International Churches of Christ - The ICOC On College Campuses

The ICOC On College Campuses

The evangelical periodical Christianity Today in an article written in 1997, reported that campus ministers and religion scholars state that although the ICOC is "among the nation's newest and fastest growing movements", "it may also be among the most dangerous". The spokesman and elder of an ICOC church, Al Baird, disputes this charge, claiming that the "group's intense focus on evangelism and discipleship is grounded in Scripture" Robert Thornburg, dean of Boston University's Marsh Chapel, says that the church is "the most destructive religious group ever seen." The dean goes on to say that "hey're a destructive religion - everyone else calls them a cult - and they're the only group about which I would say that unambiguously"; he adds "hey are destructive to freedom of thought, freedom of movement, and freedom of activity. They cut kids off from their families, and their method of recruiting and keeping kids in qualifies as first-rate mind control". In the same article the Rev. Peter J. Scanlon, Catholic chaplain... was somewhat less alarmed. "I think our kids will be OK. ...cults aren't limited to religion - you could have a beer-drinking cult too, and we do have that."

U.S. News and World Report ran an article in 2000 discussing proselytizing on college campuses. The article describes the ICOC as " fast-growing Christian organization known for aggressive proselytizing to college students" and as "one of the most controversial religious groups on campus". U.S. News and World Report states that "some ex-members and experts on mind-control assert is a cult". Furthermore, "t least 39 institutions, including Harvard and Georgia State, have outlawed the organization at one time or another for violating rules against door-to-door recruiting, say, or harassment." U.S. News and World Report does also quote Professor Jeffrey K. Hadden's statement "very new religion experiences a high level of tension with society because its beliefs and ways are unfamiliar. But most, if they survive, we come to accept as part of the religious landscape" and ICOC spokesperson Al Baird's insistence that the ICOC "does not condone harassment and is merely an evangelical church out to 'share Jesus with everybody'".

Chaplains at both the College of the Holy Cross and MIT sent letters warning their student bodies of the practices of the ICOC.

Please note that many criticisms against the International Churches of Christ employ the term 'ICC'. The term 'ICC' now properly designates Kip McKean's new church, the 'International Christian Church'. The term 'ICOC' properly designates the International Churches of Christ.