there is going to be some advice theywill not understand. But if they trust that you are out for God and their best interest, theywill obey.... They must believe your judgement is better than theirs." -- Kip McKean Discipleship Partners 1988 Boston Leadership Conference"Ultimately, if we do not trust these people [disciplers], we do not trust God. To the extentthat I trust my discipler, I am in reality trusting God." -- Teresa Ferguson Boston Bulletin, October 22, 1989 Both believe the Bible sets out the proper structure for the Church. In no other area,though, has the ICC moved farther from its roots in the mainline Churches of Christ. Themainline Churches of Christ are all independent bodies ruled either by a group of oldermen in the congregation (called "elders") or by the men of the congregation as a whole.The evangelist or minister is subordinate to the elders or the men of the congregation. Themainline Churches of Christ object vociferously to any earthly authority outside of orabove the local congregation.The ICC has a hierarchy frequently compared to that of the Roman Catholic Church. Infact, the ICC's hierarchy has far more control over its members in far more ways than theCatholic Church's heirarchy has had in history or at present, and ICC congregations havelittle autonomy or control over their own affairs. In ICC congregations, the evangelistleads. Elders are subordinate to him in fact, if not theory. Many large, old ICCcongregations do not even have elders."The evangelist without elders in the congregation is the authority of God in thecongregation. The only time he is not to be obeyed is when he calls you to disobeyScripture or disobey your conscience, and even if he calls on you to do something thatdisobeys your conscience, you still have an obligation to study it out and prayerfullychange your opinion so that you can be totally unified." --...
