The Mandate of God for World Evangelism

Guest Editorial: Reprinted from the Portland International Church website. This article was printed April 24, 2004 and is excellent in helping each of us in the Phoenix International Christian Church understand some of the roots of our movement- study out the scriptures carefully.

The Mandate of God for World Evangelism

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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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)

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 re-baptized, some were not. However, heroes such as George and Irene Gurganus and Pat Gempel were not re-baptized 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?”

Kip McKean