International Church of Christ (ICOC)

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thefightinglamb

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#1
#1
So I am at the part in my boring story, where I confessed to being baptised by the ICOC...who are largely into converting people on college campuses...

ANd as I told a girl I know named Lauren and she agreed...there are people with profound love of God and the love of God for others in the ICOC...but something kind of felt off when I was there...was it me??? Because of how I was?

I mean their love and fervor for Biblical truth is unmatched in any church I have been to or heard of...

So what do you think?

God bless
tony
 
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Slepsog4

Guest
#2
#2
Tony,

Which ICOC congregation were you part of when converted? I have been following the development of that group since the early 80s.
 
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thefightinglamb

Guest
#3
#3
Hanpton Roads Church of Christ---I do not know what you mean by what congregation...they only have like one congregation for a whole area...it used to meet in Virginia Beach...I think it still does...hamptonroadschurch.org

I only went to the church like 3? times I think...once when everyone met in Virginia beach, and once or twice when they met in hampton...

Why?
 
RoboOp

RoboOp

Administrator
Staff member
#4
Aug 4, 2008
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#4
Do they say that you are absolutely not saved until you are baptized? I'm pretty sure this is the same group I encounted on campus way back when I was a student. I told them my testimony, of how I was born again -- how God set me free from some unbreakable bondage of sin, all from my living room -- and how I didn't really know about the need to be baptized until months later (which I did). They trampled on my testimony -- told me "rehabilitation" can do that -- and told me that I definitely wasn't saved until I was baptized (months later).

Disagree with them on this matter -- and tell them you found another church that's better for you -- and then see how much "love" they have for you.

In groups like this, the great "love" that you see between the members is *only* between those members, and is extremely lacking toward the rest of the body of Christ. In other words, they show a lot of love for only the ones in their group (which is actually conditional upon being in their same group), and they greatly lack in love for the remaining 99% of the body of Christ. That's not the love that Christ commanded us (his disciples) to have for each other.

Similarly, the unity that you observe is a false sense of unity -- because it's only unity with the other members of that group -- not unity with the rest of the body of Christ (99% of the church).

And as for fervor for truth -- I'm sorry to say that the zeal and fervor of these kinds of groups are more so fueled by pride than the spirit of God -- thinking that they have truth that all the other churches/Christians don't have. And very often they do have/teach/practice some bits of truth that the mainstream church falls short on, and they teach and emphasize those things to brainwash their members into thinking that this is the only true church, or the best church.
 
RoboOp

RoboOp

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#5
Aug 4, 2008
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#5
Yes I'm right the ICOC (International Church of Christ) is what was formerly known as (in my time) as the "Boston Crossroads" movement.. and even the mainstream Church of Christ considers it to be a cult (and has support groups to help people coming out of it). And yes the ICOC has claimed to be the one true church.
 
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Slepsog4

Guest
#6
#6
Crossroads was the name of a congregation in Gainesville, FL back in the 70s with an amazing campus ministry. They trained lots of campus and youth ministers. The guy leading the church at that time was Chuck Lucas. Chuck's star was a fellow named Kip McKean. Kip moved to Boston and started his version of the ministry. It was tweaked to the extreme and set out to conquer the world. They did an amazing number of foreign and domestic church plantings. They broke from the mainstream churches of Christ about 1987. During the same time they made some major changes in their doctrinal platform. They also began going into mainstream congregations and reconstructing them after their own version.

Back a few years ago, Kip had to take a Sabbatical. While he did the leaders of the ICOC made some decisions to correct many of the abuses. This meant changing some methods and structure. They gave each congregation autonomy and broke up the World Sector oversight.

Kip has since started up a parallel organization called The International Christian Church. It is headquartered out of Los Angeles.
 
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luke15chick

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#7
#7
I actually grew up in the church that was once called Crossroads. Feel free to ask any questions.
 
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