Washington, DC International Christian Church

“The Word of the Lord came to me, saying, ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet… over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.’ The Word of the Lord came to me: ‘What do you see, Jeremiah?’ ‘I see the branch of an almond tree,’ I replied. The Lord said to me, ‘You have seen correctly, for I am watching to see that my Word is fulfilled.’” Jeremiah 1:4-5, 9-12

What a weekend! From Friday to Sunday, March 14 -16, the 21 disciples of the “DC Mission Team” met at the Days Inn on Connecticut Avenue in Northwest DC. This gathering of disciples from Syracuse, New York; Corvallis, Oregon; and Chicago, Illinois experienced an incredible time of inspiration and fellowship as the team was also joined by Kip & Elena McKean of the City of Angels International Christian Church (Los Angeles) and Chris & Theresa Broom of the Chicago International Christian Church!

The Lord brought us together to “explore the land” (Numbers 13:2) and to restore the vision of building a metropolitan church of sold-out disciples in DC who would be “perfectly united in mind and thought” with God’s new movement of discipling churches around the world! Some have asked the question, “Why plant a new church?” In order to appreciate the necessity of this undertaking, it is imperative to understand the history of the former Washington, DC International Church of Christ. In June of 1989, the Boston Church of Christ led by the McKeans, sent out Russ & Gail Ewell accompanied by a mission team of 14 disciples to plant the Washington, DC Church of Christ. The church grew quickly. By March of 2000 this dynamic congregation had reached an attendance nearing 3,000, with disciples meeting in four regional groups: Baltimore, Northern Virginia, Montgomery County – Maryland and the District of Columbia (DC). Sadly, corresponding with the Absalomic rise in influence of some prominent Evangelists and most Kingdom Teachers and Kingdom Elders, the worldwide continuity of our beloved fellowship began to dissolve in late 2002 from the decisions reached at the Long Beach Unity Meeting in Los Angeles. A “leader of the movement” and central leadership were declared “unbiblical” and replaced with a church government of autonomy as most ICOC leaders agreed to return to a more mainline theology. From these changes, rebellion was sparked with the Kriete letter of early 2003. By the summer of 2003, the Baltimore Region of the former DC Church split off and became an autonomous congregation, and by the fall of 2003, the other three regions in Montgomery County, Northern Virginia, and the District of Columbia did the same. Later, the Northern Virginia group again divided into two more autonomous churches.

I remember seeing the former Washington, DC Church when it was completely unified in “life and doctrine.” As a three month old disciple, I attended the 2000 American Commonwealth Region Conference entitled, “Known But To God.”

Our campus ministry piled into several cars and caravanned to the conference. There Kip McKean, then the leader of the ICOC Movement, announced the completion of the Evangelization Proclamation – ICOC discipling churches had expanded from one church in Boston into 171 nations in just 21 years! From that experience, I remember being amazed that I could travel to any of the 171 nations and meet other brothers and sisters who had the same zeal to seek God’s Kingdom first, have strong discipling relationships, date/marry only Christians, and the dream to win the world in our generation like the first century disciples! This reminded me of Paul’s admonition to the church in Corinth, “Even though you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. Therefore I urge you to imitate me. For this reason I am sending to you Timothy, my son who I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church.” (1 Corinthians 4:15-17)

In 2003, when I heard of the demise of the former Washington, DC Church of Christ and most other ICOC churches around the world, my idealistic view of God’s Kingdom on earth was shattered. My wife Patrique and I were heartbroken to hear the countless first-hand reports from many nations of thousands of fall-aways and lukewarmness in those that remained due largely to the desertion of discipling and the embracing of autonomy.

I started to ask myself, where is that in the Bible? Didn’t Paul teach the same standard of discipleship in every church (1 Corinthians 4:17)? Didn’t churches work together to win souls and support other churches (2 Corinthians 8)? Weren’t evangelists held accountable to each other like Paul with Timothy and Titus (1 Timothy 3:14-15; Titus 1:5)?

With these events and God’s honor in the forefront of our prayers, five married couples –Pedro and Deb Ramirez, Lee and Noni Pullen, Kenneth and Yhanihi Doles, Chuck and Elizabeth Hess and Andrew and Patrique Smellie; five campus students and one teen student – Renee Rondinoni, Yinet Montesino, Danielle LaRose, Renail Richards, Maoti Gborkorquellie, and Erica Felder; and five singles – Colleen MacKay, Daisy Stevenson, Cassel Spence, Bernard Sewell, and Scott Buzzell came together to proclaim Christ to our nation’s capital, arguably the most influential city in the world! That Friday night, Kip preached a powerful lesson from Luke 4. During the lesson, he shared great news from the newly planted congregation in Los Angeles. Since being planted on May 6, 2007 with 42 disciples, the City of Angels Church has had 88 baptisms, 55 restorations and 75 disciples place membership! They are now 217 disciples with an attendance of about 400 every Sunday! In his lesson, “The Global Revolution Begins,” he reminded us that if Nike, McDonalds, Coca Cola and Britney Spears can evangelize the world in a generation, so can disciples of Jesus! In our Sold-Out Discipling Movement, God has raised up 32 churches – 15 churches in the United States and 17 International churches since beginning in October 2006!

On Saturday morning, Chris Broom preached powerfully about planting a church of sold-out disciples in Chicago, Illinois just under two years ago! In his message, “We Can Certainly Do It,” Chris challenged us as we went out that morning to “explore the land” to bring back a faithful report according to our convictions, as did Caleb (Joshua 14:7).

After Chris’ message, our team separated into three groups to “explore the land!” Patrique and I along with the some campus students went to College Park, Maryland. While there we shared our faith with a star wrestler at the University of Maryland, who was eager to keep in touch and study the Bible! Another group headed down to Northern Virginia and the married disciples headed into the more suburban areas of DC and Maryland.

Also on Saturday, Chuck and Elizabeth Hess arrived from Corvallis, Oregon! When asked by Kip & Elena to join the Washington, DC Mission Team a day earlier on Friday morning, they prayed for guidance and decided to join us! They left Oregon at 2am on Saturday morning and joined us Saturday afternoon in Washington, DC! What incredible examples of responding immediately to call to win disciples for Jesus (Mark 1:16-18)! After picking them up at the airport, we joined the rest of the DC Mission Team at the Lincoln Memorial. When we came together, everyone was excited about what they had seen and the openness of all the people they had met. Then, together we prayed for the lost souls in metropolitan DC and sang “We Shall Overcome.”

We then began walking the entire length of the National Mall, sharing and singing along the way! We passed the Vietnam War Memorial, the Washington Monument, gazed at the White House to our left and the Jefferson Memorial on our right, and finally came to the Capitol Building! It was awesome!

At church Sunday morning, I preached a message entitled, “The Lord Is Watching.” I reminded the team of the call of Jeremiah, and how God is calling us to uproot false religion and doctrine, to tear down the walls of hypocrisy and religiosity, to destroy the power of sin and Satan in our lives and the lives of others, and to plant and build churches of sold-out disciples of Jesus! The Lord asked Jeremiah in chapter 1:11 about seeing an almond tree. It is interesting to note that an almond tree blooms “first” in the year (and therefore “wakes up” early – the Hebrew word for “watching” means to be wakeful), implying that the Lord is ever watchful to make sure His Word is fulfilled!

Pray for us as we dare to dream to win all of the metropolitan DC area for Christ! Pray especially for the campuses such as the University of the District of Columbia (5,000 students), George Washington University (22,000 students) and the University of Maryland, College Park (33,000 students), where leaders for the new movement will be baptized! We look forward to being sent out in August from the World Missions Jubilee in Los Angeles alongside the New York City Mission Team! God is watching to see that His Word will be fulfilled! If you would like to join the Washington, DC Mission Team, please contact me at (315) 415-3213 or at my email at ansmellie@centralnychurch.org. Mark your calendars now as the Inaugural Service for the Washington, DC International Christian Church will be held on September 14, 2008! To God be the glory!

Andrew Smellie