The International Churches of Christ (ICOC) are a family of Christian churches whose members are committed to living their lives in accordance with the teachings of Jesus Christ as found in the Bible.
We read and strive to abide by the entire Bible and hold it to be inspired and inerrant. We expect every member to be a disciple of Christ as defined in his teachings. The International Churches of Christ were built on the revolutionary and biblical conviction that every person must first make a decision to become a disciple and then be baptized.
The Biblical Greek word for church is “ecclesia” which means “the called out”. Today we are an international family of churches that is rapidly spreading to all nations around the world.
We have been called out from religious mediocrity, spiritual error, atheism and agnosticism — into a meaningful, vibrant relationship with God.
Our congregations now reflect the diversity of the cities and nations where we have planted churches. Worldwide, people of all races, ages,and cultures attend our worship services weekly. These services are true celebrations; for the life of a disciple of Christ is the most joyful one we know.
Jesus taught his disciples to not only make disciples, but also meet the physical needs of people. Follow the “HOPE worldwide” link to see some ways that we are practicing Jesus’ teaching by meeting the needs of people around us. One of Jesus’ final commands to his disciples was to go and make disciples of all nations (Mt 28:19-20).
As disciples of Christ, our lives are committed to bringing his church to every nation within this generation. In keeping with Biblical examples, we multiply our churches by sending out small groups of disciples to major metropolitan areas where they then form new churches.
Since every new member is a committed disciple, these new churches grow rapidly and are soon strong enough to send out other groups to plant more churches.
Our goal since 1994 has been to plant a church in every nation with a city of at least 100,000 people by the end of the year 2000. By God’s grace and power, we completed that goal in July, 2000 – –sixth months early! We are continuing to plant churches in the remaining smaller nations, cities and villages.