Today is an important moment for the International Churches of Christ (ICOC). As the movement enters its second generation, understanding our history, our strengths and our weaknesses, has never been more important. Although God’s word has world-transforming power and he desires for the whole world to be saved, there seems to be internal resistance impeding a gain in momentum and forward motion. I believe that part of this resistance can be attributed to lack of faith and discouragement, and self-focus rather than God-focus. At this moment, in this situation, we need the faith of Abraham as much as ever:
Against all hope, Abraham in hope believe and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “so shall your offspring be.” Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was a good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. (Rom 4:18-19)
That our moved as slowed in growth is a fact, but that does not change what God is able to do through our faith and faithfulness. What God wants to be done in this world, can only be done through his strength and wisdom.
From 1979 to 2002, the ICOC grew from a single congregation of about 30 members to a worldwide fellowship of 439 congregations and 135,072 members. Although the growth was perceptibly slowing in the latter part of this period, the organizational collapse and loss of membership in 2003 were severe and largely unanticipated by the leadership. The purpose of this in-depth statistical analysis is to examine the available data of this “initial growth phase” and look for trends and patterns that might have served as indicators and warnings as to what was about to take place.
We started to live together, as a ‘normal’ worldly couple would do if they had a chance and no one to stop them from doing it. We began our relationship like this but because of my spiritual background and the tremendous love and respect I felt for her, I decided that if my love was real, I couldn’t let her finish as the bad weed of the scripture, burning in the eternal fire . . . (Matthew 13:36-43).” This is part of an email that we recently received as a response to the official International Churches of Christ website at www.icoc.org. It was written by a brother who fell away from the Lord and his church, but who is asking how he could come back and be restored. It makes my day when good news such as this comes across my desk, and it frequently does. Of the people who leave the church, about 10% eventually come back. But why do so many brothers and sisters who embraced God and accepted his grace, get drawn back into the world by Satan? I believe that a large part of the reason is that they stop being thankful for all that God has given them.
Our theme scripture cited above says, “. . . let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably. . . .” I believe that we need to discover the power of thankfulness as God’s people. As I prepared to lead a devotional for a group of men, I looked at many verses in the Bible that talk about giving thanks and being thankful. I learned that being thankful is much, much more than just a nice
thing to do. It is a channel through which God works to overcome the power of Satan in our lives.
Life can be so daily.” Gloria and I often quote those words of Pat Gempel to each other with tongue in cheek. We quote them because they are so true. The day-after-day routine of any part of our lives, spiritual or physical, can rob us of our zeal. Even in the Kingdom we often settle into repetitious patterns: one Sunday sermon follows the next, one quiet time follows the next. Even the incredible growth of our church can become “ho-hum.” I believe that, without special effort, we become spoiled spiritual kids of God. We become like kids visiting Disneyland, who for the first few rides cannot contain their excitement. But as the day wears on, they become increasingly bored and little seems to impress them. When we come into the Kingdom, we are beside ourselves with excitement. We’ve never heard sermons like these, never heard singing like this, never felt love like this. But with time it takes more and more to impress us.
In only eight weeks, the Los Angeles Church of Christ will be taking our special Missions Contribution totalling almost $1.5 Million. Since many of you have become disciples in the past year, this is your first time to sacrifice for world missions.
