Henry Kriete Letter Rocks ICC

"...at this moment in our brief history, I have never been more alarmed, even ashamed of what we have become." -- Henry Kriete from Honest to God: Revolution through repentance and freedom in Christ

February 25, 2003

Following the recent resignation of its founder and decentralization of its leadership, the International Churches of Christ (ICOC) now faces yet another major challenge: how to respond to a damning open letter by one of its most respected leaders. London evangelist and author Henry Kriete has written perhaps the most powerful rebuke yet of the ICC system by one of its own, and other ICC leaders have been forced to respond.

Kriete's February 2 letter calling for massive reform and repentance in the ICC has already been distributed electronically to hundreds and perhaps thousands of ICC members, causing them to ask ICC leaders for their response. Already, leaders of two major US churches have endorsed Kriete's letter in front of their congregations, according to notes taken at a service of the Atlanta Church of Christ and at the Chicago Church of Christ on February 23. The Chicago Church of Christ went even further, putting a prominent link to download the Kriete letter in PDF format from its homepage at chicagochurch.org (PDF requires Adobe Acrobat Reader).

The easiest current way to access Kriete's letter is by visiting the web-page version of the letter at the barnabasministry.com website, a site maintained by a current ICC member in the Denver area. Barnabasministry.com gained Kriete's permission before posting the letter, and says that the version posted there "May be freely distributed in its entirety."

Thus far, the ICC's "official" information source UpCyberDown.org has been silent about Kriete's letter.

The Chicago Church of Christ's embrace of this letter is a very positive development, since the letter offers a great deal of hope -- not just hope for change in the ICC, but hope for genuine healing among people hurt by the ICC system, current and former members alike.

"Four Systemic Evils"

"...we [Kriete and wife Marilyn] have seen enough, experienced enough, heard enough and done enough in the last twenty years to believe, with great agony but deep conviction, that we are entangled in several systemic evils. Evils that are all encompassing, affecting our entire fellowship of churches."

Kriete begins by describing the recent "upheaval" of the London Church of Christ before addressing the movement's problems in depth. He wrote in his letter of "Four Systemic Evils":

"Our corrupted hierarchy"
"Our obsession with numbers"
"Our shameful arrogance"
"Our seduction by mammon"

Kriete goes on to say, "All these structural/systemic evils are entangled and intertwined. They will continue throughout our churches until universally and 'officially' addressed." Aside from massive global reform of the ICC, Kriete writes that the only solution is autonomy -- a continued decentralization of power that has already started. "Our hierarchy, 'formalized' discipleship structure, legalism, and systemic abuses must be admitted as a failure- no matter how painful it will be for any of us, including Kip."

Forty Wide-Scale Problems/Issues

In addition to the "four systemic evils," Kriete's letter addresses forty other "wide scale problems and concerns" including the following:

over a quarter million people have left the ICC, but the ICC pretends they all have left God when this is not accurate

a "cult of personality" has grown and been perpetuated in the movement

Kriete feels that the much-ballyhooed Unity Conference in November failed to address "our systemic evils"

the spurious "only true church" teaching common in the movement

KNN portrayed as a "propaganda tool." Says Kriete, "Perhaps nothing has contributed to our cult of personality more than KNN."

a practice of coercive giving

"The concept of discipleship partners as presently practiced in most of our churches has failed."

Kreiete says that the ICC has set itself up to advance its leaders' agendas rather than attending to the needs of members:"By and large, we have protected the shepherd and not the sheep."

Outcome

There is little doubt that Henry Kriete's letter will be an historic one. But historic in what way? Its true impact may be determined in the coming few days.

Will Kriete's letter serve as the catalyst for broad reform in the ICC? Or will his words be marginalized like those of Ed Powers, who attempted reform at the Indianapolis Church of Christ in 1994 only to be marked and discredited by the ICC's hierarchy? Will Kriete's "scathing rebuke" of the ICC, as one leader has called it, be heeded?

A couple things are clear: one is that this time, ICC members should have a greater say in the choice that is made -- and they are already placing pressure on leadership in several cities. What's also clear is that, this time, ICC leaders won't just be deciding Henry Kriete's relevance to the movement's future, they may well be deciding their own.

[To read Henry Kriete's letter in its entirety from the barnabasministry.com website, click here. ]