By Kyle Peveto, Opinion Editor
A planned Lectureship forum between prominent members of the International Churches of Christ and mainline Churches is attracting interest from many throughout the Christian community.
The ICOC-which split from mainline Churches of Christ about 20 years ago, has been known as the Boston or Crossroads Movement, and has been called a cult by many mainline churches-has experienced drastic change in the structure of its group in the past year.
The forums will take place at University Church of Christ Feb. 22-25 as part of the university’s 86th annual Bible Lectureship.
“The time is right to have conversations that will lead to healing,” said Dr. Mark Love, director of Ministry Events and Lectureship.
The ICOC’s recent change in leadership and structure has realigned the focus of its teachings, said Gregg Marutzky, lead minister at the DFW Church of Christ, an ICOC congregation in Carrolton and a doctoral student at ACU.
After the resignation of Kip McKean, who led the movement through its most fruitful years, the group dissolved its hierarchal structure in favor of independent, autonomous congregations, Marutzky said.
“Faithful Conversations,” the three days of forums, is planned to convene each afternoon at University Church of Christ but may switch to a larger location if interest continues to grow, Love said.
Participating in the forums will be Love, Marutzky, Dr. Jack Reese, dean of the College of Biblical Studies, and Gordon Ferguson, Al Baird and Mike Taliaferro of the ICOC.
In a recent issue of The Christian Chronicle, a newspaper for Churches of Christ, the publication provided a history of the ICOC, which can be summarized as follows:
McKean, who was converted by a campus ministry team from the Crossroads Church of Christ in Florida in 1972, became a dynamic leader who called 30 Crossroads members to plant the Boston Church of Christ.
The group rented the Boston Garden for services and stressed an aggressive evangelistic program that became known as the Boston movement around 1982.
In 1988, the Boston Church of Christ was banned from the campus of Boston University after resident advisers there overheard members pressuring students in evangelical efforts. The Crossroads Church of Christ distanced itself publicly after the incident.
Critics labeled the movement a cult because they thought the leadership monitored the personal lives of members too closely, separated men and women in worship and class and adhered to secretive financial policies, the Chronicle reported.
The university dealt with a branch of the Crossroads movement when its Campus Advance group arrived on campus in the late 1970s.
In the April 13, 1979, issue of the Optimist, five former CA members spoke under conditions of anonymity.
Ex-CA students relayed stories of pressure from elder students in the group not to confide in women and to place their Friday prayer groups above work or other relationships.
After harassment from CA leaders upon leaving the group, the students said they feared speaking out in public.
McKean, his family and the headquarters of the Boston Movement relocated to Los Angeles in 1989 to plant a church there, and in 1992 the International Church of Christ moniker was first recognized.
The 1994 edition of Churches of Christ in America omitted ICOC congregations for the first time upon the request of McKean, and the split from mainline Churches of Christ broadened.
According to the Chronicle, McKean resigned as head of the ICOC in 2002 and became the lead minister of an ICOC congregation in Portland, Ore.
The next year, ICOC missionary Henry Kriev issued a 39-page document titled Honest to God that criticized the group’s leadership and financial management.
The Los Angeles ICOC congregation issued an apology to ICOC members, which led to McKean writing a new challenge for the group to refocus in July 2003.
The group plans to change formerly authoritative relationships to mutual mentoring and disciplining relationships, Marutzky, the ICOC minister, said.
ICOC will also begin fellowshipping with other Christians, which, in the past, contributed to the cult labels.
A newspaper for Churches of Christ, The Christian Chronicle, continues to spur interest in the Lectureship forums, and papers like The Chicago Tribune also have requested interviews, Love said.
“I think the conversation will create peace between the two fellowships,” Marutzky said. “We have been very different fellowships since 1987.”
