The international church of christ

The International Church of Christ is a family of churches spread across 152 nations in the world. With its roots in the early 1970’s, it has spread so rapidly primarily because of its ambitions to have churches in every country, city, town, and village in the world to teach the lessons of God and optimize salvation for all. In 2008, there were 88,000 members and only 590 congregations; however, in 2013 there were reportedly 103,000 members in 650 international congregations. These hundreds of congregations are in fact racially integrated and made up of a very diverse population of people from different age groups as well as economic and social backgrounds (ICOC HotNews). Apparently, this New Religious Movement has been deemed a “cult” due to its intense recruiting tactics as well as its controversial discipleship practices, and has been banned from dozens of college campuses across the country including those of Boston University, Marquette University, University of Southern California, Northeastern University, and Vanderbilt University (Index, 2005).

What will be explored in this assignment include the origin and history of the International Church of Christ, the beliefs and practices done by this religious group, as well as discussing the leadership roles within the group, discussing the numerous controversies surrounding the group that ultimately portray it as a “cult,” and finally how this group uses different means of thought reform in order to establish and excel their religion to a whole new level. All sources being used are educational documents, journals, ex-member stories and information, and primary source documentation from the church itself. All sources can be found in the sectioned deemed, “References,” on pages...

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...and, J. (n.d.). Witnessing to Disciples of the International Churches of Christ. Christian Research Institute. Retrieved March 7, 2014, from http://www.equip.org/articles/witnessing-to-disciples-of-the-international-churches-of-christ/

Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry. (n.d.). International Church of Christ. CARM. Retrieved March 16, 2014, from http://www.carm.org/international-church-christ

The Letter. (n.d.). California State University, Northridge. Retrieved March 25, 2014, from http://www.csun.edu/~hbeng151/icc/letter/letter.html

Commonwealth University. (2011, April 21). International Church of Christ. World Religions & Spirituality Project VCU. Retrieved March 25, 2014, from http://www.has.vcu.edu/wrs/profiles/InternationalChurchesOfChrist.htm

Who Are We?. (n.d.). Disciples Today. Retrieved March 25, 2014, from http://www.disciplestoday.org/who-are-we