by Kip McKean
“So the Lord scattered them all over the Earth, and they stopped building the city [for man’s glory]. That is why it was called Babel – because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world.” Genesis 11:8-9
“Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your Father, you would love me… Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say… you belong to your father, the Devil.’” John 8:42-44
Biblically, confusion comes from God or from Satan. Yet in both instances, those who remain confused are not willing to glorify God by following His clear commands. Confusion and conflict reign through Satan’s array of world religions. Even for most who call themselves “Christian,” confusion through false teachings in denominations cloud this narrower road as well. Ironically, most of the confused believe that they “see” the truth clearly.
The following definitions are a very prayerful attempt to bring clarity through the Scriptures:
1.) Kingdom of God – a) Biblically, the Kingdom encompasses the Father, the Son, the Spirit, the angelic hosts, the Word – both Old and New Testaments – and the faithful people of God from Adam to this day. The Kingdom on earth until the coming of the Spirit was the Jews, the physical nation of Israel. The Kingdom on earth after the baptism of the Holy Spirit became His church, the spiritual nation of Israel. b) Slang: A self-describing term used in some families of churches to denote that they sense God’s Spirit working throughout their fellowship. (Discernment is necessary, so that the slang use of Kingdom will not lead naive individuals to believe that outside of their family of churches, there is not a single person saved.)
Our new brother Raul is baptized!
2.) Church Universal – Composed of all those living on earth, faithful baptized disciples of Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 4:4-6) Sprinkled through the centuries, they were initially found in the first century church and later in such fellowships as the Anabaptist Movement in 16th century Europe (who were persecuted by both Catholics and Protestants), as well as in the Restoration Movement from the early 1800’s to today. They can presently be found in the Mainline Churches of Christ, the International Churches of Christ (ICOC), the Sold-out Discipling Movement and unknown to many in these fellowships, the conservative “Christian Churches” and even in some with denominational names, such as “Missionary Baptists.” Only God adds to this number “those who are being saved.” (Acts 2:47)
3.) Visible Church – That part of the Church Universal that we physically “see” and therefore can influence and direct.
4.) Saved – a) Biblically, an individual that has made an adult decision to confess Jesus as Lord, who desires to live the life of a disciple and then is baptized (immersed) for the forgiveness of sins and to receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. b) In the New Testament, those saved are called believers, Christians, disciples, the church, sons of God, brothers and sisters in Christ, the followers of the Way, saints, a royal priesthood.
5.) Disciple – (see saved) A term used in many fellowships to distinguish between the watered down definitions of “Christian” and those who truly follow Christ. (1 John 2:6)
6.) Sold-out Disciples – (see saved) A term taken from Jesus’ parables of the hidden treasure and the pearl of great price. (Matthew 13: 44-46) This term is used in fellowships to distinguish between the watered down definitions of “disciple” and those who truly follow Christ. (1 John 2:6)
7.) Brotherhood – a) Biblically, it encompasses all living disciples, the Church Universal. (1 Peter 2:17) b) Slang: A likeminded family or group of churches that share common beliefs about such subjects as church government, role of women, instrumental music and mission work. (i.e. The Mainline Churches of Christ and the ICOC are two “brotherhoods”.)
8.) Fellowship – (see brotherhood) a) Biblically, the spiritual sibling relationship that exists between all faithful believers in the Church Universal, because they are children of the Father. b) Slang: A likeminded family or group of churches that share common beliefs about such subjects as church government, role of women, instrumental music and mission work.
9.) Disfellowshipped – a) Biblically, Jesus’ Matthew 18 process of disciplining an individual for not repenting of sin. 1 Corinthians 5 is an example of this process. To be disfellowshipped is to be handed over to Satan and to be in a lost state. b) Used improperly often by a fellowship – family of churches – who feels threatened by someone or another fellowship that challenges their status quo. c) In the Bible, it is never used on an entire church, only individuals.
10.) Movement – The numeric increase of people as well as geographical expansion centered on and propelled by an idea, a conviction or vision. For example, the first Christian Movement began in Jerusalem with 120 disciples. On the day of Pentecost, 3000 were baptized and added to their number. In time, as Jesus prophesied in Acts 1: 8, disciples spread the good news of the Kingdom from Jerusalem, to Judea, to Samaria, to the ends of the earth. 30 some years after the movement’s initiation in Jerusalem, Paul wrote in 61 AD, “This gospel has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven.” (Colossians 1:23)
11.) Autonomy – a) The self-governing of a congregation without any control from an outside authority; independence. Some fellowships call their congregation’s government: “hyper- autonomy.” This simply notes influence from others outside the congregation, but no overseeing authority. b) The word autonomy is not found in the Bible.
12.) Overseeing Evangelists – a) Biblically, the men with God given authority who shape or correct the course of congregations under their charge. (1 Corinthians 4:15-17; Titus 1:5) b) Produces a “brotherhood” where the life and doctrine are the same “everywhere in every church.” (1 Corinthians 4:17)
13.) Restoration Movement – Began in the early 1800’s in Great Britain and America. The focus of these loosely-affiliated, autonomous congregations was to “restore the New Testament Church.” Therefore centering only on the New Testament, their Biblical interpretation and application became, “Speak where the Bible speaks; be silent where the Bible is silent.” In other words, there must be a command, example or inference in the New Testament in order for a practice to be initiated in their congregations. In the lifetime of the founders, this movement was largely contained in the southern United States. In time, it divided into three separate fellowships – the Disciples of Christ, the conservative Christian Church (instrumental) and the Mainline Church of Christ (non-instrumental).
14.) Crossroads Movement (Total Commitment Movement) – Initiated in 1967 in Gainesville, Florida at the 14th Street Church of Christ, later renamed Crossroads Church of Christ. A pioneering outreach to the University of Florida campus produced some 70 campus ministers who initiated campus ministries within other Mainline Churches of Christ, of which many of these churches were lukewarm. Its vision was to plant a campus ministry on every campus in America. This movement became highly controversial as their campus ministers retained allegiance to the Crossroads’ leadership even though their ministries were in autonomous Mainline Churches of Christ. This movement faded in the mid-1980’s with the departure from the ministry of its primary leader, Chuck Lucas.
15.) Boston Movement (ICOC) – Initiated in 1979 at the Lexington Church of Christ, later known as the Boston Church of Christ. Though originally a “Crossroad’s Movement Church,” by 1982 they departed from the Crossroad’s Movements’ tradition of working within the Mainline Churches of Christ; the Boston Church saw the need to plant new churches of only disciples. They rejected the Crossroads and Mainline Church of Christ practices such as autonomy by implementing a central government of World Sector Leaders in 1988. Then with the advent of a crystallized central leadership, the Mainline Churches and the Crossroads Church “disfellowshipped” the Boston Movement Churches. In 1994, the Boston Movement adopted the name International Church of Christ. By the year 2000, they had planted churches in 171 nations. In 2002 at the Long Beach Unity Meeting, the ICOC dissolved the central leadership calling it “unbiblical” and returned to autonomy as their government, renouncing the Boston Movement’s foundational dream to evangelize the world in this generation. With these changes, confusion and lukewarmness permeated the ICOC and 1000’s departed from their membership.
16.) Sold-out Discipling Movement (International Christian Church) – Initiated in October 2006 at the Portland International Church of Christ. This movement affirmed the early Boston Movement’s convictions of a central government, and the vision to evangelize the world in a generation, which now are no longer doctrines held by the ICOC. In fact, Doug Jacoby, one of the ICOC’s pre-eminent teachers writes, “The New Testament nowhere commands us to make disciples of all nations in this your present generation.” (Questions And Answers, One Generation”- September 29, 2007) Yet, in less than two years time, the Sold-out Movement has spread to eleven countries and have 30 some congregations! The central leadership was selected at the 2008 Jubilee.
17.) Remnant – a) Biblically, all of the few survivors of God’s people (Isaiah 10: 20-22). b) Slang: A term used in some fellowships to describe themselves as those who continued a movement’s original vision and doctrine.
In the chaos within Christianity, confusion will only be eliminated by those who seek to “worship God in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:24) In the Sold-out Discipling Movement, we believe that Jesus was resurrected on the third day and the Bible – both the Old and New Testaments – is inspired and inerrant. 2 Timothy 3:16 reiterates that the principles of the Old Testament Scriptures are to be used for “teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.” Therefore, we are determined to build a “Bible Church” not simply a “New Testament Church”. We believe the Bible should be interpreted and applied by being, “Silent where the Bible speaks; and speak where the Bible is silent.” In other words, whatever the Bible commands, we must put it into practice. Where there are no prohibitions, we are free to implement any title, name, role or structure. Our compelling vision is to evangelize the world in this generation, building the visible church with only sold-out disciples. We believe that a central government guided by a spirit-filled leader is necessary to carry out this God given task. We are humbled to be a small part of the Church Universal within the everlasting Kingdom of God.
After the defining events of Hilo, Hawaii in the fall of 2006, the Spirit put on our hearts to start the Sold-out Discipling Movement. (Vol. 2: Issue 20. May 25, 2008) At that time, listed in our family of churches was the Santiago International Church of Christ led by Raul Moreno. After conferring with his leaders, Raul decided to rejoin the ICOC, and we wished him well. In mid-2007, after eight months of intense Bible study on the issues that had confused so many, Raul came to a conviction that there must be a movement of only sold-out disciples in order to evangelize the world in a generation. Wholeheartedly sharing our vision, he renounced autonomy and joined us. He and the 29 disciples, who daringly stood alongside, were unbiblically and cruelly disfellowshipped by the ICOC. (Vol. 1: Issue 24. October 21, 2007) Their stand initiated the new Santiago International Christian Church. In less than a year, because of a pure base of disciples, they have almost doubled in number! Recently, Steve Johnson and the remaining elders in Portland, Oregon, stated their autonomy and desire to, “Have no man as a leader over them.” Sadly, with these decisions, they have separated themselves from the Sold-out Discipling Movement. Yet, we wish them well. Two months ago, with this decision seemingly eminent, Tony Untalan, one of the two original elders of Portland, and Michael Williamson, a regional leader for years in Portland, moved their families and encouraged other Portland disciples to move to any of the churches in the new movement! Out of this confusion, a small remnant group was formed in Portland. It is overseen by Jeremy Ciaramella of Eugene, Oregon, and is called the Portland International Christian Church.
The gyrations of the Spirit in Hilo, Santiago and Portland are conspicuously the same. Prayerfully then, with these definitions, it should be clear that similar dynamics in the Restoration Movement (Mainline Churches of Christ) produced the Crossroads Movement, which gave way to the Boston Movement (ICOC), which gave way to the Sold-out Discipling Movement. Not long ago, I read David Bercot’s book, Will The Real Heretics Please Stand Up. This book examined the doctrines and lives of the early Christians from 90 -299 AD. His point was that modern Christianity has drifted so much that a true Christian of that day would be viewed as a heretic today. Therefore, disciples of the Sold-out Movement, though some brothers consider us heretics, let us resolve to have clarity about our Biblical convictions on salvation and how to build God’s visible church into a movement composed of only sold-out, thus multiplying disciples. For this is the only way to evangelize the world in our day! And to God be the glory!
Kip McKean