The Churches Of Christ: A Comparative Essay :: essays research papers

The Churches of savior A Comparative try onOver the past ten years there has been much argument in the Christian andsecular media about the International Churches of Christ (ICC), and the linked(or mainline) Church of Christ (CoC). This contr anywheresy has stemmed from theICCs misuse of funds, doctrinal problems, share abuse, and mind-control. Thedifferences between the CoC and the ICC are important for Christians know andunderstand.The CoC began in 1957 when these four groups merge The Congregational Churches,The Christian Church, The Evangelical Synod of North America, and The ReformedChurch in the United States. These churches had firm Protestant roots inEngland, Germany, Sweden, and the United States, totaling oer 49 years in theirown traditions and fellowship. On June 25, of 1957, the four churches held asynod meeting in Cleveland, Ohio, to commit more fully to unity, liberty,freedom in Christ, and the evangelism of the world. These groups, under thehead of the Uniting General Synod, became the United Churches of Christ. at oncethe CoC has over two thousand registered churches in the world.By 1979, the roots of the CoC were firmly in place. It was then that ChuckLucas, a pastor at the Gainesville Church of Christ (mainline), met a youngcollege scholar, parvenu McKean, and began discipling him. Kip was a bright studentand showed great potential for leadership in the church. However, something inthe discipling process went wrong. Kip was expelled from the Gainesville churchlater that year for reasons dealing with departure from the CoC doctrine,manipulative attitude, unreadable motivation, and controlling of others lives.Kip and his wife Elena moved to capital of Massachusetts and started a underage church that grewrapidly from thirty to over three hundred disciples in two months. Kip (who, bythis time, proclaimed himself as "Gods man for Gods delegacy") then declared inhis Evangelism Proclamation speech in 1981 that disciples of his Bos ton churchwould be sent out to start sister churches in London, Chicago, New York, Toronto,Providence, Johannesburg, Paris, Stockholm, Mexico City, Hong Kong, Bombay,Cairo, and throughout the United States by the year of 1985. His success withthis refinement led him to present another Evangelism Proclamation in 1990 that saidthat every city in the world with a population of over 75,000 allow for have a sisterchurch by the year 2000. Today the ICC is in over seventy two countries, with arecorded attention (as of January 1997) of 920,000 people. It is important tonote that the ICCs current "fall-away (members who leave the church) rate" is