page_title: International Churches of Christ
section_title: US college campuses
hierarchical_section_title: International Churches of Christ / US college campuses
caption_attribution_description: English: Chicago Campus Conference
context_page_description: The International Churches of Christ is a body of co-operating religiously conservative, and racially integrated Christian congregations. Beginning with 30 members they grew to 37,000 members within the first 12 years. Currently they are numbered at over 128,000. A formal break was made from the mainline Churches of Christ in 1993 with the organization of the International Churches of Christ. The ICOC believes that the whole Bible is the inspired Word of God.
  It is a family of churches spread across some 155 nations. They consider themselves non-denominational. They are structured with the intent to avoid two extremes: "overly centralised authority" on the one side and "disconnected autonomy" on the other side. In 2000, it was described as "[a] fast-growing Christian organization known for aggressive proselytizing to [US] college students" and as "one of the most controversial religious groups on campus". The largest congregation, the Los Angeles Church of Christ, has over 6000 members. The largest church service was held in 2012 at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas, during a World Discipleship Summit, with 17,800 in attendance.
context_section_description: The ICOC has a history of over thirty years of evangelizing on college campuses.  Each year an International Campus Ministry Conference (ICMC) is held for college students. In 2004, the ICMC in San Antonio there were 200 campus participants. In 2011, they had 2500 students meet in Denver, Colorado and Athens, Georgia   In 2013, the Campus Ministries of the ICOC raised $12,900 for "Chance for Africa", a charity that helps educate Primary and Secondary School children in Africa. The 2013 ICMC conferences were held in Orlando, Florida and San Diego with 2700 students in attendance. The students set a new World Record by holding a lightsaber battle with 1200 lightsabers being used, (bettering the old record by 200). These lightsabers were then donated to orphans.
  The ICOC has received criticism for its proselytizing on US college campuses. U.S. News and World Report ran an article in 2000 discussing proselytizing on college campuses. The article's author, Carolyn Kleiner, describes the ICOC as "[a] fast-growing Christian organization known for aggressive proselytizing to college students" and as "one of the most controversial religious groups on campus". Professor Jeffrey K. Hadden, responded "[e]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".
  At the University of Southern California, the school newspaper ran an article criticizing the church, after questioning the sources of the article the Dean of Religious Life, Revd. Elizabeth Davenport, Senior Associate Dean of Religious Life, and Sherry Caudle, Administrator for the Office of Religious Life wrote a letter to the editor. The school officials said that the author's information was "outdated and misleading." They said "the church is unfairly and incorrectly identified" as a problem group. They also said that the truth is "the church has been a very positive influence in the lives of the USC students in recent years."
caption: The ICMC held in Chicago in 2009
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