|
Calling
out the Remnant
"However, as of this Jubilee
the Portland leadership believes it is time for a progressive “calling-out of
the remnant of disciples” from dying, former ICOC Churches. For years, I have
preached “one church-one city;” in other words, each city should have only
one church of disciples, because if they are faithful to God, He will multiply
them to evangelize not only their city but the whole region. I still believe in
this same principle. Sadly, it has become the practice of some former ICOC
churches to break-up into geographic groups or groups of various convictions
about commitment to Christ, discipling and church government. If a group asks
for help to restore the foundation of sold-out disciples, we will help in any
way we can. Biblically, disciples can never rebel against authority, yet as seen
with David who “chose” to transfer his allegiance from the ungodly Saul to
the uncircumcised Achish one is “free to choose” whom to submit to!
In the fall the Portland
leadership will begin to seek out church leaderships in congregations that are
struggling to ask if we can help them build a foundation of sold-out disciples.
If they are not inclined to receive help, then we will offer help to any group
that would prefer to be in a new congregation composed of only sold-out
disciples. To the casual observer, this may look like “two churches in one
city.” Yet, in time it will be obvious who has God’s approval." Kip
Mckean,
Portland Jubilee 2005
"......One of
the things autonomy has destroyed is the Godly sense of loyalty to the preachers
that have raised up the other preachers. That, in turn, has destroyed our
fellowship. I want to be clear on this record; I don't believe we have to have
this formal structure, that we did have. I believe we have to have the unity
that we did have. I believe we have to have a brotherhood leadership. You cant
have something without a leadership. I mean, we've been trying that for a long
time, it doesn't work. In a family, what if the man doesn't lead ? SOME of you
know what that's like. What if your Bible talk leader / church leadership
doesn't lead. If you don't even have a brotherhood leadership, it ain't gonna go
anywhere. You know what's really sad, is when the autonomy gave birth to
autonomy in foreign nations. It allowed nations, who hate Americans ~~~and a lot
of our fathers in faith are Americans, that's just the way God orchestrated
it---just like a lot of the apostles were from Galilee, it just happened to be
~~~Umm what happened is that humanism crept into the church and people said '
wait a minute, I hate Americans, my COUNTRY hates Americans, i don't want some
American discipling me -- and THAT'S what we got right now folks. You know, I
appreciate Danny Brisbois, right here. Now, I I kid him a little bit, cause he's
from QUEBEC -- now they're the people that want to separate from the rest of
Canada. They want to have their own little Kingdom happening right there with,
in their opinion, God's language... FRENCH. There's something in man that wants
his 'own little kingdom'. There's something very destructive about that. Danny's
had to take a LOT of flack, just coming out to Portland ~ but get this, being
discipled by Elena and me. He's gotten a lot of flack. You know who he's gotten
a lot of flack from? The brothers in Canada. Paul we're a CANADIAN FELLOWSHIP,
what are you doing, being discipled by an American.. and KIP, of ALL people.
Now, Danny and I are the best of buddies. But you know something? When Danny
started getting the criticism, he started backing off. Now, the top brothers in
Montreal were like " DUDE, you gotta get back in there. You cant back off
Kip. Look at the blessings that we got, we got a sold out group of disciples.
So, Danny and I had a little talk in Jesus an he goes "AMEN brother, I am
with you again." We can laugh about it, because it's all healed. But, you
know, we got a lot of guys, that don't want to have that kind of tight
relationship with other guys. See basically, they're trying to be every bodies
friend...being every bodies friend instead of being loyal to the people that
brought them to the dance." Kip Mckean, Preach
the Word, 08/18/05
"Presently at every Portland
Church service anywhere from 12-15 disciples have traveled from other states or
nations to see for themselves the services of the Portland Church. Several
report that in their congregations many "members" are literally only
going to Sunday church (not to mid-week) and these churches have seen only a few
baptisms in the past three years! If a "disciple" is no longer obeying
Mark 1:17 ("come follow me and I will make you a fisher of men"),
Luke 9:23 (>"deny self and take up your cross daily"),
Luke 14:33 ("give up everything you have"), Luke 11:1-4
("pray daily"), Hebrews 3:12-13 ("encourage
one another daily") and Matthew 28:18-20 ("go make
disciples…baptizing them and teaching them to obey everything God
commands") are they still disciples?" Kip
McKean,
The Parable of the Minas, 8/8/05
"What is needed, particularly in the United States is for the leaders of
the "hot churches" and those who desire to be "hot" to allow
God to bring us together again through humility, forgiveness, discipling, small
group multiplication and overseeing evangelists. (1
Corinthians 4:15-17) Ultimately, I reminded my fellow evangelists of their
responsibility before God to "Preach the Word" not
fearing men or repercussions, but holding out the compelling vision to
evangelize the world. (2
Timothy 4:1-5) Let us all be earnestly praying for God to move powerfully in
gathering together our family of churches." Kip McKean,
The
Humble Shall be Exhausted, 2005
Click Here - Even the Greatest Prophets Doubt (1:00)
..."And as I read
this quote I thought, wow, this is really where our fellowship is at. We
are at a critical point in time. And Kennedy said, "Never have
the nations of the world had so much to loose, or so much to gain.
Together we shall save our planet, or together we shall perish in it's
flames. Save it we can, and save it we must. And then shall we earn the
eternal thanks of mankind, and as peacemakers, the eternal blessings of
God." I believe right now in our fellowship of churches we are
at a critical time. A
time that will determine whether we will save this planet or whether it
will perish in the flames of Hell. And yet, you can't be in a church
and say, oh well, I'm in a really fired up church, so that makes me all
right. No. Each of us must be right with God, amen?"
Kip McKean,
Even the
Greatest Prophets Doubt, 4/17/05
Click
Here to listen -
"Turn to 1 Corinthians
Chapter 11. Now remember all the way through 1st Corinthians, and we're using
this as our text, to show the need for unity. That yeah the church in Corinth
was a mess, but you know something, they repented, they got it together, and
they helped evangelize the world. But interestingly, look at what he says
right here, in Chapter 11 verse 17, in the following directives, I have no praise
for you, this is Paul talking to the church in Corinth. For your meetings do
more harm than good. Wow, you know we got sister churches that's the case. In
the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are
divisions among you and to some extent I believe it, no doubt, there have to
be differences among you to show which of you have God's approval.
I have just tried to lay out
from the scriptures the dream and the sacrifice of Jesus for a united Kingdom,
a united brotherhood. And I believe that with all of my heart, and I pray that
you will believe it starting today, not because I said it, but because it's in
the word of God. But right here we have something else in the word of God, a
very challenging scripture. Paul says listen, I hear some of the groups there,
their meetings are a mess. They do more harm than good. I know there are divisions
amongst you. And I think a lot of us would go "oh yeah well get all
together, just go back together, be unified." To be unified would be to
compromise the truth and then you really couldn't be unified anyway. And what
Paul's saying right here is perplexing to the worldly minded, to one whose
faith has not yet grasped the desperateness of the hour in our
brotherhood.
I believe, there have to be differences amongst us to show which churches have
God's approval. We read earlier in Chapter 3 a church that has God's approval,
God is going to make it grow. There's going to be baptisms. If a church
doesn't have any baptisms, you know they do not have the approval of God,
because it is God that makes it grow. If a church does not teach the plan of
salvation, that you have to have faith and repent, become a disciple and be
baptized for the remission of sin, if they're fuzzy on it, there's going to be
a
division there and rightfully so, to show which ones of us have God's
approval.
There are churches that try to
sound noble, oh we're not saying that discipling shouldn't happen, but it's
optional in our church. My bible tells me, it's not optional, it's the
command of God. It's the way to win a city to Christ, it's the way to win the
world to Christ. It's the same thing as if we say, hey you know, tell you
what, as far as being pure with your girlfriend, it's optional. NO IT'S NOT
OPTIONAL. The word of God says we must be absolutely pure. The word of God
says we MUST make disciples. And so, yes, there will be division between us
and other churches. But in the end, what I believe is going to happen, is that
the churches that really want to see the world evangelized, the churches that
really want to make disciples, who make disciples, make disciples we're going
to link on up. Amen guys? And then I think, some like Paul said in
Romans 11, out of jealousy, will join us, cause they don't want to be left
out, amen, not the highest motivation, but it works. But some people are going
to be in churches that totally have drifted away because they are autonomous.
And if you're in that kind of a church, where your leaders do not
embrace the fundamental truths of God's word, and call the church to
obey it, and to practice it, then you've gotta leave your church, and find a
church where it's happening, because it's your soul that's on the line. You
cannot go up to heaven or judgment and say, well God, the reason I'm not on
fire is because I was in a lukewarm church. God says, you could have moved.
But you didn't. You didn't want to pay the price. My understanding of a true
disciple is somebody that's willing to do anything, go anywhere, and give up
everything for Jesus Christ. That has not changed in all these years. Are you
with me here church?"
So bottom line guys, it's a desperate hour and there are going to be divisions
between our churches. Don't be shocked, Don't be confused. But understand
what's going on is what Paul talked about, because the ones that have God's
approval will eventually join together, be together and we will by faith
evangelize the world. Amen?" Kip McKean, That They All May Be
One,
March, 2005
Back to the Top
2005 -
"We believe God's church universal is composed of all the disciples
in the world. We believe local congregations should be composed of only
disciples. That does not mean that International Church of Christ members
are the only disciples. But we do believe we are the only fellowship with
congregations of only disciples. Presently we are reaching out to several
leaders who share this conviction in order to help reunite
"discipling churches" through relationships between
leaders." Kip McKean,
Love in
Any Language, 4/3/05
2004 - "Pray for the
targeting of five major cities (domestic and foreign) that previously had
"ICOC discipling churches" which now have been scattered and have
abandoned God's dream of world evangelism and His plan to accomplish this
task by discipling." Kip McKean, A
House of Prayer for all Nations, 6/20/04
2004 - "Many of the leaders who no longer believe in
"the dream to evangelize the world in a generation," thought
that the "push and pressure" to grow, plant churches and expand
into new countries was excessive. I personally am not of that persuasion.
I do believe that some churches and Christians were exasperated by these
costs. Let me be clear, it was and is wrong to exasperate a fellow leader
or disciple. However, it is sad that they were silent and did not speak up
for years, because bitterness came into their hearts causing them to
resent "the dream" and its corresponding people and monetary
sacrifices. Gone is that intense urgency to save souls, since we no longer
feel the urgency of accomplishing God's dream in our generation, our
lifetime. Today there exists in many churches an over reactive
"pendulum swing" away from a hot, passionate proclamation to a
lukewarm indifference to the very mission that saved their souls! Also,
those that broke off from or left the ICOC no longer saw a need to
"pool" their collective resources of people and money to plant
and sustain churches in particularly the third world. Today these splinter
groups are doing little or nothing for world evangelism. Rightfully, by
the intent of God, "the dream" birthed in our movement an
urgency, a zeal to pay any price , incredible love between disciples and a
unifying interdependence between the churches."
Kip McKean,
The Mandate of God for World Evangelism Part
9,
2004
Here's the standard Kip will
use to measure the ICOC churches. Kip McKean, Hot
Cold Lukewarm, 6/11/04
Back to the Top
Recent
Condition of the ICOC Churches
"Sadly, several church leaders have totally abandoned God's plan of discipling
because "disciples were hurt." For most, it would be unthinkable to
abandon marriage just because people were hurt. Yet now without discipling even
some Christian spouses out of reaction to hurting each other are divorced. All
of us have hurt our husband or wife, yet with forgiveness God makes us closer
than ever! Discipling is commanded by God. Hurt through sin will occur in all
human relationships, especially marriage or discipling. It has been shared with
me by grieving disciples that visit Portland that the "reactionary
churches" that have abandoned discipling have drifted becoming aloof,
worldly and in fact are dying. This is evident because they have few baptisms,
uninspired fellowships, an increasing number of divorces and a waning commitment
to Christ throughout their membership. One sister recently emailed me, "Now
without discipling, I am lonely in my church.
Many churches have heard the misguided teachings of "only group
discipling," "discipling is optional," or "seek discipling
if you want it." This perhaps protects some disciples from hurt, but
prevents disciples from really getting into people's lives, "spurring
one another on to love and good deeds" and confronting sin. If
these now misguided churches would repent and return to Jesus' plan of both
group and one-on-one discipling, they will experience the fruit of disciples (John
15:16) and the fruits of the Spirit. (Galatians
5:22-23) In the Portland Church the leadership is steadfast in our obedience
to Scripture. We expect every member, for their spiritual well-being, to be at
all the services. (Hebrews
10:23-25) We also have provided methodologies that parallel Jesus' and the
early churches' use of small evangelistic groups and one-on-one discipling. We
require every member to be in a Bible Talk (an evangelistic small group) and to
have a discipleship partner. (Hebrews
13:17) The biggest difference from "the past" is that we encourage
every person to choose their Bible Talk and their discipleship partner. This
makes it easier for discipleship partners to become "best friends."
Our members also define their discipling relationship as either teacher/student
(parent/child) or adult/adult. Also there is a strong call from the pulpit for
mercy, tenderness and grace, balanced with directness in "speaking
the truth in love" as we deal with each other's weaknesses and
sins. (Ephesians
4:15)" Kip McKean,
Group or
Individual Discipling? Yes!, 7/19/05
"I wonder from these
Scriptures, what would Jesus say? Many seemingly are perplexed by so few
baptisms and see it as horrendous, but don't understand why. Jeremiah 5:30-31
sheds light on this dilemma, "A horrible and shocking thing ['no
baptisms'] has happened in the land: the prophets prophesy lies ['discipling is
optional'] the priests rule by their own authority ['autonomy'] and my people
like it this way." Jeremiah then adds, "But what will
you do in the end?" Continual lukewarmness in a congregation is the
fruit of a leadership that wants to please the people and is afraid to call
people to obey the Word of God." Kip
McKean,
The Parable of the Minas, 8/8/05
"Friday morning, I delivered the keynote lesson, "My
Grace Is Sufficient" focusing in on chapters eleven and twelve of 2
Corinthians. I started the sermon by saying I was going to give them a challenge
that I had never given any group, anywhere, at anytime! My first point was from
2 Corinthians 11:1-5,13-15 "Wickedness In God's Church." Here I
addressed concerning reports we have been given by many who have recently
visited Portland that in our worldwide fellowship a "different
Jesus," a "different gospel" with a "different
spirit" is being preached by some individuals masquerading as "servants
of God." They preach "Jesus did not command each generation to
go to all nations," yet Jesus commanded the eleven faithful to go to all
nations. (Matthew 28:19-20) They teach discipling is not in the Bible or is
optional, yet Jesus teaches that each disciple must "make
disciples" by teaching obedience to His commands. Some teach there
should be no overseeing evangelists to tie churches together as a brotherhood.
They believe each church is autonomous, and not the responsibility of anyone
outside their local congregation. In contrast in the New Testament, Paul sent
Timothy to Corinth without an interview or discussion with the Corinthian
leaders (1 Corinthians 4:15-17); Paul sent Titus to all the churches of Crete to
"straighten out" issues; and Paul received financial
support from other congregations to plant and minister to weaker churches, such
as Corinth. (2 Corinthians 11:8) For there to be a brotherhood, there must be
"fathers of faith" that unify us through relationships." Kip
McKean,
A Taste of Heaven, 3/30/05
Click Here to
listen - "My concern, is that yes things are somewhat coming back
together, ......see things can come back together, but it doesn't mean that
they're going to heal right. And I want to bring a conviction upon us
tonight, that things need to heal right. .....it's not a matter of being in an
evil system.....what made our movement unrighteous it was our heart our
arrogance. It was not an evil system...."
"Many of the top leaders publicly and privately denounced our call to go to
all nations in one generation. There were papers, there were articles, there
were lessons. And the brothers that believed in evangelism were quiet,
they were cowardly. And they stood, and they watched the annihilation of
the glue of the movement. I believe with all of my heart, it is not a
suggestion, it's not just a good thing to do, it is the very command of God, for
every generation. ...." Kip McKean, A Great Light Has
Dawned, June 2004
"Many
around the world have asked, "Why is God blessing the church in Portland so
much?" The church in Portland began to grow after our "Evening of
Atonement" last August. Different than the precedent set in other churches,
at the Evening of Atonement, not only was the leadership called to repent of
harshness, insensitivity, cowardice and arrogance, but the "followership"
was called to repent of bitterness, gossip, factions, anger and rebellion. This
worship service lasted two and a half hours as individual after individual stood
up and apologized in tears to the group. What a time of healing! It is true that
leaders are held to a higher standard because they affect others. (Leviticus 4,
James 3:1) Consequently, from a human point of view bitterness in response to
unrighteous leadership is understandable; yet in Portland because of the
Scriptures, we preached it was still unacceptable in the sight of God. This is
why God has blessed us with a very loving, unified church that He is increasing
weekly with baptisms, restorations and move-ins from lukewarm congregations."
Kip McKean, I Am Not Ashamed, 7/4/04
Back to the Top
"Perhaps if we are presently in a
congregation that is not being persecuted, we should remember the words of
Jesus, "Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their
fathers treated the false prophets." (Luke 6:26) Make every effort to
strive to be a part of a congregation that is radical in their preaching of
God's Word and God's grace, yet uncompromising against sin and full of love for
all sinners. Yes, that preacher and that church will be controversial, but
you can be sure that congregation is "on fire" for the Lord!" Kip
McKean, Where There is Smoke There is Fire,
02/01/04
"After these thoughts, I shared about my recollection of a haunting picture
I saw while visiting the former concentration camp in Dachau, Germany. In this
graphic picture were scores of charred, emaciated bodies in open graves. Yet,
the darkest Nazi horrors of World War II pale in comparison to our present day
spiritual horrors!
Missions
Contribution: $86,054! Kip McKean, March 6, 2005
Back to the Top
"If you or your church is not "cold" or "hot" as described
above, then logically you must conclude that you are lukewarm! Sadly, in too
many churches today, lukewarmness is not just tolerated by preachers and elders
it is accepted as the "norm of maturity." Recently a brother said he
was considering getting out of the ministry after fifteen years because anytime
he preaches on evangelism people say, "It's preached too much, just
encourage us!" He reports there are very few baptisms; he sadly shares if
he "takes a stand" so that this lukewarm church will become hot, he
feels he would be fired or most members would leave. Jesus says this church can
become hot again, but the price would be high. Repentance would likely leave
fewer members, yet in time because of discipling, the impact of this
congregation would be multiplied exponentially!" Kip McKean, Hot,
Cold or Lukewarm, 6/11/04
"We in the Portland Church
have felt the vicious counterattack of Satan to our worldwide fellowship's bold
advancement to evangelize the world. Yes, we too realize there have been many
mistakes and sins. As in all of our sister congregations, individuals have been
hurt by the sins of others in discipling, as there are sins in all human
relationships. We have felt the betrayal of those who no longer want to be
disciples but merely want to be religious in a lukewarm fellowship that has
little or no expectations involving Jesus' mission. All of us have felt the
discouragement of our dwindling numbers. And yet, those in Portland who have
remained faithful, those that have persevered, are now being blessed by God
because of their righteousness with the fruit of the Spirit and the fruit of new
disciples." Kip McKean, Won't Give Up,
December 15, 2003
Back to the Top
Click
Here to listen - "Paul writes to the
church at Corinth and shares with them kinda how things were going with
him. Verse 12, We work hard with our own hands, When we are cursed,
we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we
answer kindly. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the
refuse of the world. And all the preachers in the house said....Amen....
So it happened to Paul.
Look at this, he's writing the church that he planted, I'm not writing
this to shame you, but to warn you, as my dear children. Even though you
have ten thousand guardians in Christ, (some scholars think that's how big
the church in Corinth was) you have ten thousand guardians, ten thousand
brother's keepers, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I
became your father through the gospel. Therefore I urge you to imitate me.
See Paul wanted to straighten things out. He says Ok, I'm your father in
the faith, I want you to imitate me. Now look what he says, For this
reason I am sending to you Timothy, my son, whom I love, who is faithful
in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which
agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church.
He says you can imitate Christ in me by me sending Timothy. Number 1,
Timothy did not go to Corinth because he saw an advertisement on the
internet, hey we need an evangelist. When he got to Corinth, he did not go
through an interview. He was not asked for a resume. How far we have
gotten from the scriptures!
Paul called for unity in the churches, he says, This is what I teach
everywhere in every church. That doesn't sound like autonomy to me.
How was the unity kept? By the leaders being together in the mission, in
the mission." Kip McKean, A Great Light Has
Dawned, June, 2004
Back to the Top
Click
Here to listen - "Ordinarily down and disastrous times become
extraordinary opportunities for God. Gone is Upcyberdown. Gone almost is DPI.
Gone is the unity that we bragged about between all the churches. That we could
go to any church in the world, and we would walk in and we would just feel like,
we are in the same place. But God forbid we'd have too much control.
Gone, I believe, is the ICOC, I
mean it's a name we invented in 1994 anyway. Many churches have renounced
the name International Church of Christ and just going back to Church of Christ
because they want to be identified with the Churches of Christ. I mean,
good gravy, there are only a hundred of 'em. That sure gives you
distinction. But God forbid you'd be identified with others that are
radical, revolutionary, dreamers to take the gospel to all nations, in one
generation." Kip McKean, A Great Light Has
Dawned, June 2004
Click
Here to listen "You know as a preacher,
you're called to hit bull's-eyes. Because the word of God is sharp and
it cuts and if you don't hit bull's-eyes, you're gonna hurt
people. And then, I think words that, wow just ring true for our
age, for the time will come, I say it's here, when men will not put up
with sound doctrine instead to suit their own desires, they will gather
around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears
want to hear.
You know one of the
things that is just disillusioned as a matter of fact confused so many
disciples is that there is so many that are teaching a cheap grace. And
the numbers of people that have backed off preaching the word is so
staggering that there's a confusion that comes in the right-thinking
disciples, well there are so many people that say such and such and Paul
says, that's how it's gonna be. He says, but you Timothy, you preach the
word." Kip McKean, Can you Drink the
Cup, June 2004
Back to the Top
Discipling
Click Here to listen - "A church that does not
call their members to be accountable to the other members is not obeying the
bible. My bible teaches me that we are to judge those in the church, in
other words, to be concerned about one another's life. How different
than what is being preached today.
You know, what happened when the church here went thru all this divisions, is
that everybody was saying Freedom in Christ, Freedom in Christ, let's not
judge one another, and the relationships were getting worse and worse and
worse. And one of the persons very genuinely who wanted to help was our
brother, Bob Bertalot. And Bob's approach was like a lot of us. He wanted to
please both sides. You know, the Rodney King thing, can't we all get
along? But you gotta understand, the bible is not about getting along,
the bible is all about obeying the word of God, and when we all obey the word
of God, then we are going to be unified! Amen?
You know what's awesome about Bob? This man, who had challenges really
just confronting people, now has become a man of deep conviction, I mean I
appreciate, I mean this man is going to be an awesome elder in the Lord's
church. Amen church?
But you know something guys, if we're wishy-washy with each other, if we're
not willing to get our hands dirty with each other's lives, we're gonna be divisive.
Because then we're gonna pull back and there's going to be a separation
between us and the other brothers. Are you with me here church?" Kip
McKean, That They All May be One, March, 2005
Back to the Top
"This summer both
the men and women are studying the principles of Scripture in Robert Coleman's
book, The Master Plan of Evangelism. Since I received salvation through
God's principle of disciple making, I am very grateful for discipling's impact
as well as Jesus' "plan of evangelism" - discipling - to change the
world in our lifetime. As Robert Coleman wrote, "It all started by Jesus
calling a few men to follow Him. This revealed immediately the direction his
evangelistic strategy would take. His concern was not with programs to reach the
multitudes, but with men whom the multitudes would follow...Men were to be His
method of winning the world to God." (p. 27)" Kip McKean, Wednesday Night
Services!
7/11/2004
"...the acid test of the
ministry is the fruit of making disciples. You bring glory to God by bearing
much fruit. John 15 verse 8--he's talking about disciples right there, that have
been baptized in Jesus Christ." Kip McKean, Congregational Meeting,
Boston, May 6, 1990
"Some of you guys, let me
just lay it out, you flat didn't have a church of disciples till we did the
cotton-pickin reconstruction. Now remember that and flat get grateful....You had
a group of some disciples, and some yo-yos that you let in that you couldn't
tell the difference between the rest of you." Kip McKean, Super Church,
Boston Leadership Conference, Aug 1992
"Every disciple must be
discipled by God, by the Scriptures and by man. God is sovereign and disciples
us through our experiences of both victory and defeat. (Hebrews 12:1-15) The
Scriptures disciple us and mature us as we learn to obey them more and more.
(Hebrews 5:11-14) Jesus exemplified discipling in his relationships with the
apostles and then commanded discipling not only to become a Christian, but also
after baptism … “teach them to obey everything I have commanded you.”
(Matthew 28:20) Though the methodologies of discipleship partners, prayer
partners, discipleship groups, as well as the changing nature of the discipling
relationship as disciples mature from being a parent / child to adult / adult
may all be debated, being discipled is an absolute command of God and makes God’s
true movement distinctive." Kip McKean,
RtR
III, 2003
Back to the Top
"Discipling is how you got saved! It is why there are churches of thousands
that did not even exist just a few years ago. To stop discipling people within
our congregations will mean that the untold thousands in our cities will die
untold. Discipling is not only for the salvation of the lost, but I believe it
is the salvation of the saved." Kip McKean,
RtR
III, 2003
"Methods are neither
right nor wrong; people can use them for good and for evil. But denying the
principles of discipling in time will lead us directly back to the mainline
Church of Christ as well as to other denominations in which people are not
involved in each other’s lives. Some have argued that one-over-one discipling
is wrong because people have been hurt, and therefore we should not do it.
However, even in the church, we have marriages in which husbands and wives have
hurt each other, but we are not about to abandon marriage. We need to constantly
work on humility, listening, kindness and forgiving as Jesus forgave us. As our
discipling relationships mature, our dynamic of parent/child (teacher/student),
will take on more of an adult/adult nature. We must not abandon discipling. We
must reaffirm it because it is one of the key ways God changes us through the
Spirit and the Word. Jesus calls everyone to be a disciple. Jesus calls everyone
to be discipled. And Jesus calls everyone to make disciples." Kip
McKean,
RtR
III, 2003
"Discipling became too authoritarian and controlling. We drifted from
teaching obedience to the Word of God, to immature (and many mature) disciples
calling for obedience to their opinions. Also in many cases, we failed to
change the dynamics in the discipling relationships as people grew older
physically as well as in the faith. In all discipling relationships, there
should be a gradual shift from a teacher/student, mentoring dynamic to an
adult-adult relationship." Kip McKean,
The Mandate of God for World
Evangelism Part 4, 2004
"With the experience of the
Holy Spirit sending out their first mission team, the Portland Bible Talk
Leaders were even more eager to understand how a small church could evangelize
all of Oregon. During the lesson, I found it had become easier to explain why we
needed to be a movement of disciples. I shared that in the past I never
believed we were the only saved people. However, in order to perpetuate God's
church around the world, we could not collectively embrace other restoration
"churches" partially composed of disciples but also tolerant of
perpetual sin, lukewarmness and non-disciples. This approach not only
watered down their message and fellowship, but also it fundamentally destroyed
their ability to multiply disciples. Churches composed of only baptized
disciples can and will reproduce disciples locally and plant
"teams" of disciples in their sphere of influence. This is still our
plan in the Portland Church and now Eugene shares the same dream. Oregon will be
"evangelized in our day!" " If
You Build It They Will Come - Eugene International Church of Christ
Inaugural Service - Kip McKean - Monday, January 26, 2004 EMPHASIS ADDED
Back to the Top
Click
Here to listen - "Question 1, are you sold
out to God? Are you willing to do anything, go anywhere, give up
everything? You said that at baptism, don't back off. If you're not
there, tonight is the time to repent. And when you repent, you're going
to tell other people that you repented. You say well I'm going to
go on to my home congregation and I tell them that I was in Portland and
I was called to be totally sold out, I mean bro you don't even know what
awaits me. Oh you'd be surprised, I have a good hunch what awaits
you. I call upon everybody that is not sold out tonight to
rededicate your life tonight to Jesus Christ.
Secondly, I call everybody to a decision tonight to rededicate yourself
to discipling. I've asked several people, how is discipling coming, they
say well I think we have discipling. Well, I say, who is discipling you?
Well, I don't know. Now let's see, if we would have asked Peter, Hey
Peter do you know who is discipling you? Maybe Timothy, Timothy, do you
have any idea who is discipling you these days? I mean, you know, he
discipled you when you were 18 and everything when you first started
out, and we had that little thing we had to get right with you.
But is he still discipling you at 35? What? He's writing you from
prison? That sounds like a lot of control. You're telling me the dude is
in prison and he's telling you what to do? And he's 35! Get out of
here! Don't you think you to just simply have just a friendship? I mean,
you're mature. What do you need people in your life for?
I do believe when we start out we need to have a teacher/student
relationship. We desperately need that, or we will fall away. I think as
we mature things do go to more of an adult/adult relationship. But don't
kid yourself, you still need discipling because your time of life is
still unique to you. ....myself, hey I'm around 50, and I've never been
in an empty next type situation. I need advice! I need discipling!
Everybody has never been where you're at before and we need other people
in our lives because can't be objective about ourselves." Kip
McKean, A Great Light Has Dawned, June 2004
Back to the Top
Click
Here to listen - "I want to call you to a
decision! If you are in a church that has abandoned discipling, and
you've rededicated yourself to Jesus, you've rededicated yourself to
discipling, then you need to find a church that loves the Lord, and that's
out to save all nations by discipling. Are you saying that's a
lukewarm church? Absolutely! Well how do I know if I'm in a lukewarm
church? Well that's the challenge, that's what Jesus said, a lukewarm
church thinks they're doing really great. I've acquired wealth, I do not
need a thing. And yet you don't realize that you're wretched, pitiful,
poor, blind and naked. Now Jesus says I wish you were hot or
cold....if you're hot, that means you are on fire, there are baptisms,
people are being restored, lives are being changed. I mean there's repentance
going on every day, I mean disciples are fired-up in the Lord, they are
studying their bible, they're sharing new insights, they are having incredible
prayers, don't you agree, that is hot? Now, is your church Hot or
Cold? If it's not one or the other, you are in a lukewarm one. And
if they're not practicing discipling, you need to get out of there. You
need to get out of there.
You know some people think that that's divisive. Turn to 1 Corin 11:18,
(quotes the verse)...there has to be differences between you to show which
of you has God's approval. You go back as a fired up disciple into a
lukewarm church, there's going to be division, and you better be ready for
it. Say, how do you know that? Because that's what happened in the 70's.
We were fired up for the Lord, we'd go into lukewarm churches and all heck
would break loose. Because the people didn't want to hear the message. You
have a choice, as in the Matrix, the red pill or the blue pill." Kip
McKean, A Great Light Has Dawned, June 2004
"Recently, there has been much debate over whether Jesus and the early church
discipled by groups or individually (one-on-one). Let us remember that
evangelism is included in Jesus' plan of discipling, and that discipling
continues on after being born again in baptism until we are welcomed into glory!
The gospels record that Jesus meets and evangelizes (begins to disciple)
individuals. Jesus spends the day with Andrew and John, disciples of John the
Baptist (John
1:39), and later that day meets Simon and then "nicknames" him
"Rocky!" (Peter) He also individually calls Phillip (John
1:43) as well as the skeptical Nathaniel. (John
1:47) The calling of Matthew the tax collector is also noted. (Luke
5:27-28) Quite obviously, Jesus began discipling these men one-on-one, "Come
follow me." Later in Luke
6:12, perhaps after six months of preaching and individually making
disciples, Jesus went to the mountain to pray. In the morning He meets with all
His disciples, perhaps hundreds, and calls from them twelve, "whom He
designates apostles." Thus Jesus begins group discipling." Kip
McKean,
Group or Individual Discipling?
Yes!, 7/19/05
"Group discipling is necessary to reveal character weaknesses
and sins that block us from being close, especially in peer relationships. (This
closeness, true friendship, a sense of "team" are especially necessary
in church leaderships whether local, regional, or worldwide to keep churches
united.) Yet individual discipling is imperative if we are to draw-out one
another's thoughts and as a best friend deal with trials and temptations
"at a heart to heart level." Kip McKean,
Group
or Individual Discipling? Yes!, 7/19/05
Back to the Top
Discipleship
versus salvation through Jesus
"There are churches that try to sound noble, oh we're not saying that
discipling shouldn't happen, but it's optional in our church. My bible
tells me, it's not optional, it's the command of God. It's the
way to win a city to Christ, it's the way to win the world to Christ."
Kip McKean,
That
They All May Be One, March, 2005
"This summer both the men
and women are studying the principles of Scripture in Robert Coleman's book, The
Master Plan of Evangelism. Since I received salvation
through God's principle of disciple making, I am very
grateful for discipling's impact as well as Jesus' "plan of
evangelism" - discipling - to change the world in our lifetime." Kip
McKean, Wednesday Night Services, 7/11/2004
"Jesus built God's movement on the now lost plan of
multiplying disciples. It was and still is the only plan of God to
evangelize the world." Kip McKean,
The
Mandate of God for World Evangelism Part 3, 2004
"Discipling is how you got saved! It is why there
are churches of thousands that did not even exist just a few years ago. To stop
discipling people within our congregations will mean that the untold thousands
in our cities will die untold. Discipling is not only for the
salvation of the lost, but I believe it is the salvation of the saved."
Kip McKean,
RtR
III, 2003"
Back to the Top
Finances
and Giving
"Back in the
early days of Boston, young interns under my charge, they’d always be
borrowing cars. Right, Frank? Now we own two and sometimes three cars." (Kip
McKean, Malachi: God’s Radical Demand for Remaining
Radical, Manila World
Leadership Conference, 1994)
"Back in the
early days of the ministry, I used to pay our young interns $700 a month. And
Bob and I thought we were being very generous. That’s about $8,000 a
year....Now we’ve got evangelists making $80,000 and you are not grateful or
happy for what you have. You don’t have enough!" (Kip McKean,
Malachi: God’s Radical Demand for Remaining
Radical, Manila World
Leadership Conference, 1994)
"I want to
challenge you, challenge you with the example of LA, challenge you with the
example of Russia, challenge you with the example of my life and say, ‘listen,
I’m not gonna give this minimum 20-times. I’m going to go way beyond the
minimum..." (Kip McKean, Glory, Australia Evangelism Conference, May
5th, 1996)
"When the first
special contribution came, Al, wanting God to know his heart,. and with the need
for world missions, sold his house. Just like in the Bible, Acts 2, Acts 4. But
today we’re not selling houses, we’re buying them. Now if you’re buying a
house, how you going to ask someone to sell theirs for a special missions
contribution?" Kip McKean, Malachi: God’s Radical Demand for
Remaining Radical, Manila World Leadership Conference, 1994
"Our problem
is, we don’t want to demand it of ourselves and so we don’t want to demand
it of the people." Kip McKean, Malachi: God’s Radical Demand for
Remaining Radical, Manila World Leadership Conference, 1994)
Back to the Top
"Secondly, we
give the contribution in the discipleship group. You say, ‘Well, won’t
everybody see what’s happening?’ Mmmhmm. Mmmhmm! And we make sure they give
their tithe. You say, ‘Why do you do that?’ Because the Bible says in
Malachi 3, if you don’t tithe you’re robbing God. And we don’t want
anybody to go to hell cause they didn’t, they robbed God. You say, ‘That’s
awful hardline.’ You bet your booties it’s hard-line. Someone doesn’t
give, we ask why. We know who didn’t give by the end of the discipleship
group. Questions are asked. We have almost a hundred percent giving in our
church. Someone doesn’t give, they’ve got some attitudes." Kip McKean,
The Super Church, Boston Leadership Conference, Aug 92
Back to the Top
Growth
"I think it's a sin to let
any denomination church be bigger than us." Kip McKean, The Super
Church, Boston Leadership Conference, Aug 92
"You look at
1994, there were 30,000 baptisms in the Kingdom of God. I praise God for 30,000
baptisms...but I look below that, in addition to 30,000 baptisms, there were
almost 20,000 fall-aways. You heard it right, 30,000 baptisms, 20,000 fall-aways."
Al Baird, Shepherding the Flock, Johannesburg Leadership Conference, Aug 95
"Notice which sector had
increased the most, numerically. The Cross and the Switchblade. Say, Why is
that? Well, I was in there....Well which one grew the most percentage wise.
Well, let's look again. Seventy-five percent. Pretty good when you're
leading both columns. Well, why was that? Because I was there." Kip
McKean, The Super Church, Boston Leadership Conference, Aug 92
"God put you there in
Boston, He put you there in New York, He put you there in Charlotte, He put you
there in Atlanta, He put you there in L.A., now crank ! " Kip McKean,
The Super Church, Boston Leadership Conference, Aug 92
"We are not
saved by works, but Paul understood we are saved to work! The degree of our
appreciation for our salvation is directly proportional to how hard we work for
God!" Kip McKean,
The Parable of the Minas,
8/8/05
Back to the Top
Leaders/Leadership
Preach imitation.....The people
that are against us are deceived in their sin. ....Paul pulls the ultimate
loyalty card.....imitate your leader. ....right
here we see one evangelist sending another evangelist into the church and saying
guys this is the way to get things fixed. You know, I'm a human being,
I've made my mistakes but if God were to send me in any church because of God
and his word I believe I could fix that church. Now if you got autonomous
churches though, that got the walls up that no one can go in, who can fix them?
One of the things people lament with me the most in my emails and ah
conversations, Kip why don't we have the unity we did before? If we have all
this freedom to love, where is the unity? It's because we don't have evangelists
calling the churches to the same teaching everywhere in every church. Now if we
are going to be a bible movement, and I believe that is what you guys want to
have, amen? Then you better have men that teach the same thing everywhere in
every church. that's the pattern. So, Salt Lake has some problems, I say, ok I
can fix that problem, I'm going to send a man that's imitated my faith, that
I've trained. A true son of the faith. Jay Hernandez. Jay's not perfect, but
he's trained. Got an awesome wife, we've put a little mission team around him of
awesome disciples. And they've gone down there guys, and in a church that
hadn't had a baptism, now let's get this down guys, hadn't had a baptism for 2
and half years! And now will have their third in one month. Why? Because it's an
overseeing evangelist that sends an evangelist on in there who preaches the
word, and when you preach the word, God gives the increase, are you with me
church?" Kip McKean, Preach
the Word, 8/18/05
Click
Here to listen - "Many people have lost
confidence in the leadership. Listen, I'm more confident in the repentant
leaders than I've ever been. See now we're repentant. We've made all of
our stupid mistakes and sinful mistakes. We're better leaders. I mean
honestly, isn't that what Christianity is all about? You do something
wrong, you repent, then you change, and you're better. I believe
right now that the guys that are still preaching the word are better
leaders then they've ever been. They're not perfect, they shouldn't be
idolized, but they sure got to be honored. " Kip McKean, A Great
Light Has Dawned, June 2004
Click
Here to listen - "The bible teaches
right here that God selects his leaders. Now I think what's happened in
the Kingdom, with so many people leaving the ministry, is there's been a
great disillusionment and once more there's been a lose of the sense of
the calling of God. A lot of people say well, I was hired by a church,
and the church doesn't have enough money, so I'm outta here. Or
the people aren't treating me nice and so, well, I don't want to be a
preacher anymore. Yet the bible says right here, very very clearly, it
is God who raises up his leaders. It's God. We have got to
reaffirm that as a conviction. and the Bible teaches very clearly, when
God raises up his his leader, things change. Because God is with his
leader. The people may dessert him, but God is with his leader to change
the people...are you with me right here guys?
Now we have another thing that is very important to realize is that the spirituality
of a church will never rise above it's leadership. Where a church is at
is the responsibility of the leadership. And you've got to ask yourself,
do I want to take responsibility for the souls of men. Because you
will be held accountable not only for your soul, but the souls of
everyone God puts underneath you. And you have to have a conviction that
if God gives you that sense of accountability then he's also going to
give you the power and the direction, the word of God, in order to
change the situation. So we understand now that it is God who raises up
the leaders, and we understand that if the leader is to take on that
charge, he must have faith that it's God that's raising him up. And his
God will not let him down.
When I first came here to Portland, I didn't know anybody, and yet you
know the people here were, were incredible, they were hurting, but one
of the complaints, I didn't get to share it last night, was that uh, all
the awesome disciples had been moved to San Francisco. And I
listened to it and I heard about 5 or 6 times these different groups and
everything, but a few months later I got in front of the church, and the
church was starting to have the baptisms, remember that guy, right there
in September, and so I kind of tried to tease the church a little
bit. I said, you know guys, you all told me that all the awesome
disciples moved to San Francisco and yet guys, it is just going incredible
right here...I mean I can't believe it right here, so many people are
coming to the Lord. So many people's lives are being changed. I
mean I think you guys are so golden hearted you guys are so incredible I
mean I cannot wait to meet these awesome disciples! They must flat walk
on water. Here's the point, you gotta believe the word of God can make
God's people awesome disciples.
When I came, I determined
to do but one thing, to preach the word and you ask any brother that's
here, from day 1, July 11 the word of God has been preached with the
expectation that people will obey it. We preach the ideal to love God
with all of our heart, mind soul and strength. We preach the ideal that
a disciple is someone who is willing to do anything, go anywhere and
give up everything. But we preach the ideal needs to be the
standard and that's what's been lost in our churches" Kip
McKean, Can You Drink the Cup? June 2004
Back to the Top
Click
Here
to listen - "Now look at this verse
10, and do not grumble as some of them did and were killed by the destroying
angel. You know to grumble against leaders is to grumble against God. Exodus
chapter 16. We don't like to have that one preached.
Now am I saying that leaders are perfect? Absolutely not. They're human.
They're human. But God has put them in authority so that we could have order
and structure. And without leadership, without vision the people perish. And
you know, a lot of times we allow our opinions to cross over to convictions
and we start looking at things critically. You know, remember when you
first came to bible talk and we'd go, that's amazing, that is
incredible! You've been in the kingdom for a little while and you're not
leading, wow, this guy's already gone over 3 minutes, how insensitive! Doesn't
he know there are lost non-Christians in the room? Or church on Sunday,
well, we don't have enough singing, we don't have enough songs, we don't have instruments playing enough! Well, we talked to Mica about that and
ahhh, you
know it's always great when we have the spirit of wanting to help the church
be better. But it's a thin line when we cross over from wanting the church to
be better to grumbling and complaining. Now of course, Mica is an awesome
sister and she just immediately repented and now that's awesome constructive
criticism of the church, amen?" Kip McKean, That They All May be
One,
March, 2005
Back to the Top
One True Church
"I believe with all
my heart that the Boston Movement is God's modern-day movement. For the past
several years, through love, prayer, Bible study and intense conversations, we
have tried to pull into God's movement the remnant of all those who are
surrendered to the Scriptures and who believe God's dream is to evangelize the
world in one generation. We will continue to seek other isolated disciples who
may be members in false churches."
Revolution Through Restoration Part II: The 20th Century Church, Kip
Mckean, 1994
"Early in 1979, a group
of 30 would-be disciples gathered in the living room and commit themselves
to at that time, an ideal that had not yet been seen that the true church
would be composed of only disciples, only those people that are totally
committed to Jesus Christ and those that refuse to heed the call of Jesus
would be unwelcome in that fellowship and not recognized by God or his
human leaders." Kip McKean, 1994 Manila World Leadership
Conference, Malachi:
God's Radical Demand for Remaining Radical, 1994
"I mean the question
that the lost world and even sometimes the church asks is, why is their so
much suffering. Why is there so much EVIL ? Why is the darkness around the
world closing, tighter and tighter around us, even as we call ourselves
the true church?....
......And no-one knows you are a Christian, 'cause you got the veil up.
They don't see the light because you got the veil up. They don't know who
you really are at work, because you got the veil up and the Glory is
fading because you're afraid to be identified as a member of the Lord's
church, the true Church of Christ in Sydney......
.....(in speaking of the Moscow church)..."Thursday, Friday,
Saturday, with 17 people we had 286 people there at our first service. The
next 16 days before I left we had 16 baptisms. God unleashed a historic
movement. The coup.. we didn't stop...with all the denominational weak
faithed people, that's very kind terminology for them, they just got out
of Russia. And I was happy about it because it just left the true
church right there......
.....Another thing.. I'm fired.. I'm...I'm.. fired up about getting the true
church back in Jerusalem. What do you think about that? I mean of all
cities... that one......
.....I'm fired up about Henry Kramer leading the team there. Say why are
you so fired up about that, see .. well Henry... well this guy's awesome.
He's president student body at my school, he's a quarterback, he went to
Stanford, one of our top universities, became a doctor and says AS AWESOME
AS ALL THOSE THINGS ARE I'M GIVING THEM UP SO I CAN LEAD A MISSION TEAM IN
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL, AND REESTABLISH THE TRUE CHURCH OF CHRIST...
DOES THAT FIRE YOU ON UP?" Kip Mckean, Sydney, Australia
Church of Christ, Oceania
Conference May 5, 1996
Back to the Top
"We believe God's church universal is composed of all the disciples
in the world. We believe local congregations should be composed of only
disciples. That does not mean that International Church of Christ members
are the only disciples. But we do believe we are the only fellowship with
congregations of only disciples. Presently we are reaching out to several
leaders who share this conviction in order to help reunite
"discipling churches" through relationships between
leaders." Kip McKean,
Love in
Any Language, 2005
"I shared
that in the past I never believed we were the only saved people. However,
in order to perpetuate God's church around the world, we could not
collectively embrace other restoration "churches" partially
composed of disciples but also tolerant of perpetual sin, lukewarmness and
non-disciples. This approach not only watered down their message and
fellowship, but also it fundamentally destroyed their ability to multiply
disciples. Churches composed of only baptized disciples can and will
reproduce disciples locally and plant "teams" of disciples in
their sphere of influence. This is still our plan in the Portland Church
and now Eugene shares the same dream. Oregon will be "evangelized in
our day!" Kip McKean, If
You Build It They Will Come, 2004
"The church universal comprises all disciples of the
world that God sees when he looks down from heaven into people's hearts,
whether they are in the ICOC, the mainline Churches of Christ
(non-instrumental), the conservative Christian Churches (instrumental), in
breakaway small groups, or a single disciple in a denominational church.
God adds baptized disciples to his "church universal." Kip
McKean,
The Mandate of God for World
Evangelism Part 6, 2004
Back to the Top
"Now,
with the questioning and in some cases the abandonment of
"discipling," the acceptance of autonomy, no overseeing
evangelists, the distinctiveness of the ICOC churches from the mainline
has greatly lessened. Sadly, some who were among our members feel they
were deceived because we said the ICOC was "the true church."
Granted, we were not clear there are Christians in other
"fellowships." Yet by "true church," we simply meant
it was a church as in the Bible, composed of only disciples. This
uniqueness produced a dynamic fellowship and outreach, unseen in church
history since the first century. Though there were flaws and sins in our
building of the churches, a closeness and warmth existed between all ICOC
churches around the world because of the cross of Christ and our common
mission." Kip
McKean,
The Mandate of God for World
Evangelism Part 6, 2004
"Autonomy
is unbiblical. It is not a word found in the Bible." Kip McKean,
Indy
Transcripts 3/17/94 Somebody
might want to point out to Kip that the
word 'discipling' is unbiblical
and It is not a word found in the Bible either!
"Speaking of the
church planting going to Eugene "The city of Eugene is located at the center of the state of Oregon and is just
110 miles south of Portland. The present metropolitan population is 250,000 and
is rapidly growing......Benton County and Corvallis have a population of almost
100,000 people.......Please pray that our God will bless this effort to reach the 250,000 lost souls
of Eugene and the almost 100, 000 of Corvallis "with the true gospel of
Christ." Kip McKean, Eugene
Church Planting, 11/16/03
Back to the Top
Old
School
"After I reflected on the "Old School" question, I thought to myself,
yes, Portland is "Old School," but with a graduate degree! We have not
over-reacted to criticism by discarding all the good, Biblical principles and
methodologies of the past, but we have learned from our mistakes and made
changes. Some of the changes are: emphasizing more the cross in our preaching,
God's grace as our primary motivation, being gentle and firm in our discipling,
and striving to be much more sensitive to the weak.
Yet we are "Old School"
in these areas:
1. We believe that to be saved
one must believe in Jesus, repent, decide to be a disciple, and be baptized.
(Acts
2:38) We still "count the cost" with each person before
baptism. (Luke
14:25-33)
2. We believe Jesus commands each
generation to go to all nations! As I pointed out in my message at the
Festival Latino, Coke-a-cola, Pepsi, Nike and even Brittany Spears have
already evangelized the world! Far more people have heard of these products
and Brittany than Jesus and the Lord's church!
3. We believe God's church
universal is composed of all the disciples in the world. We believe local
congregations should be composed of only disciples. That does not mean that
International Church of Christ members are the only disciples. But we do
believe we are the only fellowship with congregations of only disciples.
Presently we are reaching out to several leaders who share this conviction
in order to help reunite "discipling churches" through
relationships between leaders.
4. We believe the Scriptures
teach evangelists train evangelists as carpenters train apprentices and
doctors train interns. I believe an in depth knowledge of the Scriptures is
essential for evangelists. I attended Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary
and Harding Graduate School and prayerfully we will begin the Portland
School of World Missions this fall. However, I do not believe scholarship
makes an evangelist. It was said of the apostles, "They are
unschooled and ordinary men... they took note they had been with
Jesus." (Acts
4:13) Yes, we need Bible knowledge but Scripturally one must walk with
and imitate an evangelist to be an evangelist!
5. We believe disciples should
marry disciples and date only disciples. (1
Corinthians 7:39 and2
Corinthians 6:14-18.) Too many who call themselves disciples are dating
non-Christians, falling into sin and leaving God.
6. We believe everyone must be
discipled, either in a teacher/student relationship (parent/child) or
adult/adult relationship. Scripture commands us to be in each other's lives.
(1
Corinthians 5:9-12) In our worldwide fellowship unheard of numbers of
marriages are ending in divorce because there is no discipling. Biblically,
discipling is not "optional." I realize there was harshness and
the "binding of opinions" in discipling in the past that hurt
people deeply. Yet these same "hurts" (sins) occur in marriage as
well, yet we would never consider making marriage optional just because of
hurts! Forgiveness is essential for God to bless any relationship." Kip
McKean,
Love in any Language, 2005
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Salvation
"Who is the candidate for baptism. It is the one who is
a disciple." Kip McKean,
Perfectly United, Boston Women’s
Retreat, 1987
"Every member of the church
is in a Bible Talk. They are expected to bring visitors every week. Everybody's
expected to bring visitors every week! They don't bring a visitor, we ask why.
Not pressure, I'm concerned about the soul, you're not fruitful,
you're going to be sawed off the vine." Kip McKean, The Super Church,
Boston Leadership Conference, Aug 92
"Jesus didn’t
say, ‘go and baptize,’ he said, ‘go and make disciples and baptize them."
Kip McKean, The Super Church, Boston Leadership Conference, Aug 92
"Theoretically, anyone can read and understand from the
Word of God that to become a true Christian he must respond to the cross,
repent of sins, make a decision to be a disciple and be baptized for the
remission of sins. However, because most people are blinded by their
inherited traditions, this person is rare indeed. I have traveled around
the world many times through many nations, and while I have found
individuals who have decided to be disciples, I know of no church, no
fellowship, and no movement that teaches and practices these biblical
requirements of obedience to the truth. Perhaps most revealing is that
even our religious enemies and the media see us as doctrinally unique.
Conversely, most of us in the Boston Movement, now called the
International Churches of Christ, fail to appreciate the characteristics
that make our fellowship unique. This is particularly true when it comes
to understanding our roots." Kip McKean,
RtR
II, 1994
Back to the Top
"Well, are the people in the International Churches of
Christ the only ones saved? We are the only ones who teach what we teach.
"But, if someone in another group, in the Church of Christ or a
Baptist group or whatever, picks up the Bible, and they see the way of
salvation -- which is, you have got to have faith in Jesus, Son of God,
you got to repent of all the sins, you have got to come to conviction that
Jesus died on the cross, you've got to turn Jesus Lord of your life, you
gotta become a disciple of Jesus, and then you gotta be water
immersed, water baptized for the forgiveness of your sins and receive the
gift of the Holy Spirit. If they have done that, then they are a son or
daughter of God. Because we don't take a vote in our churches.
"On the other hand, if they are in some isolated group like that
(pause) The last time I spoke to you, I told you about they want to
be a part of a movement, then they have to be a part of a church that is
moving. If they are the only one that is taught that truth in that little
fellowship, then if they are really good hearted, they are going to join
with people that are true disciples. So, I'm not going to be ordering the
borders of Israel here. That's for the Lord to do. I am going to be hard
line on what it takes to become a true disciple. But I spent all the 80's
trying to bring the remnant from these little churches." Kip
McKean. Indianapolis meeting (17 March 94) audiotape one, side two.
"When you preach who is
really saved: that you gotta have faith, you gotta repent, you gotta become a
true disciple of Jesus, and then you gotta be water immersed for the forgiveness
of sins received through the Holy Spirit, that excludes all other denominations,
. . . everybody else that's out there." Kip McKean. "Preach the
Word." Johannesburg World Missions Leadership Conference 1995
"For the past several months the
leadership of the Portland Church has taught the congregation to have deep
convictions that to be baptized one must be a "sold out" disciple, to
place membership one must be a "sold out" disciple and to be restored
one must be a "sold out" disciple. A "sold out" disciple
walks with God with all his heart, soul, mind and strength. (Matthew 22:37-40) A
"sold out" disciple loves his neighbor as himself. A "sold
out" disciple's mission is to be "a fisher of men." (Mark
1:14-18) A "sold out" disciple is willing to go anywhere, do anything,
and give up everything for Jesus! (Luke 14:33)" Kip McKean, As
Many as Possible, 5/2/04
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"Yet we are "Old School"
in these areas: 1. We believe that to be saved
one must believe in Jesus, repent, decide to be a disciple, and be baptized.
(Acts
2:38) We still "count the cost" with each person before
baptism. (Luke
14:25-33)" Kip McKean,
Love in
any Language, 2005
"Some have criticized the ICOC
saying we believe that the "ICOC" are the only ones saved, that one
must be baptized by the ICOC to be a Christian. This is emphatically wrong!
(Though I have come to understand that some ministers taught this.) We do
believe that to become a true Christian, one must hear the message, repent of
sins (become a disciple) and then be baptized for the remission of sins. (Acts
2:36-41) This is a narrow path! Recently, some have suggested that the
differences between the ICOC churches and "the mainline" were only
"style of worship" differences. The differences were - a foundation of
only disciples, not autonomy but overseeing evangelists to keep the churches
unified (1 Corinthians 4:17), the role of women leading women, house churches,
discipleship groups, discipling one another through "discipleship
partners," expectation for every disciple to be willing to "go
anywhere, do anything, give up everything for God," evangelists in each
church training young men to plant more churches, calling each disciple to have
a daily personal relationship with God (Quiet Times), and the use of instruments
from time to time in worship were all attempts to restore true "New
Testament Christianity." I believe to this day, this was not a movement of
man, but a movement of God." Kip McKean,
Spiritual Amnesia,
3/13/05
"We believe disciples should
marry disciples and date only disciples. (1
Corinthians 7:39 and2
Corinthians 6:14-18.) Too many who call themselves disciples are dating
non-Christians, falling into sin and leaving God." Kip Mckean,
Love in Any Language, 2005
"Jesus came to earth to die for the sins of the world, to reveal the very
nature of God in flesh and blood, and to give His followers a plan to evangelize
the world for which He died. The Great Commission is the summation of this plan,
"Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them...and teaching
them to obey all I have commanded you." The Great Commission
commands every newly baptized disciple to be taught to obey all of Jesus'
commands - the last being "go and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them." Therefore, Jesus' plan is for every disciple to be
taught to make and baptize disciples who in turn teach every new generation of
disciples to make and baptize disciples thus exponentially expanding into every
nation!" Kip McKean,
Group or
Individual Discipling? Yes!, 7/19/05
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Sold
Out Disciple
"For
the past several months the leadership of the Portland Church has taught the
congregation to have deep convictions that to be baptized one must be a
"sold out" disciple, to place membership one must be a "sold
out" disciple and to be restored one must be a "sold out"
disciple. A "sold out" disciple walks with God with all his heart,
soul, mind and strength. (Matthew 22:37-40) A "sold out" disciple
loves his neighbor as himself. A "sold out" disciple's mission is to
be "a fisher of men." (Mark 1:14-18) A "sold out" disciple
is willing to go anywhere, do anything, and give up everything for Jesus! (Luke
14:33)" Kip Mckean, As Many as Possible,
05/02/04
Click
Here - A Great Light Has Dawned - Kip McKean (3:21)
"Question 1, are you sold
out to God? Are you willing to do anything, go anywhere, give up everything?
You said that at baptism, don't back off. If you're not there, tonight is the
time to repent. And when you repent, you're going to tell other people that
you repented. You say well I'm going to go on to my home congregation
and I tell them that I was in Portland and I was called to be totally sold
out, I mean bro you don't even know what awaits me. Oh you'd be
surprised, I have a good hunch what awaits you. I call upon everybody
that is not sold out tonight to rededicate your life tonight to Jesus Christ.
Secondly, I call everybody to a decision tonight to rededicate yourself to
discipling. I've asked several people, how is discipling coming, they say well
I think we have discipling. Well, I say, who is discipling you? Well, I don't
know. Now let's see, if we would have asked Peter, Hey Peter do you know who
is discipling you? Maybe Timothy, Timothy, do you have any idea who is
discipling you these days? I mean, you know, he discipled you when you were 18
and everything when you first started out, and we had that little thing we had
to get right with you. But is he still discipling you at 35? What? He's
writing you from prison? That sounds like a lot of control. You're telling me
the dude is in prison and he's telling you what to do? And he's 35! Get
out of here! Don't you think you to just simply have just a friendship? I
mean, you're mature. What do you need people in your life for?
I do believe when we start out we need to have a teacher/student
relationship. We desperately need that, or we will fall away. I think as we
mature things do go to more of an adult/adult relationship. But don't kid
yourself, you still need discipling because your time of life is still unique
to you. ....myself, hey I'm around 50, and I've never been in an empty next
type situation. I need advice! I need discipling! Everybody has never been
where you're at before and we need other people in our lives because can't be
objective about ourselves. " Kip Mckean, A
Great Light Has Dawned,
06/27/04
Back to the Top
"Immediately after the
sermon, the Eugene Mission Team gathered on stage, which caused many in the
crowd not just to cheer but to cry. There was a strong realization that
the Portland Church was not only being healed by the blood of Christ, but the
Holy Spirit had worked to rebuild the foundation of the church to be only
"sold-out" disciples. " Kip McKean, Won't
Give Up, 12/15/2003
"Fire in the Preaching - No
Eutychuses here! (Acts 20:9) The preacher preaches the Word in fear of God, not
the people. Motivated by grace, he preaches that every member be a "sold
out" disciple willing to "go anywhere, do anything, give up
everything" for Jesus. This ideal is the standard, though obviously at
times we all fall short and need the merciful forgiveness of our Father and our
spiritual family." Kip McKean, Hot, Cold
or Lukewarm? 06/11/04
"On June 1,
1979, 30 "would-be disciples" gathered in the Gempels living room to
make this dream a reality. In the next twelve months, the 30 uncommitted members
left one by one but were replaced by 103 fired up committed baptized disciples,
mostly off such campuses as Harvard, MIT, Boston University, Boston College and
the University of Massachusetts! The dream of a church of only "sold out
disciples" had become a reality! In the ensuing years with this foundation
of only disciples, unheard of multiplication occurred! In 1981, 170 were
baptized; in 1982, 250 were baptized; 1983 - 322 baptisms; 1984 - 402 baptisms;
1985 - 594 baptisms; 1986 - 703 baptisms; 1987 - 818 baptisms; 1988 - 1227
baptisms; etc..." Kip McKean,
Spiritual
Amnesia, 3/13/05
"On a recent
trip, a committed but confused disciple came to me and asked, "In the past,
during the early years of the ICOC, did we expect too much of people to be
baptized?" And I said, "What do you mean?" He responded, "At
my church it is said we were 'baptizing apostles.' In other words, we expected
too much commitment. Kip, what do you think?" I paused and said, "To
expect the commitment of an apostle at baptism is wrong." The misguided
Christian replied, "Yeah, that's what my preacher said." I then
responded, "You see brother, God expects us to baptize people with more
than the apostles commitment, but with the heart of Jesus - totally sold out to
God and willing to die for the cause!"' Kip McKean, Why
Did Jesus Stay So Long? 10/10/2004
Back to the Top
"Since our
congregation is composed of only sold-out disciples, our singing has been a very
heartsy "joyful noise unto the Lord." (Psalm 100:1 KJV)" Kip
McKean, A New Song or Two! 10/31/2004
"Late Thursday
evening, I was invited to participate in a direct, yet warm discussion about
unity with church leaders from Boston, Seattle, Savannah, Phoenix, Dallas, Los
Angeles, and Athens, Georgia. We realized that our perspectives on some issues
may differ but we reaffirmed before God our respect and love for each other.
Elena and I also had excellent meetings with brothers from Syracuse in the USA,
as well as London and Moscow. In these meetings, we were asked to share
practically how God had healed the Portland Church from a church split sixteen
months ago into a warm, "sold-out" congregation of disciples. Several
others at the conference expressed the desire to visit and learn from the
Portland Church." Kip McKean, Report:
International Leadership Conference, Chicago, USA - September 23-25, 2005
10/03/2004
"As we
look at different fellowships, sometimes it is easier to rule out which
congregations are not God's churches. Here are the seven warning signs of a
dying or false church: 1. The singing lacks joy, reverence and
"spirit". Only a few in the congregation know and sing the hymns. With
the absence of joy, teens and children usually are bored and do not want to
attend this church. (Ephesians 5:19-20) 2. The sermons are not centered on the
Scriptures. The preacher is not straight-forward about "sin, righteousness
and judgment." He preaches to please the people. He views preaching as
merely a job not a calling of God. Therefore, since he does not want to lose his
job, he preaches to not offend people. (II Timothy 4:1-5) 3. Throughout the
service "Christ and Him crucified" is rarely heard. Communion is not
centered on self-examination and God's infinite grace. (I Corinthians 11:23-32)
Therefore many in the congregation have double lives, hypocritical lifestyles.
4. People are late for the service, displaying a low priority in their lives.
When the congregation is seated, they are literally spread out in the entire
auditorium. There is little warmth and most leave at the last "Amen."
(John 13:34-35) 5. There are few visitors and fewer baptisms. The church is not
growing. (Acts 2:47) They are very inwardly focused. There is no sense of
mission, especially world missions. 6. The congregation is always spoken well of
-- no persecution for truth and godly lives. (Matthew 6:26; II Timothy 3:12) 7.
The entire congregation is not "sold out", "devoted to apostles
teaching, fellowship...prayer." They rarely come to more than Sunday
morning fellowships. (Acts 2:42) Consequently, they are stingy with their
financial sacrifice and care little for the poor. (Acts 2:45)" Kip
McKean, Are You Looking for a Church?
10/05/2003
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Spirituality
"See, I only
want the best to come to my church. Someone’s not doing it, I go, ‘Well bro,
it’s good to have you here today. [laughter] [a joking response from someone
in the crowd: ‘He can do the prayer’] Maybe they can do the prayer.
[laughter] We select a lot of people to be up front in our church services. Bob
and Pat have been there, all the World Sector Leaders. We use a lot of people up
front. And they know you only get used up front if you’re flat blowin it out
spiritually." (Kip McKean, The Super Church, Boston Leadership
Conference, Aug 92)
"Some of your
churches are so pathetic they make Jesus nauseous. Now I, I was a little...I
backed off a little bit in my sermon right there. I didn’t want to come on too
strong yesterday. It’s the kind of guy I am. It’s what Revelation 3 says. It
says you’re neither hot or cold, you’re lukewarm, and you make me want to
throw up!!! (Kip McKean, The Super Church, Boston Leadership Conference, Aug
92
"Friday evening was the last
night of "First Principles." The entire Portland congregation has been
diligently studying the "elementary truths" of God's Word to
"solidify, unify and multiply" our faith. In the past three weeks we
have deepened our convictions to go on to maturity by memorizing several
passages of Scriptures, all the First Principle studies and the order of all
sixty-six books of the Bible." God Is
Really Among You! Kip McKean - Sunday, October 12, 2003
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Weight
"But today, I look around
this auditorium, and there are 50% of you who are significantly overweight, and
it's disgusting! ...I'm embarrassed to be around some of you people. I hug you
and my hand goes into your sides." Kip McKean,
Manila World Leadership
Conference, Aug 94
"And some of you married
women have gotten so grossly overweight, and so you can't understand your star
little intern who is overweight, none of the brothers like. Because it's flat
unspiritual to be overweight ." Kip McKean,
Manila World Leadership
Conference, Aug 94
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Quotes
