans, the Chins and all the other evangelists and their wives are training another generation of leaders to evangelize their respective regions and nations of the world (2 Timothy 2:2).

Continual Restoration:

by Kip McKean
For nearly 13 years, there has been a constant wrestling with God through the Scriptures and prayer — “Revolution Through Restoration.” As more and more churches were planted and built, the Bairds, the Gempels, Elena and I as well as the couples sent out from Boston, particularly the Arthurs and the Johnsons, discovered numerous unbiblical traditions in our backgrounds.True restorations occurred as first century Bible doctrines were once more rediscovered like–

• Jesus baptizing only people who have made the decision to be disciples (John 4:1);
• ongoing discipling for every Christian in a local church (Matthew 28:20);
• every Christian’s purpose is to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10);
• daily accountability and openness with one another (Hebrews 3:12,13; Ezekiel 3:17-21);
• discipleship groups (Mark 3:13-14);
• planting churches (Acts 13:14);
• world vision (Mark 16:15);
• one church, one city (Revelation 2-3);
• church buildings not essential (Acts 2:46);
• house churches (Acts 20:20);
• revival of prayer and fasting (Acts 13:3);
• the role and power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8);
• awareness of angels, demons and the spiritual battle in the universe (Ephesians 6:10-18);
• the training of evangelists (Mark 3:13-14);
• church government especially the role of evangelist and elders (Titus 1:5; 1 Timothy 3:1-7);
• New Testament lifestyle of giving and sacrifice for missions and the poor
(Acts 2:45, 11:29);
• the leadership role and the discipling of women (Titus 2:3-5);
• one brotherhood, not autonomy of individual churches that causes division (Ephesians 4:4-6);
• simply believing that we, the church, are the Kingdom of God (Colossians 1:13)

It is exciting to see theologians rise up in our number such as Douglas Jacoby in Stockholm. He earned an M.T.S.degree in New Testament from Harvard Divinity School and engaged in post graduate work at King’s College in London. Douglas has written such books as True and Reasonable on Christian evidences and A Powerful Delusion which corrects common misconceptions about the Holy Spirit and shows how He can impact our daily lives. Another immediately gratifying restoration has been in marriage and the family. By teaching and living the biblical principles and roles of godly marriages (Ephesians 5:21-33; 1 Corinthians 7:25), with the hundreds of weddings in our churches around the world, we have never had a divorce with couples who have remained faithful to God and his church in any of our congregations. The Bible teaches that a Christian cannot initiate a divorce except in the case of adultery or being deserted (Matthew 5:32; 1 Corinthians 7:15). From Jerusalem to Rome, In evangelizing the community, married couples were reached who obviously did not have the benefit of having people in their life to help them live out the biblical principles for marriage. For example, when David Graham, who toured with the band Grand Funk Railroad, and his actress wife Coleen were contacted by some Christians in Boston, they had separated from each other. They had decided this even though they had one child and another on the way. When they committed their lives to Christ, they learned to “forgive as the Lord forgave [them]” (Colossians 3:13). With their marriage healed by God, David now serves as an elder and evangelist and Coleen serves as a women’s counselor in the church in L.A. This great story, with different names, could be repeated countless times about couples in our churches around the world. In 1988 Pat Gempel was totally open with the devastating pains of her life at the annual Women’s Discipleship Conference in Boston. The title of her speech was “Woman, Why Are You Crying?” In tears she shared about being divorced by her husband, left with two small children (Doug Arthur and Kim Arthur Evans) and overwhelmed by the responsibility of the birth of her third child. In desperation she had decided to place her infant up for adoption. She shared about God’s comfort in her sorrow. Not by chance but by God, a sister in the audience volunteered to help Pat find her lost child. Only three months later, God brought Roxanne and Pat together in a joyful, emotional reunion. The three children, Pat and Bob were reunited by God in a powerful demonstration of Christ like forgiveness. By this time, Roxanne was married with one child and in a few months
both she and her husband Eddie were baptized into Christ. Later her adoptive parents became Christians also! Today Eddie and Roxanne Armes
have three children and are in full time ministry for the Lord, as are the Gempels’ other children, Doug and Kim and their spouses Joyce and Walter. (In the meantime, Pat’s mother has also become a disciple.) Bob and Pat Gempel have a tremendous extended family because of forgiveness, the power of the Holy Spirit, and God’s plan to reconcile family relationships that have been scarred by the sins of the world. There is an urgent need for sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, moms and dads to be reconciled in every culture. Praise God, as we can see from these two accounts, any relationship can be healed in Christ. Another restoration was the call during the 1987 Boston World Missions Seminar from Douglas Arthur and the example of the London church for all the churches “to remember the poor” (Galatians 2:10). This restoration of “pure religion” led to the founding of HOPE Worldwide–a separate arm of the church that is focused on projects for the poor and destitute
around the world (James 1:27). Already there are ongoing HOPE Worldwide projects in Mexico City (a medical clinic for children); Delhi, India (a leprosy medical clinic); Madras, India (a tuberculosis clinic); Abidjan, Ivory Coast (an AIDS clinic–the first of its kind in Africa according to the Associated Press); Moscow (a soup kitchen); Atlanta (an adoption and pregnancy counseling center); and the inner city work in South Central Los Angeles (Cross and Switchblade ministry–job training and placement, midnight basketball program, counseling and, in the future, college scholarships.) Interestingly, one of our critics, Jerry Jones, who has “shipwrecked the faith” of some, wrote in What Does the Boston Movement Teach?, “One problem in writing an accurate treatise [for the Boston movement] is the rapidly changing and developing doctrinal positions. The changes from August 1986 until November 1989 have been many and rapid.” (This was this critic’s stated reason for leaving the Boston church.) For many people in the different elements of the Churches of Christ, our changing doctrinal positions have been nothing short of heresy. Their unspoken assumption is that the traditional Church of Christ is a restoration movement that has fully restored the Bible. However, our observations and study of the Bible have led us to a different conviction. Not that we have always initially been correct ourselves. For example, I was wrong on some of my initial thoughts about biblical authority. I had felt that church leaders could call
people to obey and follow them in all areas of opinion. This was incorrect. I feel very badly for people who were hurt by this wrong stance. Hebrews 13:17 teaches Christians are to obey their leaders in the work of the church as they lead in what the Bible teaches, so as not to make their work a burden. However, the leaders are not to lord it over the church and not to bind it with burdens it cannot bear (Matthew 23).
As in every restoration from Scripture, it has taken ongoing study from the Word and discussions with many brothers and sisters to even begin trial and error implementation of all these rediscovered truths. At the end of it all, the leaders in the Boston movement have always been willing to change doctrinally and practically when we have seen the truth in the Scriptures. Today this certainly could not be said of most of the leaders of denominations including the other elements of the Churches of Christ (even though they claim to be a restoration movement
themselves). Except for the people who are truly seeking God, the collective deadness in most congregations testifies to God against them. Incredibly, some of these same “Christian leaders” are willingly yoked together with money-motivated deprogrammers who do not even believe in
Jesus. Simply put, the costs of restoration are too high and too threatening for them. In the midst of this spiritual battle, our churches have continued to remember the words of Paul, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4). We continually have fun with our brothers and sisters in each of our churches. The New York church has produced two musicals, “Upside Down” and “Slingshot”, as well as having a dynamic theater troupe for children, The Pied Pipers. The San Diego church has enjoyed putting on square dances and concerts by the bay. Each summer the Boston church celebrates their own Summer Olympics with competition throughout the church culminating in medal competition. Soccer games have been held in the churches in Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The L.A. church sponsored a walkathon and David Graham and the Bottom Line produced a CD, “Old Friends Never Die” to raise funds for the Moscow mission team. Recently, the L.A. singles celebrated a Valentine’s Party on the Queen Mary. Some of the London leaders went parachuting. The Auckland, New Zealand, brothers and sisters have gone white water rafting and bunji-cord jumping. Some brothers in Johannesburg competed in car racing. Perhaps, most daring of all, the Mexico City brothers actually had their own bullfights–fortunately, God’s angels protected them! This does not include the joyful times of gathering in Sunday fellowship, Bible Talks, discipleship groups, dating, retreats or celebrating baptisms at the ocean. Instead of bachelor parties that glorify bachelorhood, drunkenness and pornography, we throw “groom honoring” parties and bridal luncheons that celebrate marriage, real fun, and deep relationships. Truly, being a disciple is not the easiest life, but it is definitely the most joyful. And to think that heaven awaits us, too!

From Boston to Moscow:

by Kip McKean
Since January of 1990, my family, Elena, Olivia (10), Sean (9), Eric (7), and I have lived
in Los Angeles in a rented three bedroom house; we have but one car–a 1985 Dodge Caravan. As
in Boston, we have become very involved in helping the community. Alongside Cory Blackwell,
a former NBA player and his wife Megan, we lead the outreach to South Central L.A.: the Cross
and Switchblade Ministry. Also I presently serve on my children’s elementary school’s Site
Council, as well as coaching my sons’ basketball team.
The church in L.A. began with just 25 disciples from Boston and 25 disciples from San
Diego and San Francisco two and a half years ago. We have been ably assisted by the Fuquas and
the new Los Angeles church elders–Bill Hooper, David Graham, Bruce Williams and their wives
Sally, Coleen, and Robyn–so that God has now blessed our efforts with 2500 on Sundays!
Currently, Elena and I have our hearts set on building a “super church” in L.A. as a model, for all
the churches to grow and mature to God’s glory (1 Thessalonians 1:7).
I am greatly encouraged that the churches in Atlanta, Denver, London, Kingston, Manila,
Miami/Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando, and Toronto each have over 1,000 on Sundays. Also the churches
in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco each have over 2,000 every Sunday and
the New York church has nearly 4,000. Excitingly, Boston recently had a Sunday service of
6,500! However, we envision scores of churches of thousands, as in the book of Acts (super
churches).
During the past three summers my family has lived in Cairo and other life threatening
cities, particularly to American Christians, as well as planting churches in Manila, Bangkok, and
Moscow. My personal conviction is to never send another person into a dangerous situation that I
have not first been exposed to myself. It seems incredible that in less than 13 years one church of
30 has multiplied into 103 churches on every populated continent of the world with a collective
Sunday morning attendance of over 50,000! There are now exactly as many churches as we had
baptisms our first year in Boston! As Jesus said, “But blessed are your eyes because they see, and
your ears because they hear, For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to
see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it ” (Matthew
13:16,17).
We know that “neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who
makes things grow” (1 Corinthians 3:7). God’s hand is at work in Kingston, Bombay, Madras,
Kuala Lumpur, Brisbane, Auckland, London, Birmingham and Manchester, Edinburgh, Amman,
Cairo, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Seoul, Fiji, Melbourne and Taipei where nationals are leading the
churches with many more to follow this pattern.
Not only is the multiplication of disciples exciting, but unique to the Boston movement is
the multiplication of churches. In the last 13 years, God has used the Boston church to plant or
reconstruct 34 churches; these second generation churches have started 60 third generation
churches that have already planted seven fourth generation churches. Through God’s power and
to his glory, Lautoka, Fiji Islands, is our first fifth generation church: Boston planted London;
London planted Sydney; Sydney planted Auckland; Auckland planted Fiji. Plans are, Lord
willing, to plant at least 30 more churches in 1992.
As amazing as the spread of Christianity was from Jerusalem to Rome in the first century,
it is equally amazing to see God’s modern day movement spread in thirteen years from Boston to From Jerusalem to Rome, From Boston to Moscow 26
Moscow, a modern day Rome! Astonishingly, the Moscow Church of Christ, sent out
from Los Angeles and heroically led by the Flemings, has become the fastest growing church
planting in the history of our movement to date. God has grown the Moscow church from 15
disciples to nearly 800 every Sunday morning in only eight months!
Truly a revolution with “the shot heard ’round the world,” fired from Boston, is
unstoppable as long as disciples continue to restore and live out all that we read in the Scriptures.
“Wind of Change”, a recent song by the German group, The Scorpions, certainly has a prophetic
message for this hour:
“I followed the Moskva down to Gorky Park
Listening to the wind of change
On a summer’s night, soldiers passing by
Listening to the wind of change
The world is closing in and did you ever think
That we could be so close like brothers?
The future’s in the air-can feel it everywhere
The blowingwith the wind of change
Take me to the magic of the moment
On a glory night where the children of tomorrow
Dream away in the wind of change.”
Truly this magic moment has been brought about by the wind of change the Holy Spirit. In
just the last few years He has dramatically opened previously closed doors for evangelism by
sword, famine, disease, natural catastrophe, recession and legislation:
• South Africa (abolition of apartheid);
• Central Africa (famine and AIDS);
• the Middle East (Persian Gulf War);
• Mexico City and the Philippines (earthquakes and volcanic eruption);
• Eastern Europe (fall of the Berlin Wall),
• the Soviet Union (the attempted coup and the formation of the Commonwealth of
Independent States).
These open doors are not by chance but by God because of the prayers of the saints around
the world (Colossians 4:2-4). I believe with all my heart that the dream to evangelize the world in
this generation will be accomplished by God’s power working through his disciples. And to God
be the glory!

The International Christian Church is a non-denominational Church with the ultimate aim of reaching out the gospel to the nations of our generation (Mathew 28:18-20, Col 1:6). We accept as true that God’s eternal plan is to create a people who would love and worship him eternally and at the time accomplish this vision. In the Old Testament God used prophecy to make known his heart towards a lost world. Isaiah 2:1-4 and Daniel 2:31-35 are conceivable prophecies supporting the New Testament Kingdom and world evangelism. We believe Jesus’ primary mission was the cross (Mathew 16:21), but his primary message was the Kingdom (Act 1:3).

The International Christian Church holds firmly these core convictions:

Back on July 26, 2015, Benedict Atason (far left) made a trip to the US and worshiped God with the International Christian Church in California.

• God’s church is a Bible church (Old Testament and New Testament) and not just a New Testament Church – 2Timothy 3:14-17.The context of the word “Scripture” in this passage is referring to the Old Testament.  The Old Testament applies to our lives as much as the New Testament, except for the Mosaic Law and any teaching in the New Testament that supersedes the Old Testament (Example: grounds for divorce).  Sadly, the Church of Christ believes it is only a “New Testament” church and does not look to Old Testament for “training in righteousness” in regards to the leadership of God’s people (Exodus 18) or Scriptural concepts in the Old Testament such as “calling out the remnant,” “dating and marrying only disciples,” and “a central leader and leadership for God’s movement.”

• “Be silent where the Bible speaks, and speak with the Bible is silent.” – In applying Scriptural principles to build the visible church, we must obey God’s Word, but where the Bible does not prohibit a practice or name, we are free to use our God-given creativity. Genesis 2:19. Sadly, the mode of interpretation of the church of Christ from Alexander Campbell is to “Speak where the Bible speaks and be silent where the Bible is silent.”  This mantra has caused much division in regards to different practices such as using cups for Communion, Sunday school and the use of instrumental music – none of which are prohibited by the Scriptures.

• The Church is composed of only sold-out disciples in discipling relationships – Mathew 28:18-20. After a person is baptized, Jesus commands that the new convert be “taught to obey everything (He had) commanded.”This is discipling!  As Jesus sent out his disciples “two by two” (Mark 6:7&Luke 10:1), the need for discipling relationships is vital in order to obey the “one another” passages of the Bible!   Having every member in congregation to be a part of a small group is also a practical implementation of following the example of Jesus evangelizing with His apostles (Mark 3:13, 30; Mark 6:39).

• A Central Leadership with a Central Leader vs. Autonomous Congregations – Numbers 27:15-23. Throughout God’s Word, when His people were unified, there was a strong central leadership and godly central leader.  (Example: Moses, Joshua, David, and of course Jesus and the Apostles). 1Corinthian 4:15-17 and Titus 1:5 teaches that local congregations had an overseeing evangelist, who unified the disciples “everywhere in every church.”  In the first century, congregations were a collective movement – not autonomous, not self-governing.

• The dream of the evangelization of the nations in THIS generation –Mathew 24:9-14, 34. When every disciple of Jesus obeys the Great Commission of which, we can see the world won for the Lord!  Jesus’ vision for His church was to go “from Jerusalem, to all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8). Thirty-some years later in 61 AD, Paul writes, “All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing…This is the gospel that you have heard and has been proclaimed to every creature under Heaven.” (Colosians1:6, 23).  If the world was evangelized in the 1^st century, we can definitely do it again in the 21^stcentury!

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us in the following locations for Bible Talk and Fellowship: 

Now, Benedict and Goodhope share in good fellowship with Andrew and Patrique, along with many others ready to share the Gospel in Lagos, Nigeria

Lagos:
Goodhope Atason: +2348039477177
 No 8 Bovi Mukoro Drive,
Peaceland Estate,
Abijo, Lekki lagos

Umuahia:
Benedict Atason: +2348064021696
Afara Ngboko, Olokoro
Umuahia, Abia State.

To my dear brothers and sisters of the Sangotedo Church of Christ:

I thank God for the privilege to serve as one of your pulpit ministers for the past five years.  I will always be grateful for the love and support you have shown to my family as we have dedicated our lives to serve the members of this church.  This letter is to inform you about an important decision that I have made in order to obey God’s command to “watch (my) life and doctrine closely.”  Over the past few weeks I have wrestled with the church’s fundamental teachings about the Scriptures in order to truly discern what is best according to the Word of God ().  Like Apollos in , I believe we must be taught more accurately in order to please God and not our own traditions.  Unfortunately, the present leadership of the church is unwilling to listen to my concerns, so it is with sadness of heart that I have decided to resign from my position and withdraw my membership from the church that I love.  The following are my reasons for making such a radical decision:

• God’s church is a Bible church (Old Testament and New Testament) and not just a New Testament Church – . The context of the word “Scripture” in this passage is referring to the Old Testament.  The Old Testament applies to our lives as much as the New Testament, except for the Mosaic Law and any teaching in the New Testament that supersedes the Old Testament (Example: grounds for divorce).  Sadly, the Church of Christ believes it is only a “New Testament” church and does not look to Old Testament for “training in righteousness” in regards to the leadership of God’s people () or Scriptural concepts in the Old Testament such as “calling out the remnant,” “dating and marrying only disciples,” and “a central leader and leadership for God’s movement.”
• “Be silent where the Bible speaks, and speak with the Bible is silent.” – In applying Scriptural principles to build the visible church, we must obey God’s Word, but where the Bible does not prohibit a practice or name, we are free to use our God-given creativity. .  Sadly, the mode of interpretation of the church of Christ from Alexander Campbell is to “Speak where the Bible speaks and be silent where the Bible is silent.”  This mantra has caused much division in regards to different practices such as using cups for Communion, Sunday School and the use of instrumental music – none of which are prohibited by the Scriptures.
• The Church is composed of only sold-out disciples in discipling relationships – . After a person is baptized, Jesus commands that the new convert be “taught to obey everything (He had) commanded.”  This is discipling!  As Jesus sent out his disciples “two by two” ( & ), the need for discipling relationships is vital in order to obey the “one another” passages of the Bible!   Having every member in congregation to be a part of a small group is also a practical implementation of following the example of Jesus evangelizing with His apostles (, 30; ).
• A Central Leadership with a Central Leader vs. Autonomous Congregations – . Throughout God’s Word, when His people were unified, there was a strong central leadership and godly central leader.  (Example: Moses, Joshua, David, and of course Jesus and the Apostles).  and teaches that local congregations had an overseeing evangelist, who unified the disciples “everywhere in every church.”  In the first century, congregations were a collective movement – not autonomous, not self-governing.
• The dream of the evangelization of the nations in THIS generation – , 34. When every disciple of Jesus obeys the Great Commission of , we can see the world won for the Lord!  Jesus’ vision for His church was to go “from Jerusalem, to all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”  ().  Thirty-some years later in 61 AD, Paul writes, “All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing…This is the gospel that you have heard and has been proclaimed to every creature under Heaven.” (,23).  If the world was evangelized in the 1^st century, we can definitely do it again in the 21^st century!

Please pray for us as we seek to obey the will of God and not the traditions of men! ()  As you may be aware, my father, Benedict Atason, has also resigned as lead minister for our sister church in Abia State and we have both decided to join God’s new movement with the International Christian Churches led by Kip McKean.  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me, as we will be starting a new house church this Wednesday.  My information is listed under the Family of Churches section at the City of Angels International Christian Church website at: www.caicc.net.  If you chose not to support us, then please keep us in your hearts as we will be praying for you.  Thank you again for your love and support for me and my family.  May God bless you.

In His Service,

GoodHope Chimaeze Atason

In Jesus’ first recorded sermon, He revealed that the Spirit anointed Him “to preach good news to the poor” and “to proclaim freedom for the prisoners.” When Jesus explained from His text of , that this proclamation was not only to the Jews but to the Gentiles as well, “all the people in the synagogue were furious” and tried to kill Him. () From the very beginning of His controversial ministry, Jesus’ radical revolution centered on “proclamation” to the whole world – Jew and Gentile!

The five new disciples baptized through the prayers and efforts of the San Francisco Bay International Christian Church!

Of the first few months of Jesus’ ministry after His baptism – the Judean Period – only the temptations by Satan are recorded in the Synoptic Gospels. However, John records that during Jesus’ Judean ministry, He told Nicodemus that to enter the Kingdom one “must be born again of the water and spirit.” Then immediately following in , we read, “Jesus and His disciples went out into the Judean countryside where He spent some time with them and baptized.” From John 3, it is clear how Jesus began His ministry. He preached and baptized, while training His disciples to do the same. His dream of evangelizing the world was being multiplied into all of His disciples’ hearts! This is confirmed in the next few verses, “Now John [the Baptist] also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and the people were constantly coming to be baptized… [However,] the Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John, although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized but His disciples.” (, 4:1-2) Though John had people constantly coming to be baptized, it was obvious even to the Pharisees that Jesus was gaining more disciples, because all of His followers were baptizing! Daily proclamation by Jesus and His disciples produced the multiplication of baptisms!

After John was put in prison, Jesus returned to Galilee from Judea “proclaiming the good news of God.” () Then in , Jesus’ plan to proclaim the good news to all nations becomes more apparent. After a night of prayer, from all of His disciples He chose twelve “that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach.” Jesus focuses on a few with proclamation as their mission. Later, He appoints 72 others to go out “into His harvest field.” () Knowing the is purposeful in paralleling the 12 sons of Jacob in the old Kingdom of physical Israel to the 12 apostles in the new Kingdom of spiritual Israel (the church), the must also have great significance. We know Jesus paired the apostles for proclamation. () Therefore, I believe, that since there are six pairings of apostles, then each pairing of apostles would have 12 disciples of the 72 under their charge! In this way, Jesus was teaching the Twelve to replicate His ministry!

The Orlando Mission Team at the Send-off Sunday of the August 2012 Global Leadership Conference!

After His resurrection, Jesus commanded the eleven faithful apostles to “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them… and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded [them].” The Greek literally says, “baptize the nations.” Jesus commanded the apostles to “baptize the nations” through proclamation during their lifetime. This was foretold to the apostles in Jesus’ prophecy in , “You will be… persecuted and put to death and… hated by all nations because of me… And this gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations and then the end will come.” Almost every conservative Bible scholar agrees that “the end” in this verse refers to the destruction of the temple in 70 AD. Confirming Jesus’ prophecy and vision to evangelize the nations by 70 AD are Paul’s words written around 61 AD, “All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing… [and] has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven!” (, 23)

Coltin Rohn preaching the Word at the Inaugural Service of the Boston International Christian Church!

After Jesus’ return to heaven, to fulfill His charge to “evangelize the nations,” the apostles continued daily proclamation. In Acts 5, the apostles were arrested and flogged because of their preaching. Then “they left the Sanhedrin rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. Day after day in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is Christ.” () Proclamation was happening every day! Even after the martyrdom of Stephen, the Scriptures teach, “Those [disciples] who had been scattered preached the Word wherever they went.” () When a church stops its daily proclamation, all that is left is “a reputation of being alive, but [it is] dead.” So Jesus says to them, “Wake-up… and repent!” (-3) Dying churches (and dead movements) must heed the words of Christ and repent, or new congregations must be planted to obey Jesus’ charge to “baptize the nations.” Let this be clear: the primary reason behind starting new congregations in God’s new SoldOut Discipling Movement is proclamation!

The Paris Mission Team after their amazing Inaugural Service of
70 in attendance!

Some have suggested that daily proclamation was only for Jesus and the apostles; yet if we are followers of Christ and His apostles is this not our call? After all, Paul wrote, “Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ.” () In in the early days of Paul’s ministry in Ephesus, “Paul took the disciples with him and had daily discussions in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the Word of the Lord.” Here “nameless disciples” are daily proclaiming the Word. Also of interest, as with Jesus and the apostles, the proclamation in Ephesus is in a group – just like our methodology of “Bible Talks!” Lastly, it must be noted that in two years time, all Asia (what is today western Turkey) was evangelized! During this period the “seven churches of Asia” in Revelation must have been initiated! So encouraging is the thought that western Turkey is larger than most states in America and several nations around the world. This passage should give every disciple the faith that every state in America and every nation in the world can be evangelized by Jesus’ plan of daily proclamation by multiplying disciples!

This past week, the evangelists sent-out by the Spirit at the 2012 Global Leadership Conference to proclaim the gospel around the world, have all given encouraging reports. From Boston, Coltin Rohn shares that since the 16 member mission team has landed, God has blessed them with 11 additions – one baptism, eight place memberships and three restorations! Three of the place memberships came directly from our former fellowship seeking revival; of special note is Frank & Cydnee Hines, who were full-time in the Boston ICOC. Also, restored were Sal DiFusco and Tim Power, who served as full-time ministers in our former fellowship, as well.

From Mexico City, Vic Gonzalez, a Mexican by birth, is so fired-up about the efforts of the 13 member Mexico City Mission Team! After an Inaugural Service last week of 72 in attendance, two students from UNAM (a campus of 269,000 students) have been baptized and one single professional sister has been restored! In Paris, Tim Kernan preaches all of his sermons and leadership meetings in French, and amazingly in just 10 weeks, the 11 disciples on the Paris Mission Team have doubled with 11 additions! In San Francisco, Mike Underhill reports that the 28 member team at their Inaugural Service and has been blessed by God to have three restorations and five baptisms since their landing in August!

Frank & Cydnee Hines!

Equally exciting is what the Lord is doing in Orlando! Interestingly, the Orlando Mission Team’s prayer goal is for 100 additions their first year, which – to be “on pace” – would mean an amazing 20 additions these first ten weeks! However, Matt Sullivan reports that after the 30 disciples of the remnant group were added to the 13 members of the Orlando Mission Team, God has graciously given them 27 more additions – 19 baptisms, 2 restorations and 6 place memberships – amazingly “more than all [they] asked or imagined” in their prayer goal! ()

City of Angels Church, in helping to send-out these mission efforts, we have sacrificed gallant leadership, dear relationships, and of course, finances. Let us be assured that though many of us “feel the pain” of these sacrifices, when we get to heaven and see all of our new brothers and sisters, we will know that our “labor [was] not in vain!” ()

Let us never forget that the Portland Church “out of the most severe trials, their overflowing joy and extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity, [as they gave their missions contribution]… even beyond their ability” so that the City of Angels Church could be planted. Therefore, in preparing for next week’s 5X Thanksgiving Missions Contribution, let our gratitude spring from our appreciation of the incredible financial sacrifice of the Portland disciples who sent the mission team to Los Angeles to save us – by baptism, by restoration or by having our faith revived by placing membership! If you were not reached through the prayers and efforts of the City of Angels Church, this principle still applies no matter which of the SoldOut Movement Churches that God used to bring you to Him!

Therefore, let us continue to joyfully and wholeheartedly obey Jesus’ great commission by having the heart to go anywhere, do anything, and give-up everything for the cause. Then, and only then, will the proclamation to all nations in this generation be fulfilled once again! And to God be the glory!

Kip McKean

“And this is my prayer… that you may discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ.”

Truth is of God and confusion is of Satan. (, 43-44) Sadly, we live in a time when thousands of sincere disciples in scores of countries around the world are unsure about those of us who celebrated – during the month of October 2011 – the Fifth Anniversary of God’s new movement – officially named the International Christian Churches. Indeed, the present Biblical differences between the International Churches of Christ (ICOC) and the congregations of the International Christian Churches (ICC) – the SoldOut Discipling Movement – are so profound that at stake is the hope of salvation for this very lost world. My heartfelt prayer for disciples everywhere is “that you may discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ.”

The ICOC has its roots in the Mainline Churches of Christ through a campus ministry movement begun in 1967 in Gainesville, Florida and known as the Crossroads Movement, but also called by detractors the “Total Commitment Movement.” Through the 70’s, the congregations of the Crossroads Movement were partially composed of “totally committed,” and thus zealous, newly baptized college students; however, the majority in their adult memberships were lukewarm. Well documented at the time was that the “average” Mainline Church of Christ had a Sunday attendance of 150 and just eight baptisms a year. Even recently, The Christian Chronicle – The International Newspaper For The Churches Of Christ (February 2012) – acknowledges, “Since 2003, [Mainline] Churches of Christ have lost more than 102,000 adherents – more people than the number that attended this year’s Super Bowl. Their 2012 Directory also counts 708 fewer Churches of Christ than it did nine years ago.” The number of Mainline Churches of Christ congregations, as well as their overall membership, continues to dramatically shrink just as in the 70’s.

At the end of the 70’s, God put it on Elena’s & my heart to build a congregation entirely composed of only “totally committed Christians” – at that time not found anywhere in the world. (Of note, the term “disciple” did not become the primary nomenclature for ourselves until the second year of the Boston Movement in 1980, after I initiated the First Principles Study Series which included the “Discipleship Study” with the equation: Saved = Christian = Disciple.)
In 1979, after fasting, prayer and counsel, Elena and I believed it was the will of God to accept the leadership role in the Lexington Church of Christ – a dying congregation where only two individuals had been baptized in the previous three years. So with this vision of a “totally committed church membership,” on Friday evening, June 1, 1979, the “thirty would-be disciples” gathered in “the Gempels’ living room” where the Spirit began the “Boston Movement!” (The Lexington Church was renamed the Boston Church of Christ when we moved our services to downtown Boston in 1982.)

Unprecedented growth occurred in the first year, were baptized. In the second year, God blessed us with 200 baptisms, in the third year 252 baptisms, and in the fourth year 368 baptisms – more than daily additions! By 1988, this multiplication of disciples – and the addition of hundreds of remnant disciples from the Crossroads Movement and from the Mainline Churches of Christ – allowed us to baptize over 1,000 that year in Boston! Incredibly, by the end of our ninth year, the Boston Movement churches were planted throughout the United States, as well as in 15 different nations. Most notably in 1988, a central leadership was formed, which was called the “World Sector Leaders,” because of the charge I gave to each of these “Evangelist and Women’s Ministry Leader Couples” to evangelize “their” sector of the world – which collectively covered the entire globe.
By 1994, the Boston Movement Churches were in 53 nations and adopted the name International Churches of Christ. Church historian John Vaughn made a distinction between the “Mainline Churches of Christ” and the Boston Movement which he named the “International Churches of Christ.” The prime reason for this distinction was that the Mainline Churches of Christ existed primarily in the “Bible-belt” of America, whereas the Boston Movement churches had an almost equal number of congregations in and outside of the United States. As well in 1994, I penned – and every World Sector Leader signed – the Evangelization Proclamation, in which was inscribed the goal to plant a discipling church in every nation of the world with a city with a population of at least 100,000 by the year 2000. Through God’s power this came to pass in just six years, as the ICOC spread to 171 nations of the world’s 195 nations by the end of 2000!
Then only a few months later, the most tragic years in Elena’s and my lives began. Ron Harding – the historian of the SoldOut Movement – records this on KipMcKean.com, A History Of The Spread Of Christianity In Modern Times: At the beginning of 2001 as a college student in Boston, the oldest of the McKeans’ children began to question her faith. Though everyone who falls away must take full responsibility for this decision, it must be noted that this young woman was unjustly and heavily criticized – largely because of the high profile of her parents – and feeling unloved by many in the congregation contributed to her no longer attending church. () This single event caused uncertainty in the McKeans’ leadership among many of the World Sector Leaders, as well as among the Kingdom Elders and Kingdom Teachers. In September of 2001, the World Sector Leaders “forced” the McKeans to go on sabbatical – though later, some deeply regretted this decision.

Unbiblically applied to Kip were the qualifications of an elder, not an evangelist. The reasoning was that to “oversee” a church, one had to “manage his own family [well or] how can he take care of God’s church.” () Also cited incorrectly was , “Train a child in the way he should go, and… he will not turn from it.” Left out from this quote is the phrase, “when he is old.” Disregarding what is obviously implied in the phrase “when he is old,” is that during their younger years children may not be faithful to God, but will return to the kingdom because of their good training when they are “old.” (This has now been seen in the SoldOut Movement and the ICOC over and over again.) Even sadder is the lack of grace by almost all of the World Sector Leaders, Kingdom Elders and Kingdom Teachers. In the Scriptures, some of God’s and Israel’s greatest leaders had unfaithful children – Aaron, Samuel, and even the Old Testament’s “man after God’s own heart,” David – yet they continued to victoriously lead “all Israel.”
…Clearly in retrospect at this juncture, [just one year later] a “domino effect” of “God’s ironic justice” was beginning to occur: as the World Sector Leaders had drawn back from the McKeans, so now most of the World Sector Leaders were being likewise undermined with no mercy by those under their leadership for similar issues: marriage dynamic, children’s behavior, and leadership style.

This created a leadership vacuum. It was at this point that the Kingdom Elders and Kingdom Teachers chose to elevate themselves. Of note, these two groups were composed entirely of people with their roots in the Mainline Church of Christ. They were fueled by their feelings of under-appreciation and entitlement. Very sadly, their bitter “Absalomic spirit” and common denominational roots bonded the Kingdom Elders and Kingdom Teachers. Like Absalom, they initiated a very calculated campaign to “steal the hearts of the men of Israel” ()… They heightened the issue of “unbelieving children disqualifying men from leadership” through a series of articles appearing on the Los Angeles ICOC website, [which they later recanted]. Here, they also introduced their “Mainline doctrines” of “consensus leadership” and [autonomy].
After our sabbatical began, Elena & I never made another decision for the ICOC. In retrospect, God was disciplining me through these hardships for my arrogance and lack of concern for the weak. () Yet, personally devastating to us were the false accusations by those we once held as dear brothers and friends, who “used” our weakened state and now voiceless position to undermine our influence through character assassination.

As Ron Harding in his “eye-witness history” reveals, an “Absalomic group” arose – composed of a few of the World Sector Leaders, the Kingdom Teachers and the Kingdom Elders – who meticulously guided the rest of the ICOC leaders to return to a Mainline Church of Christ theology. This was officially executed at the November 2002 Long Beach Unity Meeting. The Central Leadership of the World Sector Leaders was dissolved and called “unbiblical.” Embraced was a church government of local autonomy, where the elders “ruled over” the evangelists – a complete reversal of the early Boston Movement teachings. “The dream” for the evangelization of the nations in a generation was renounced and called by one of their foremost teachers, “A good idea, but impossible.”

With the advent of the “Kriete Letter” in February 2003, discipling in most congregations was eliminated or called “optional.” Viciously negative open forums ripped up once thriving congregations and several thousands walked away or fell away. At this horrific moment in 2003, all would agree that “the ICOC as we knew it ceased to exist.” From my perspective, a plague of bitterness descended on several in the membership as they simply mirrored their leaders’ bitter response to their leaders.
In July 2003, broken-hearted and devastated by the Satanic destruction of our life-long labors for the Lord, the Spirit carried Elena & me to Portland, Oregon. After much prayer and soul-searching, all we could do was to begin again because we believed in “the dream” and that making disciples through “discipling” was God’s only way to accomplish it. The Portland Church – through the healing process of repentance and forgiveness – began to grow bringing hope to many. () In fact, during our three years in Portland, God moved in disciples’ hearts to move to Portland different states in America to once again be in a discipling church. A miracle was unfolding – God was beginning “to gather” His remnant from the “farthest horizon.” () With these additions and the scores of baptisms, the Portland Church grew to disciples and became the fastest growing congregation in what was left of the ICOC. In fact, several church leaders from as far away as Santiago, Chile – Raul & Lynda Moreno – sought discipling from us.
Seeing “no remedy” () for the decaying and dying ICOC fellowship, at the 2005 Portland World Missions Jubilee, I felt compelled by the Spirit to call out a remnant from what was left of ICOC churches, as well as from those that walked away or fell away. In response, courageous disciples such as Chris & Sonja Chloupek in Phoenix began small groups of sold-out disciples who broke away from lukewarm ICOC churches. Often, for these heroic stands, they were disfellowshipped. () We called these valiant new churches: “remnant groups.”

Our stand for the honor of God resulted in several letters against Elena & my convictions. Two of these letters were particularly harmful to the faith of many remaining in the ICOC. The first was signed by 65 ICOC church leaders, and the second – after a campaign for more signatures – was signed by 85 ICOC elders and evangelists, who opposed this radical calling and labeled every member in the Portland Church as “divisive.” Implied by the gathering of so many signatures was the question, “ brothers be wrong and one man be right?” As with Caleb’s and Joshua’s “minority report,” as well as with Elijah’s challenge to the 450 prophets of Baal, often in the Scriptures only “the few” are on the narrow path. ()

Between these two letters, the Portland leadership penned our response – Our Concern For All The Churches. Yet, a little less than a year later in September 2006, everything came to head when Kyle & Joan Bartholomew, asked Elena & me to disciple them and their congregation in Hilo, Hawaii. Evangelists and elders of what was left of the ICOC traveled hundreds of miles to publically oppose my preaching and teaching during a three day workshop on discipling for the little Hilo, Hawaii Church. So after praying for two weeks about this final rejection of the truth, by October 2006, it was clear to me and to the remnant who moved to Portland that the Spirit had begun a revival movement out of the ICOC similar to the Boston Movement coming out of the Mainline Churches of Christ over 25 years earlier. Some called us the “Portland Movement,” but ironically our detractors mockingly named us the “SoldOut Movement,” because of our strong preaching against lukewarmness and our call to be “sold-out” for the Lord. ()
Almost daily, I am asked, “What are the differences between the ICOC and the ICC?” The simple answer is that to 2001, the Boston Movement (ICOC) and the present-day SoldOut Movement (ICC) have almost exactly the same core Biblical convictions. (Prayerfully, one key difference in God’s new movement – since we have been greatly humbled by God – is that we make decisions with much more prayer, mercy and grace.) Interestingly, for most current ICOC members upon visiting an ICC Church, the differences in love and commitment are so apparent between the two fellowships that almost always the “visiting disciple” says, “Now this is the church I was baptized in!” The following are the five Biblical differences:

1. A Bible Church vs. A New Testament Church The Mainline Church of Christ is an off-shoot of the Restoration Movement begun in the United States in the early 1800’s by Thomas Campbell, Alexander Campbell and Barton Stone to name a few. Their plea was to “restore the New Testament Church.” Therefore, they believed that though the Old Testament was divinely inspired and historically accurate, only the New Testament would be their sole rule of faith and practice in deciding matters of doctrine including ecclesiastical structure. This is now the conviction of the most influential leaders in the ICOC.
However, we in the ICC believe like Paul who wrote in late 66 AD – some 35 years after the beginning of the church, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness.” () Technically speaking, the word “Scripture” in this passage refers to only the Old Testament. Now, through the inspiration of the Spirit, we believe that it applies as well to the New Testament. Though we believe “the Law” is no longer binding (), the Scriptural concepts in the Old Testament such as “calling out the remnant,” “dating and marrying only disciples,” and “a central leader and leadership for God’s movement” are in the New Testament, yet the Old Testament is much richer in its depth on these vital issues. Also, the “Jethro Principle” of leadership in allows us to lead and take care of thousands of God’s precious people. Therefore, we believe we are commanded by God to build congregations based on both the Old and New Testaments – a “Bible Church,” not simply a “New Testament Church.”

2. Interpretation of Scripture Thomas Campbell is credited with the “interpretation of Scripture” for the Restoration Movement. The Mainline Churches of Christ and the most influential leaders of the ICOC now share Campbell’s mode of interpretation: “Speak where the Bible speaks and be silent where the Bible is silent.” In other words, there must be “a command, example or an inference” in order for a practice to exist in the church. For example, the Mainline Church of Christ only has non-instrumental services and they believe only men can baptize men and women, because these are the only “examples” in the New Testament. Though the ICOC is mixed in these practices, at the 2002 Long Beach Unity Meeting, there was a call to eliminate World Sector Leaders, Lead Evangelists, and Women’s Ministry Leaders, because these “titles” could not be found in the New Testament. Thus they were deemed “unbiblical.”
As for the interpretation of Scripture, I and the ICC believe the opposite of Campbell: “Be silent where the Bible speaks and speak where the Bible is silent.” In other words, we are free to practice or name something as long as it does not contradict the Scriptures. (; ) We are more than comfortable with the terms and practices of Lead Evangelists, Women’s Ministry Leaders, and the authority of our Central Leadership Council over all of the SoldOut Movement churches. Let us not forget, the word “Bible” is not in the Bible, but we believe it is of God!

3. Discipling is a command of God and not optional. After a person is baptized, Jesus commands that the new convert be “taught to obey everything [He had] commanded.” () This is discipling! Discipling is detailed in the “one another” passages: “love one another,” “instruct one another,” “confess your sins to each other,” “pray for each other,” etc. In our modern world with such busy schedules in such an individualistic and highly structured society, we have found that the only way to guarantee that every member in our congregations is being discipled is to have structured discipling – discipleship partners. The dynamic in this relationship begins as a teacher/student relationship, and then matures to a more adult/adult relationship. Also, every member in each of our congregations is organized into Bible Talks – our practical implementation of following the example of Jesus evangelizing with His apostles.

4. A Central Leadership with a Central Leader vs. Autonomous congregations Throughout the Bible, the Israelites were at their strongest with the Lord when they had a central leader: Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David. As a matter of fact, the book of Judges says of those days when they did not, “Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.” () In the New Testament, Jesus is the leader of “the Movement!” Uniquely, when He ascends to Heaven, Peter takes on this responsibility as “the apostle to the Jews” since for the first seven years of Christianity only Jews became Christians. Interestingly, after Paul became “the apostle to the Gentiles,” the leadership of the movement by had passed to Jesus’ oldest half brother James. At the Jerusalem Council, James, after listening to both sides of the circumcision issue, gives his singular authoritative “judgment” which is then bound on all the churches. () Even Paul after his missionary journeys reports to James and submits to his direction. () The Mainline Church of Christ and the ICOC do not believe in an authoritative central leader or leadership. Sadly, autonomous churches only produce autonomous disciples. In fact, in 2005, some of the most influential ICOC leaders came to me and begged me to be on a “team of leaders” if I would only say that autonomy was “a matter of opinion.” I said, “No. It is sin.” Since I disagreed with them, I was labeled “divisive” which is what Jesus understood would happen if you preach the truth. ()

5. The dream of the evangelization of the nations in THIS generation. This vision to change the world was rejected, because many ICOC teachers wrongly concluded that this was one of the primary reasons for bitterness in the ICOC. Biblically, God’s church in the Book of Acts is portrayed as a movement – “the Word of God continued to increase and spread.” () Implied in this passage is the numeric “increase” of disciples and the geographic “spread” of the movement. Jesus’ vision for His church was to go “from Jerusalem, to all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” () Thirty-some years later in 61 AD Paul writes, “All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing… This is the gospel that you heard and has been proclaimed to every creature under Heaven.” (, 23) If the world was evangelized in the first century, certainly, we can do it again in the twenty-first century!
Since these five changes were never formally announced in the ICOC – thus in my opinion deceitfully and sinfully implemented – many in the ICOC became confused. () Therefore, some individual disciples in the ICOC churches still believe one or all of these five distinguishing Biblical convictions, because these were the principles that I taught “everywhere in every church” while I served the Lord by leading the ICOC. () Three things prove the truth and magnitude of these Biblical differences:
1. Almost every ICOC church changed their name. Recently, in the City of Angels International Christian Church, Courtney Irwin married Joel Parlour. With her “status” dramatically changed from single to married, she is now called Courtney Parlour! In the aftermath of the 2002 Long Beach Unity Meeting and the Kriete Letter, almost every congregation of the ICOC changed their name to signal a change in doctrine. For example the Chicago International Church of Christ became the Chicago Church of Christ. This evidences the undeniable reality of the return to Mainline Church of Christ theology by the ICOC.
2. An all pervasive lukewarmness continues in the ICOC congregations, because of no or optional discipling. Most of the key leaders of the ICOC want to “divorce” themselves from the five distinguishing doctrines of the Boston Movement and meld with the Mainline Church of Christ. For example in Porto Alegre, Brazil, this once dynamic church had declined and lost its distinctiveness so much so that members were told to disband and go to the local Mainline Church of Christ. Without discipling, is it any wonder that divorces are now common in the ICOC, when at one time they were extremely rare? I believe that “marriage discipling” in the ICC will once again make divorce extremely infrequent and only for Biblical reasons. ()

3. A monumental reduction in the number of disciples in every ICOC congregation around the world after the Kriete Letter. In Portland, the church went from around 300 members in January 2003 to just 25 at mid-weeks by the time that Elena and I arrived in the summer of 2003. Another “proof” of the destruction by the return to the Mainline Church of Christ theology of autonomy is that several ICOC churches had their regions become autonomous. For example, there are now six different “ICOC churches” in London; seven former ICOC churches in Los Angeles, and 12 different congregations with ICOC roots in Atlanta. Lastly, there has been a severe reduction in the number of nations in which the ICOC has a presence and in the past ten years only a handful of church plantings by the ICOC have occurred around the world.
Essential to grasp: no longer can one generalize and say an “ICOC member” believes this or that. Some still sincerely and fiercely believe the five or at least a few of the distinguishing Biblical doctrines exactly as I taught in the Boston Movement to 2001 and presently teach in the SoldOut Movement. However, all are fully aware that “something has changed.” Paul’s words to the Corinthians are my words as “the father of faith” to the ICOC, “I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you the one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to Him. But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be lead astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.” ()

Let me be clear, I believe there are still thousands of faithful disciples in the ICOC, though no longer are the ICOC congregations composed of only “totally committed” disciples with a “sincere and pure devotion to Christ.” Consequently, without a dream to change the world, without Jesus’ plan of multiplying disciples through discipling, and without a central leadership to guide the movement making difficult but unifying “judgments,” the world cannot be evangelized through the ICOC. The ICOC is no longer a unified movement that is expanding numerically and geographically, but merely a loose fellowship of autonomous churches with various standards of commitment even within each congregation.
Today, in God’s SoldOut Movement our prayers are being answered that “the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you.” () As well today, the City of Angels International Christian Church celebrates the Fifth Anniversary of its planting! The Holy Spirit sent 42 sold-out disciples from Portland to LA in May of 2007. In just five years, we have over 900 at Sunday services, a weekly contribution of over $25,000, and daily additions! () During this short span, the Spirit has sent of our most mature disciples to plant six churches: Honolulu (2008), New York City (2008), Portland (2009), San Diego (2010), London (2010), and Sao Paulo (2011).

Globally, in five years, the SoldOut Movement is not merely adding but multiplying daily, as the Lord has established through plantings and the gathering of remnant groups some 40 churches in 19 nations! Excitingly, this summer new SoldOut Discipling Movement churches will be planted in Boston, Mexico City, Orlando, Paris and San Francisco! With so many being saved around the world, the truth seeker will joyfully acknowledge that this is not a movement of men, but a movement of God!

Again, let me be clear, there will be a few ICOC churches that will grow and have “lots of baptisms,” but this has occurred for years in the dying Mainline Churches of Christ. However, a few “with it” congregations will not build a movement to change the world. Paul in teaches, “God our Savior… wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” God’s will is for “all men to be saved.” Is God’s will, your will? If it is, then it is imperative that you are in a movement of disciples that has Jesus’ dream of world evangelism, not in an autonomous congregation.
My daily prayer is that every confused disciple will prayerfully study the Scriptures to “discern what is best” and Biblically correct. Then courageously act upon these convictions by joining God’s new movement! The Apostle John challenged everyone who believed in Jesus and in His first century movement, but did not have the purity of heart to join, when he wrote, “Because of the Pharisees ‘they’ would not confess their faith for fear ‘they’ would be put out of the synagogue – [disfellowshipped]; for ‘they’ loved the praise from men more than praise from God.”()

In short, to be in God’s new SoldOut Movement one must be sold-out, even to the point of choosing God over relationships that were once of God. () God’s grace and mercy allowed the Israelites to conquer the Promised Land on “their second try,” and likewise, I believe that for the faithful remnant, on “our second try” that God’s Spirit will propel His new movement into all nations in THIS generation! And to God be all the glory!
Kip McKean