From: conditt@tsd.arlut.utexas.edu (Paul Conditt)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian
Subject: Re: Denver Church of Christ
Date: 18 Nov 92 08:39:46 GMT
Organization: Applied Research Laboratories, University of Texas at Austin

In article <Nov.15.22.22.20.1992.23959@geneva.rutgers.edu> wilbanks@spot.Colorado.EDU (Micah Malachi) writes:
>Hi. I'm a deeply Christian University of Colorado student, and I'm 
>concerned abot the recent growth of the cult known as the denver Church 
>of Christ here, mainly because they have told several of my former friends
>having indoctrinated them that they should not talk to me. There are three 
>questions I have on them:
>
>1) Does anyone have a complete history and theological summary of them?

I don't have a complete history of them, and I don't mean to slam
anyone, but the movement that this church has grown out of has been
accused of being a cult by many people, including ones who have been
part of it before.

Here's a bried history of the movement, but the accuracy is not 100%
since I haven't been involved in it.  The movement began at a church
in Gainesville, Florida, called the Crossroads Church of Christ.  They
were fed up with the "old" Church of Christ (coc) attitude that was
basically stale and self-centered.  I'm very familiar with this attitude
because I grew up in a small-town CoC which exhibited this.  They 
decided that they needed to do something about it and especially about
spreading the Gospel.  Their main emphasis became sharing the Gospel
with everyone they could get their hands on.  They enjoyed tremendous
success and still are.  

This movement has evolved into one that is termed the "New Church of Christ".
Doctrinally, it is a fundamental, New Testament-based movement.  But the
way things are put into practice is what makes this seem like a cult.  The
world-wide leadership is based in Boston at the Boston CoC where the 
main minister is Kip McKean.  They have planted many churches throughout
the world in places like San Fransisco, San Diego, Chicago, London,
and the one in Denver to which the original poster is referring.  The
leadership in Boston has a very strong hold on all the other congregations.
This goes against what the traditional CoC belief that each individual
congregation should be autonomous and have it's own leadership and elders.

The part that is really dangerous about their practices comes in what is
called "discipling".  The way that discipling is applied usually works
like this:  A new "convert" is assigned a spiritual mentor.  This person
is in charge of the new convert's spiritual growth.  The new convert is
given a lot of material to study, ways to pray and have quiet time, etc.
All of this is on the surface, very good.  The relationship between the
mentor and the new person is not a healthy one, however.  The new convert
is expected to confess his/her sins to the mentor, who in turn, confesses
them to his/her superior, and on up the ladder to the preacher, who will
often preach on these specific sins in his sermons.  Beyond this, their
practices become extremely (unhealthily) legalistic.  Although they
can quote Scripture very impressively, the main thrust of their ministry
is evangelism.  I've heard many stories of people cornering others in
church and asking them how many people they've "led to the Lord" the
past week.  I've experienced myself the guilt placed upon me because I
wasn't real comfortable with shoving flyers in people's hands at a rally
they sponsored in downtown San Fransisco several years ago.  The whole
measure of their spirituality seems to be based on how many non-Christians
they're teaching and how many people they've baptized recently.  A man
in my Sunday school class this past week was commenting on the church in
Houston that is a Crossroads church.  He said they had a "score-board"
listing how many baptisms they'd had over a period of time.

The dangers of this movement are not really in the goals they are trying
to achieve, but in the atmosphere of strict legalism that it fosters.
I've known several people who have deep emotional scars after being 
involved in this movement.  It's very difficult to experience the love
of God in such a place when your performance is what allows you to
receive the love and respect of your fellow Christians.

This atmosphere causes a very high rate of burn-out.  The church in
Gainesville has since abandoned this movement several years ago.  There
is another large CoC in Boston that is comprised mainly of burn-outs
from the Boston CoC.  The atmosphere attracts a large number of people
who have addictive personalities.  They are often recovering substance-
abusers.  As is often the case with addicts, they substitute on form
of addiction for another.  And what better form of addiction than 
religion?  You can justify almost everything you do. But just as 
substance abuse is unhealthy, so is religious addiction (abuse).

>
>2) Concerning my friends: how should I go about getting them out of this?

As far as getting your friend out of this, I wouldn't try confronting
him directly.  Those people can quote Scripture and really do use the
word of God as a sword - one that wounds.  They seem to have a pat
scriptural answer to absolutely any objection you might raise.  I know
this sounds trite, but all I can say is to pray for him and to try to
just be a friend.  A time will probably come when your friend gets burned
out. He'll need a true, Christian friend at this time and then maybe you'll
get an opportunity to share God's love with him.

>
>3) We need a comprehensive program to get them out of this dorm and hopefully
>out of campus. Any advice on how to handle this?

No help there.  Are you in Boulder?  I have some friends who were involved
in the church in Boulder that have ties with the Denver church, but they
are probably "dis-fellowshiped" from them.

>
>I really appreciate any help I recieve. Thank you.
>
>
>-- 
>Dylan Wilbanks, Classics major, AND NOW Environmental Conservation!
>Currently at:	 |"George Bush is Out of Time. Bill Clinton and Al Gore
>Box 1143	 |are Automatic for the People."
>Boulder, CO 80306|		-VP Elect Al Gore, 10-29-1992
>
>[It's surprising.  Questions about the <cityname> Church of Christ are
>one of the most common that I get.  I've got an FAQ, which I send, and
>I'll send this person as well.  But the various <cityname> Church of
>Christ seem to be somewhat different, and there's also some evidence
>that they are changing, so it's worth having public discussion now and
>then.  I consider trying to keep members from talking to other
>Christians a real warning flag.  That does not seem to be invariably a
>part of the <cityname> Church of Christ.  --clh]

What I listed above is a partial explanation for this.  The criticism
you would hear about most CoCs is that they are stuffy and close-minded.
The old attitude of "if you're not in the CoC, you're going to Hell"
is not very prevalent anymore, but there are some residual effects from
it.  I am a member of what I consider to be a very progressive CoC
here in Austin.  I don't have any first-hand experience with the "New"
CoC other than what I mentioned above.  As with any body of fellowship,
denomination, movement, or individual congregations, you have to decide
if it is fundamentally sound, if it teaches the truth as contained in
the Bible, and if it can meet your needs and most of all, if it glorifies
God through it's ministries.  Care should be taken when getting involved
in a group and warning signs like the one CLH and Dylan mentioned
should be examined very seriously.

It makes me very sad to see this kind of thing happening anywhere, but
especially in connection with the fellowship that I've grown up with
my entire life.  Most of these congregations are being exposed for what
they really are.  Some of them are realizing the flaws in their approach
and are changing them.  But others are flourishing for the moment and
they are intially very appealing.  Their zeal, energy, and commitment
are impressive and inspiring.  However, it seems that their commitment is
to their individual mentors and to the system, not to God.

I hope this has been helpful.  I wish I had a more comprehensive history
of the movement.  Again, I don't want to slam anybody or any movement
because there are a lot of people involved in it who truly want to serve
the Lord.  But I've seen so much damage done to people in this movement
that I feel that it's flaws do need to be exposed.

In Him,

Paul Conditt