ogian in the ICC), Ferguson's wife TeresaFerguson (a prominent women's ministry leader), Marty Fuqua, other world sector leadersand evangelists of note.Core beliefs of the ICC and the mainline Churches of Christ are:Both claim to believe in the Bible only as the sole authority for Christian doctrine andpractice. The ICC, however, is considerably more willing to institute a doctrine or practicewhich does not appear in the Bible, on the grounds that the Bible does not specificallyforbid it. In this they are more like the so-called "Independent Christian Churches", asomewhat less conservative offshoot of the same religious movement which also gavebirth to the Churches of Christ."Probably some critics will no doubt say that we begin some practice and then go toScripture in order to justify it. But the issue is whether or not the Bible does, in fact, justifyit...."A better motto... would be the following: 'Where the Bible speaks we are silent, andwhere the Bible is silent we speak." Thus, if God has specified something, we shut up andsubmit. But if He has not, then we have the freedom to discover the most effective way tocarry out His principles...." -- Gordon Ferguson Progressive Revelation Boston Bulletin, May 1988 Both accept the doctrines in the Nicene Creed on the nature of God, Christ, and theTrinity, although they reject the actual creed because it believes that all creeds are humanteachings, not the Word of God. Unlike the mainline Churches of Christ, though, the ICCdoes not emphasize theological issues in its preaching or teaching; it has a utilitarian,results-oriented approach. The ICC tends to view serious theological study as a waste oftime for most of its members."Any religious group who strongly emphasizes doctrinal accuracy runs a risk of losingperspective and losing God... An insistence that we have 'book, chapter, and verse' foranything new has virtually guaranteed that we will hav...
