FYI – Much of this is from the reports of the two men here that went to the Seattle Leadership Conference. I was not there, and most of this has not been published any where that I’ve seen. The list of 9 & the timeline is from ICOCinfo.
Well, it seems tht all the hoopla of the past couple of weeks is blowing over, at least for now. Kip was rebuked by many and several churches have distanced themselves from him. He was removed from his speaking role at last weekend’s International Leadership Conference (ILC). Only time will tell if this will bring repentance and change. I hope and pray so, but like many others I am skeptical. I hope we are all wrong.
The LA ICOC church has abandonded their propsal for unity. Several churches spoke out agianst it, though fewer than reacted to Kip. Ironically Kip was the only one I’ve been made aware of that responded to it with enthusiasm. LA had posted an explination of their reasons behind their ‘call’ prior to the ILC and they evidently explained it further at there. I guess there has been folks urging the LA church to initiate some sort of move to a more cohesive church structure. Much of this was driven by the somewhat disorganized and haphazard third world missions support.
The quick timing and ultimate release of the document seems to have been driven by Kips ‘calling of the remnant’. That seems to be what pushed the LA leadership over the edge to do something. It strikes me how much turmoil was begun over one man’s careless words. The LA leadership apologized for the rush and any pressure that put on anyone.
In the wake of the ICOC shake up of a couple of yeas ago, some third world ICOC churches have found themselves struggling for support. Here in my region, once known as the American Commonwealth Region (ACR) of the Brittish Comonwealth World sector (what a mouthfull, sheesh!), once there was no ACR structure, we divided our missions work between the churches. The churches in Ohio are responsible for the Indonesian churches. Eveidently most of the other regions and world sectors did not have such a plan and the ACR model was the exception. Understandably, the third wird would really like us to get our act together.
So, at the ILC, 32 leaders nominated a commitee of 9 men (Mike Taliaferro, Bruce Williams, Mike Fontenot, John Louis, Steve Staten, Scott Green, Philip Lam, Andy Fleming and Sam Powell) to solicit proposals to move forward until November 1st and then present their proposal in February. There’s no document of agreement, no dos and don’ts, nothing yet but the start of a prcoess. Again, time will tell where this leads, but it’s certainly a far better way to start.
But for me, I’m just glad it’s over for now. I’m glad to put this behind me. It was an unfortunate distraction from the important work of my own relationship with God and leading my wife, family and my church. More unfortunate was how I let myself get distracted by it, particularly Kip. Well, no more. Like my friends Paul and John, I plan on spending no more energy on him. I may keep up on his writings and teachings, but unless it directly effects myself, my family or my church I plan on spending no more blog space on him. I’m reminded of this scripture:
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.
Ephesians 6:10-13
I am so delighted to read this! I think it’s what many have prayed for. In my own Church of Christ fellowship, there has been no great public response to or from the authors of A Christian Affirmation, and I hope that continues.
We all have all the documentation we need for the foundation of our faith.
We’re probably always (in this life) going to have folks like Kip and the LA leadership and the Affirmation authors – people with vision, charisma, energy and genuine dedication – who will try to make good ideas into doctrine instead of just letting them be good ideas.
Maybe they are part of God’s plan for encouraging us to study, think, meditate and pray for ourselves about what’s best; to “work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.”
I seem to remember that Paul was grateful even for those who preached from selfish motives because Christ was preached.
I’m going to have to think about that again for a while!
I’m curious as to how your church has handled all this stuff? If it’s uncomfortable to blog, perhaps if you have time, you could email me and give me the 411? I also like what Keith had to say. You encourage me by this post Doug!
I don’t mind sharing. What happened here in regards to these events was basiccally nothing. There were no discussions about it prior to the conference. At the time I was dissapoined that it wasn’t addressed, but it turns out that it was likely a good thing, considering the outcome.
Now it wasn’t simply ignored or swept under the rug, there just was no opportunity. When Kip’s letter came out I brought it up to DG. He was not aware of it at the time. He planned to let the leadership know about it so we could discuss it and then the LA call came out. He sent an email to the deacons, board and some others with a link to ICOCinfo to check out both. But in the inerim, he was to go to Virginia Beach the weekend prior to the ILC for their anniversary service. There was only a couple of days in between that and his departure for the ILC.
We did discuss it, finally, at our twice monthly leader’s meeting last Sunday. That’s where most of the information in this post came from, DG and BS went and brought a report.
DG askd the leaders to take the next two weeks to study out unity between churches in the Bible and be ready to discuss it at the next leader’s meeting on the 24th.
For those interested, the official announcement is on Disciples Today (subscription required) and reproduced on the South Florida Church of Christ website (free). There will be an announcement on DT later about how to submit proposals.
Also, to correct my post, the LA proposal is not really ‘abandoned’ but submitted to the group for consideration.
Unfortunately, what seemed to have been downgraded to a tropical storm may have turned into a category 4 hurricane.
Listen, if you can, to http://www.portlandchurch.org/sermons/playSermon.php?file=../media/GuidingHandofGod&t=The%20Guiding%20Hand%20of%20God&d=Saturday%20September%2017th,%202005&p=wmp .
Kip has stepped up his divisive rhetoric. And some people, so I have heard, are responding to it. Church splits and divisions may be inevitable.
Amy – I listened to that. Boy, he hasn’t learned from the past or from the rebukes of other Godly men. I stand by my pledge to ignore him, but he’s determined to make that difficult. I probably will not be able to do that for long, unfortunately.
I wish I could say I’m surprised, but I’m not.
For those who want to listen, it’s almost an hour long message. The second half (just before the 30 minute mark) is the relevant bit.