The goal of the ICOC Administrative Service Team is to maximize the growth of churches in our fellowship. We do this by providing support and guidance for church administrators, promoting the recruitment and training of new administrative staff, identifying and addressing issues or liabilities that may impact our progress as a fellowship and helping promote and develop administrative staff and resources outside the US. It is our hope that we can see the development of continental Administrative Service Teams throughout the world. So far, God has blessed us with an African Administrative Service Team that first met in person in South Africa in June of 2019 and several times since then virtually, due to the pandemic.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the ICOC Administrative Service Team met virtually to continue to address some of the administrative needs in our fellowship, particularly for the smaller churches. As a result, we are excited to announce a two-part Virtual Admin Workshop on Saturday, February 20 and Saturday, February 27 from 11am-1pm EST. Each Saturday will consist of two one-hour classes for Administrators (including volunteers) and/or Board members. On Feb 20, the topics will be Ministry Compensation and Benefits and on Feb 27, Use of Technology and Risk Management. Click here to register.

Over the last year, the service team has been able to discuss issues related to the pandemic, such as the Payroll Protection Program loans offered as federal relief and advise churches regarding the application for those loans. A number of our churches benefited from this federal pandemic relief. Other discussions about church needs led to the planning of our first online training for Administrators in February (mentioned above). Other projects are still under development, including policies resources and salary model tools.

The ICOC Administrative Service Team last met in person in San Diego in October of 2019 and Lord willing, we will be able to see each other in person at the World Discipleship Summit in Orlando in 2022. At our meeting in San Diego, we were excited to welcome a number of new administrators to the team. Several of our veteran administrators have or will soon enter retirement or have moved on to other endeavors. Many thanks to Connie Beene, Tom Briscoe, and Tom McCurry, who have faithfully served many of our churches for many years but have retired from the Admin Service Team. Thankfully God is raising up new talent to serve in many of our churches.  We have also taken steps to invite every US family of churches to have a representative on the team. Here are our current Administrative Service Team members:

• Cheryl Kaplan – Northern Virginia Church of Christ, Admin Service Team Co-Chair (ACR)
• Brian Gross – Gateway City Church, St. Louis (Heartland)
• John Garrett – Denver Church of Christ (Rocky Mountain)
• Paul Rowden – London Church (UK)
• Yvonne Burch – Seattle Church of Christ (NW)
• Bobby Ritter – New York City Church of Christ (NY)
• Steve Smith – STS Consulting, representing many small churches (TX)
• Brian Gold – Alliance of Christian Organizations, LA (PacSW)
• Vivian Hanes – North River Church of Christ, Atlanta, GA (SE)
• Megan Famodun – North River Church of Christ, Atlanta, GA (SE)
• Christen McDuffee – European Missions Society, Boston (NE)
• Gary Slebodnick – Boston Church of Christ (NE)
• Ray Schalk – San Diego Church of Christ (PacSW)
• Janet Schalk – San Diego Church of Christ (PacSW)
• John Beene – Greater Houston Church of Christ (TX)
• Paul Ramsey – Austin Christian Church and Africa Missions Association (TX), Admin Service Team Co- Chair

If your church has administrative needs or you would like more guidance in discerning best practices in serving our churches either as an Administrator or as a Board member, or if you just need more training, please reach out to one of our team members. We are here to serve you!

“It is a glorious phrase of the New Testament, that ‘he led captivity captive.’ The very triumphs of his foes, it means, he used for their defeat. He compelled their dark achievements to sub-serve his end, not theirs. They nailed him to the tree, not knowing that by that very act they were bringing the world to his feet. They gave him a cross, not guessing that he would make it a throne. They flung him outside the gates to die, not knowing that in that very moment they were lifting up all the gates of the universe, to let the King of Glory come in. They thought to root out his doctrines, not understanding that they were implanting imperishably in the hearts of men the very name they intended to destroy. They thought they had defeated God with his back the wall, pinned and helpless and defeated: they did not know that it was God himself who had tracked them down. He did not conquer in spite of the dark mystery of evil. He conquered through it.” – James S. Stewart

In an unpredictable and unprecedented year for all, the ICOC Youth and Family Service Team offers an update highlighting the fact and ways that God worked not “in spite of” a dark year, but “through it.” As our team (who aims to maintain connection all over the world) asked around, we found out many great things that God continued to do in the midst of the pandemic and even through it.

Through the year, in different parts of the world, we continued to see youth baptized into Christ. For some, the pandemic brought to them the reality of how short and fragile our lives really are. The words of James rang true that our lives are but a mist. As many life activities (and with them distractions) were removed, families were together more. Parents were thus more available to their children and they faithfully seized the opportunity to be the primary instrument of instilling faith into their children, just as God calls them to do. The slow down also helped the youth give a greater focus to pursuing their faith and God rewarded their efforts.

There were many adjustments that hard-working people all over the world implemented that ministered to our families in a great way. Some of these were on local congregational levels, but there was also an incredible, synergistic sharing and collaboration through our unified worldwide fellowship that was a blessing to thousands.

• We saw creative and excellent adjustments in our children’s ministries, including virtual Sunday services specifically for children that preceded main services
• Youth and Family Ministers pivoted to online events with their youth, fostering connection and still preaching God’s word
• Youth participated in various special events such as virtual rallies and conferences
• There were two incredible international devotionals, the second of which was led in preaching, prayer and praise by youth from all over the world
• Youth camps happened on a virtual basis thanks in big part to Swamp Camp that provided powerful camp experiences for youth in 29 countries, 68 churches and in five languages

We praise God for the ways in which he worked miracles even through the pandemic. We want to lift up the amazing parents who have ministered to their teens so faithfully. We also want to lift up the amazing youth from all over the world who have decided to not only grow in their faith in this time, but to continue to boldly share their faith in it as well!

Faithfully forward now to 2021!

With love, the Youth and Family Ministry Service Team

• Damon and Michelle Curtis – Houston, USA (Chair)
• Curt and Heidi Ammons – Milwaukee, USA
• Phil and Kris Arsenault – Boston, USA
• Ross and Manami Lippencott – New York, USA
• Audie and Bethany Monday – Philadelphia, USA
• Jake and Kelsey Rock – Orlando, USA
• Nadine Templer – Kathmandu, Nepal
• Eric and Megan Testa – Indianapolis, USA
• Bob and Susan Wedin – Phoenix, USA

This last 12 months has been a time of forward thinking and initiative by our Singles Service Team members. We’d like to highlight just a few of the many courageous moments that have brought encouragement and inspiration.

New York City

In 2021 Tony & Joelecia King (pictured below), who lead the singles in the NYC Church of Christ, hosted a leadership training program online. Four hundred and eighty people attended for nine weeks; singles from NYC, Texas, Florida, South Carolina, Atlanta, California, several countries in Africa, and many others focused on the vision to raise up new leaders to serve God’s kingdom. From this investment the NYC church has plans to add six singles to their staff in January of 2022, with one brother looking to serve as a kingdom teacher.

Los Angeles

In August of 2021 Pablo and Nicole Padilla who lead the Los Angeles singles ministry hosted the first in-person event in more than two years with more than 350 singles in attendance. Worship, catered dinner, and breakout classes inspired and revitalized the LA singles.

Texas

In September of 2021 Nate and Waldina Bigbee, who currently lead the church in Corpus Christi TX, a group of about 40 disciples, hosted a tri-state singles retreat themed “Empowered” with more than 225 singles in attendance from TX, LA, And OK. From that retreat 60 singles signed up to be a part of future church strengthening and plantings for smaller cities across the region. Several have already moved to Corpus Christi with one being hired as an intern in 2022.

While we currently only have one couple outside of the U.S. on the service team, we hope to add three to four more members outside of the U.S. in 2022 to represent our global singles fellowship. We also are making plans to help develop, and partner with existing singles leadership teams across the globe.

We feel blessed to be a part of this special team of leaders who are working with the most dynamic part of our churches, the singles ministry. To God be the glory!

Elias & Rachel Deleault, Austin TX

Andy & Marva Small – Barbados 

Jose Ferrer – Florida 

Bill & Kristen Moulden – St. Louis 

Larry & Kim Reed – Boston 

Bim & Nicole Towolai – NYC

Pablo & Nicole Padilla – Los Angeles 

Tony & Jolecia King – NYC

Nate & Waldina Bigbee – TX 

Richard and Shannon Buckner – Philadelphia 

The ICOC Women’s Service Team has been active throughout 2021 in its Task Forces, as well as continuing to meet online as an entire group approximately every two months throughout the year. We have operated exclusively online throughout 2021 due to coronavirus restrictions. 

We thank God for the significant accomplishments of this past year and lessons learned, as we have worked to fulfill our mission statement: To inspire and train women servant leaders around the globe to connect and grow spiritually, and to advance the gospel.

We begin this annual report by acknowledging the continuing outstanding contribution made by the three single women members of our team (see photos below): Erica Fortina (Milan, Italy) has led us to make prayer a priority and has been the inspiration behind the organization of international online prayer times which took place throughout the year, connecting and strengthening thousands of women in our fellowship. Kae Habel (Cebu, Philippines) has brought her professional, technical and creative expertise (in her “day job” she works as a banker) to all our online events, taking us to a higher level than we could have ever hoped for without her; and Susani Karta (Jakarta, Indonesia) has used her role on the WST to help create online international events and provide more educational online resources that have already ministered to audiences of thousands across several regional church families in Asia and beyond.

International Women’s Day Task Force

Each year the WST facilitates the nomination and voting on the theme for our traditional International Day of Prayer, fasting, and action, to coincide with International Women’s Day (March 8). The theme chosen for 2021 was “For Such a Time as This.”

You can search #forsuchatimeasthisicoc in your browser to view ICOC women’s photos and videos and social media posts from many of our women’s ministries around the world, who created evangelistic events centered on this theme. You can also view a selection of our IWD 2021 events from around the world here: https://www.womentoday.international/womens-day, including the March 6, 2021 online event organized by the Jakarta women for the SEA Region churches, with 4000 women in attendance.

At this writing, the IWD task force is soliciting input from women in our Regional Church Families around the world for the 2022 women’s day theme, which will be announced on ICOC websites and social media before the end of 2021.

International Online Prayer Events

Shortly after the Women’s Day events, we began a series of invitations to online international prayer, which we repeated at the end of the summer. The first events we considered an experiment, inviting groups of women mostly through word of mouth. We learned that our sisters love the opportunity to pray and worship online with other women from faraway places! 

As our conviction about the value of this kind of activity grew, so did our vision: more women on every continent helped in the organization. In one outstanding example, our sisters gathered a group of 35 volunteers from 18 churches in Asia to create a prayer event entitled “Immeasurably More,” in which 4000 women participated, praying in six languages!

Spanish Women’s Service Team

One of the most exciting developments this year has been the birth of Mujeres Latino America — a regional spin-off of the Women’s Service Team, focused on serving the Spanish-speaking nations of Latin America and the Caribbean. Throughout the year, our WST sisters have worked with Spanish-speaking women in their area of the world to provided spiritually strengthening online events in Spanish. “Tu Sierva Escucha” (Your Servant Hears You) and “Vision Biblica de la Mujer” (Biblical Vision of Women) hosted 500 women each live on a zoom webinar, and had 4000 and 1700 streams on YouTube, respectively. Another event, “Transformadas Para Su Gloria” (Transformed for His Glory) hosted 300 women live on Zoom and 2000 streams on YouTube.

The ICOC Women’s Website, WomenToday.International

This task force managing www.womentoday.international consists of a core group of four to six volunteers who meet weekly, plus a handful of content editors for English submissions and several language groups representing the languages most spoken in our fellowship. New posts appear weekly as a rule, except during special seasons (such as the weeks before Christmas) when we post new content daily. We manage a system of harvesting content from every regional family of churches in our fellowship. Over a two-year period, each month we feature material submitted from a different church family around the world.           

In the two years since our launch, the site has had 16,000 users. Last month we saw over 1000 visits to the site, 20% of which came from organic searches on the internet. We have been consistently above industry standard for time spent on the site. We are proud of the growing number of durable online resources which this site provides. We love comments like the one we received today from a church leader who is using the current Advent series of devotionals in her midweek women’s meetings. Over 2000 unique users have logged on to read our advent devotionals in the past week.

Webinars and Crucial Conversations

The stars of 2021 who have taken the mission of this task force to new heights, along with the new Spanish WST, have been our WST women focusing on Asia. The March webinar, aimed at mature singles, entitled Light on a Hill, featuring Dr. Cornelia Haener, was attended by 200 women; their crucial conversation for single mothers, More Than Conquerors Through Him, in June, featuring simultaneous translation into three languages, was attended by 275. Their crescendo was in October with a crucial conversation online for Asian women entitled, You Are Loved. Women in 18 Asian nations participated with six language interpreters, and a viewership of well over 4000 via Zoom and YouTube.

International Women’s Programs Task Force

The WST is tasked with facilitating the organization and planning of the women’s program at any international ICOC conferences that are considered “global.” This task force has rested this year due to the coronavirus restrictions and the postponement of our next World Discipleship Summit, Vision, scheduled for summer 2022. It will resume its planning and oversight of the women’s program for that event early in 2022.

We say goodbye and huge thank you, here at the end of 2021 to our Chair for the past three years, Tammy Fleming (Kyiv, Ukraine). We extend a very warm welcome to Saraí Serra (St. Luis, Argentina) who was confirmed by the delegates’ vote at the end of 2021 as our new Chair. Tammy will retire from the WST but remain a volunteer on WST task forces.

Below is the list of current WST members:

Marci Arneson, Chicago, USA

Victoria Auki, Nairobi, Kenya 

Toli Beruah, New Delhi, India 

Gillianne Brisebois, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Girlie Cabadsan, Cebu, Philippines

Erica Fortina, Milan, Italy

Sharon Gauthier, Chicago, USA

Kae Habel, Manila, Philippines

Susani Karta, Jakarta, Indonesia

Griselda Lua, Los Angeles, USA

Rolayo Ogbonnaya, Lagos, Nigeria

Vania Salim, Jakarta, Indonesia

Saraí Serra, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Chelsea Thorne, Sydney, Australia

Sirikit Umaguing, Colorado Springs, USA

Please direct any communication to the WST to: womensserviceteam@gmail.com.

The Elders Service Team (EST) consists of elders from all around the world as we continue to expand the membership to include elders outside the United States. Under the leadership of Walter and Kim Evans (pictured below, from Philadelphia), the EST members are Dan and Elexa Liu (Hong Kong), Darren and Sharon Gauthier (Chicago), Yannick and Emma Le Noan (Paris), Larry and Marylou Craig (New York), Bill and Sally Hooper (Dallas), Imagbe and Weyinmi Igbinoba (Lagos), Frank and Erica Kim (Denver), Losha and Tanya Kravets (Kiev), Jerry and Erlyn Sugarman (LA), Al Baird (Phoenix) and John and Pat Brush (Southeast Florida). It is a diverse team of elders that meets almost monthly to discuss the churches and church discussions that affect our fellowship of churches as we strive to spread the Gospel.

Throughout 2021, the Elders Service Team continued its work in strengthening congregations to encourage the development of elders throughout our fellowship of churches. Even though this work was hampered at times by the pandemic, several churches were able to appoint new elders or establish elderships with the guidance and direction of the EST. One discussion that we began this year is the definition of an elder and the qualities the Bible lists as ones an elder should have as a part of his character and life. This will aid us as we help churches choose the men who will be the elderships that are developed as the churches grow and mature.

The EST understands its role in the discussion of unity in our family. A Unity Task Force proposal was developed and presented to the delegates at North American Leadership meeting in Atlanta for their comments and consideration. Frank Kim and Jerry Sugarman were present at the discussions between the Northwest Family of Church leaders and the Portland Church leaders as they strive to come to unity in belief and practice and continue to be involved. Darren Gauthier is active on the SCUAD (Social Cultural Unity and Diversity Team) which is exploring the effects of race and culture on the churches in the United States. All of these issues, as well as conflict between churches, are areas that the EST knows that the wisdom and experience of elders are needed.

Another area of great need in our family of churches is the training and guidance for youth and family ministries all around the world. Frank and Erica Kim have taken the lead to attempt to create a method of collecting data on the health and effectiveness of our teaching our children as they grow and mature. With this data, we hope to create some initiatives and direction for our brotherhood as we strive to teach our children the way of Jesus. The upcoming World Discipleship Summit in Orlando, Florida from July 31 through August 7, 2022 will have classes and discussions on this vital subject.

The EST looks forward to 2022 and what the Lord will bring to our family of churches as we define our role in assisting the spread of the Gospel and the strengthening of the fellowship. The need for more elders and elderships is more apparent every passing year as the need for continued unity based on love and trust is being tested more and more. Guidance and wisdom on how to address the issues that we are facing as a family of churches is needed. Sound doctrine is being tested as new ideas and new ways to disseminate those ideas are being developed all over the world. Our purpose is to assist our global church family in these areas with the wisdom and experience that elders have developed over decades in their walks with God.

Greetings from the Youth & Family Service Team! Coming out of an unpredictable year in 2020, we are excited to share some impactful highlights that took place in 2021…

In March of 2021, many Youth & Family ministries across the U.S. watched “An Evening with Mr. Fred Gray.” It was a historic and special evening presenting an opportunity to sit at the feet of a civil rights icon, who entered the spotlight in 1955 for representing Rosa Parks after she refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama city bus. This was a partnership developed by the ICOC Teachers Team and the Teleios Society that brought a level of social awareness and solidarity across the various ministries.

In the summer of 2021, Audie and Bethany Monday with the Philadelphia Youth & Family Ministry had a banner year with their youth. 

At the Forge by Hope for Kids…

• They were able to see 1,000 campers from ACR family of churches.
• Over 300 adults volunteered during 11 weeks of camp serving (counselors, cooks, nurses or maintenance).

They were encouraged by the partnership with HOPE worldwide’s Youth Corps Program…

• HYC participants mentored youth from inner city Philadelphia, implemented a lifestyle of service with organizations like One Day at a Time, and evangelized Philadelphia college campuses.
• In addition, over 50 young adults served 10 weeks through a Leadership Academy from all over the United States. By the end of the summer they saw over 100 campus-aged individuals come together to serve and train to grow in their leadership to advance the kingdom of God.

This summer they welcomed a new partnership with the Beam Mission Fund’s Chance of a Lifetime (COAL)…

• Participants spent the first portion of the program at the Forge.
• Chance of a Lifetime prepared 15 young adults to serve and lead like Jesus at camp, in campus ministries, and overseas as missionaries.

Sara Saltos, a young single, was recognized as a women’s ministry leader in the Greater Philadelphia Church of Christ, on December 19, 2021.

In the summer of 2021, a year of COVID-19, where we canceled half our trips, we had half the number participants we normally have. Nadine Templer (pictured above) of Kathmandu, Nepal, reports:

• In 2021 we had 200 teens go on trips (we normally have 400).
• Many teens decided to study the Bible and/or become Christians.

Cool quotes of teens who went on Youth Corps trips in 2021…

• “That trip was the single most life-changing and enjoyable trip in my life. Being connected with other teenagers who are seeking God and partnering with them to serve those in need is fulfilling for myself but more importantly it is giving to others.”
• “This summer, I went on a HVC to Daytona, and I loved it. It was extremely influential to my faith, and the people I met there helped me grow so much spiritually. In September, I got baptized and I think the trip really helped me out with it.”
• “I would like to participate in this HYC because the last HYC changed my life. The experience of meeting new people and serving God was incredible. It brought me to a state that I could identify my need for God which has been blurred for a lot of my life and just connect with others.”

In August of 2021, Curt & Heidi Ammons (pictured above) from the Milwaukee Church of Christ hosted our first in-person Service Team meeting to plan the 2022 World Discipleship Summit. It was a tremendous time of not just planning the Youth & Family Track, but a time of bonding and building a deeper sense of unity.

Mike and Kristen Lamb were asked to lead a Cradle to Campus Ministry (called “Next Gen Ministries”) for the whole Boston Church of Christ. This ministry will focus on a comprehensive ministry of families of infants all the way through to campus. The five pillars they will focus on are to: partner with parents, teach the children, foster relationships, work together, and reach more families.

Thanks to the continual investment of building strong families, almost half of our Service Team members are kingdom kids. However, the need for more full-time you and family leaders is dire. As we embark on a new year, we ask for your prayers that God will continue to bless us with opportunities to walk with and train men and women who have a passion for building families across our great churches. 

Damon & Michelle Curtis, Service Team Chairs – Houston, USA

Curt & Heidi Ammons – Milwaukee, USA

Phil & Kris Arsenault – Boston – USA

Ross & Manami Lippencott – New York, USA

Audie & Bethany Monday – Philadelphia, USA

Jake & Kelsey Rock – Orlando, USA

Nadine Templer – Kathmandu, Nepal

Eric & Megan Testa – Indianapolis, USA

Bob & Susan Wedin – Phoenix, USA

ICOC Teachers Conference, The Art of Scripture Reading

A subcommittee of the TST has met weekly starting in September 2021 to plan the next international ICOC Teachers Conference, The Art of Scripture Reading. This event will be held February 24-26, 2022, in Orange County, California. Registration is open now at www.icocteacherconference.com for all! The conference is especially for anyone interested in understanding biblical hermeneutics, deeper Bible study, spiritual Bible reading, how to become a Bible teacher, and how to establish and grow a teaching ministry. The conference features a mix of presenters from the ICOC as well as noted Stone-Campbell Movement scholars. Keynote speeches will appear as articles in upcoming issues of the Teleios Journal.

You can view a personal invitation to this conference from Dr. Gregg Marutzky here.

The Teleios Journal

The Teleios Journal debuted in February 2021. Teleios is a cooperative effort between members of the ICOC Teachers Service Team, the Disciples Center for Education, and other respected teachers and scholars from Stone-Campbell Movement churches and institutions. Steve Kinnard serves as General Editor of the journal, and other TST members such as James Becknell, Douglas Jacoby, Gregg Marutzky, David Pocta, and Steve Staten serve in various editorial and advisory capacities. The journal aims to provide a space for academic discourse and to promote holistic Christian spirituality.

Regional Teaching Ministries

The African Teaching Group continues to be an inspiration as it grows and develops. In August 2021, the Tallinn Teaching Ministry based in the church of 130 in Tallinn, Estonia, in Eastern Europe, hosted its first International Teaching Conference with about 250 registered participants (see article here) featuring lessons learned from the African Teaching Group.

On Oct 31, 2021, Julien Toyo was appointed a teacher in Abidjan and French West Africa. He is the 16th teacher to be recognized across the five regional families of churches in our fellowship in Africa and the third in French West Africa. He recently graduated with an MA in Biblical Studies from our Rocky Mountain School of Ministry and Theology. He and his wife, Nena, have been pillars for the church in Abidjan for decades. 

This year, the Bible Teachers Group for the churches in Mexico and Latin America celebrated the appointment of a new Bible teacher, Azael Vargas, who was raised up in Monterrey, the second biggest and oldest church in Mexico. Currently, there are six teachers in the Bible Teachers Group, one of whom is female. The group recently completed three months of virtual meetings, talks and discussions between teachers, evangelists and elders of the Mexican churches on the topic of the Bible and gender. Arturo Elizarras reports that it was a great, groundbreaking success of cooperation and teamwork.

The most recent appointments to this Teachers Group have come from a future Bible teacher training group, which has about 30 members from Mexican, Central American, and South American churches and some Latin ministries in the US. In 2021, several people from this group enrolled in the Spanish Master’s program in Biblical Studies at the Rocky Mountain School of Ministry and Theology and completed their first course. Plans are in place for more classes to assist them in their studies in 2022.  

The Midwest Teachers Circle and the Boston Church’s Teaching Ministry are just two examples of Teachers’ groups that devoted a great deal of time and energy this year to provide opportunities for teaching and discussion on the topic of gender roles in the church.

The Race Relations Task Force

This task force began 2021 by hosting the Racial Justice in the Church Workshop on February 6^th and 13^th, 2021, which ran concurrently with Black History Month. The success of RJIC was more than we could have imagined. The aim was to provide biblical teaching, principles, and practices in navigating the subject of race and race relations in the church. We had over 400 registrations per session. Many shared their watershed moments and enlightenment as they listened and learned.

Taskforce facilitators guided those who attended. Workshop participants experienced the teaching of relevant scriptures and their application, interactive discussions on racial bias, breakout sessions, videos, an e-workbook designed to include all eight sessions, suggested reading, and a survey.

The task force continues to pray about racial justice, to devote ourselves to ongoing personal study of biblical justice, and to meet regularly to explore the next steps of our charter. We look to the Holy Spirit to lead us to the steps that need to be taken over the coming months and years to help achieve this worthy goal of racial justice, which will make a difference in the lives of the children, youth, and families in our churches.

Rocky Mountain School of Ministry and Theology

The Rocky Mountain School of Ministry and Theology (RMSMT), directed by Dr. Glenn Giles and the eldership of the Denver Church, added three new programs in the fall semester of 2021: a Master of Arts in Spiritual Formation, a Certificate in Spiritual Formation, and the Master of Arts in Biblical Studies program in Spanish with 27 students from the US, the Caribbean, Mexico, Central, and South America.

The RMSMT has now graduated 12 ICOC leaders from master’s degree programs. Two of these graduates have gone on to do doctoral studies at other universities. We anticipate five more students graduating this summer 2022 at the WDS in Orlando. This summer (2022) we anticipate graduating our first student with a master’s degree in Christian Counseling program. We now have about 140 students registered to take courses from 33 countries! Sixty percent of these students are from Developing or Majority World nations.

Teachers Service Team website, www.teachicoc.org

Volunteers mostly located in North America, Europe and Southeast Asia who love the teaching ministry met and worked throughout 2021 on reimagining, updating, and migrating the Teachers Service Team website to a new host platform. The new site will launch during January 2022 and will continue to develop and improve while providing a central depository of ICOC Teaching Ministries’ development, new and information, and for ICOC Teachers and their work. The site is aimed both at scholars and ministers as well as the average disciple who simply loves deeper biblical teaching. 

As the US Campus Service Team, we are excited and inspired at how God is working to stir a spirit of revival in our US campus ministries. Our focus and goal is to Inspire, Train and Unify our campus ministries. Each US Regional Family has appointed leadership on the team who work together to influence all of our collective ministries. Our team has built strong relationships and camaraderie with each other. We learn from one another, encourage one another and dream together – with the vision of each creating that same spirit and faith with the campus leaders and ministries in our respective areas.

As a team we experienced a very high number of transitions this past year, and God has blessed it. We are very grateful for those who have served and moved on, while being very excited at those who have joined. Rob and Chelsea Novack (NYC) were elected as the new Chairmen. Other new members include Matt & Brielle Ruppert (NY/NJ, replacing Novacks), Murvi Babalola and Mari Sawamura (New England), Ben and Melina Hutchins (ACR), Sam and Lindsay Heigerick (ACR), Maurice and Sissy Charles (Midwest), Kyle and Ally Saxton (Carolinas), as well as Armin and Megan Day (Rocky Mountains). We all met in person last month (Feb 2023) and had an incredible time planning ICMC 2023, bonding and growing together. See our full list of members here.

The need and focus of 2022 was revival. The pandemic and wide range of challenges over the past few years uniquely impacted the campus ministry, where a majority of Christians are very young in the faith and don’t have the foundation of disciple families. However, we believe that throughout the Bible and church history God has worked through this processes of refinement, repentance and revival. We’ve been refined, now as we turn to God with renewed faith, focus, fervor and fellowship, we believe he will bring revival.

When we gathered in Orlando for our ICMC session in August we were overjoyed at not only the number of people (roughly 1400) but the spirit and energy of those gathered. Our theme was “Revival.” After many stirring messages we had dozens and dozens of students come on stage and share, “I will join the revival by…” with their decision and vision. It was inspiring.

Our refined US campus ministries of 2334 disciples are turning the tide. In 2022 we saw 518 people baptized into Christ with 11% growth (up from 5% in 2020). We are eager to bear fruit that will last. In 2022 we had 54 new men and women hired as campus ministers. Many young people are eager to lead and join in building God’s kingdom and we praise God for that.

To continue momentum and build unity, each Regional Family runs their own annual spring and/or fall retreats for their region. It is encouraged and often practiced to have each other (or other ministers from another regional family) come be the guest speakers. Some regional families (like New York and New England) even do their entire fall retreat combined. This helps tremendously with building unity. Along with that, each committee member coordinates their own regular times of connection with the ministers in their region.

Other objectives and victories include a US Campus Ministers Session to start our Spring semester together inspired and unified in January, which we will continue to do as a midway point between Conferences. We have launched a permanent website for all ICMC info, registrations, past content, committee members and more (www.icmc.live). Our instagram (www.instagram.com/icoccampus) is back up and running after four years inactive. We started a Youtube channel for posting recordings (ICOC Alpha Omega). We now have monthly good news videos by region that are posted there as well.

As far as needs and prayers for 2023 goes, please be praying for and promoting our 2023 ICMC in Norman Oklahoma, July 6-9. We are hoping to see even more people there than last year as we focus on our theme of “Build” – to build their life foundation on Jesus and be used by God to build his kingdom. We believe it will be an inspiring, life-changing time and are hoping each attendee will see some way God can use their passion, talents, and opportunities to serve him. We also have now solidified a full Campus Ministers Track into the ICMC format, which we are excited to continually develop.

Along with that, pray for all of our young Christians and new ministers to build a solid foundation and see miraculous growth. Eighty percent of our campus ministries are under 20 with very new ministers. We hope to see more groups get over 20 and these new young ministers grow for increased stability and glory to God. As we’ve seen in the past and are starting to see again – we are praying for “breakout ministries” who are truly led by the Spirit to remarkable growth. This past year we praised God for multiple campus ministries setting a great example in this.

For 2023 we are excited to see God continue to bring revival. He has only just gotten started. Our committee’s February meeting theme was “For His Glory.” Our aim is to keep everything we do for and by him, for apart from God we can do nothing. In him, we pray and believe that we will bring him glory by bearing much fruit, fruit that will last.

History

The Youth and Family Ministry Service Team began in 2006. Throughout its existence many incredible team members have poured their hearts into helping the churches of the International Churches of Christ pursue the incredible endeavor of seeing families saved by Jesus and matured in him. In its years, the team has been a blessing to our worldwide fellowship. The team’s work has helped inform, guide and educate thousands of individuals who themselves have been a blessing to their congregations. This has come in the form of advancing various initiatives as well as in the planning and facilitating of several worldwide conferences.

Recent history

Over the past few years, the most recent team did an incredible job of ministering to the fellowship in the unprecedented “COVID era”. This was capped off in the Family Conference of the World Discipleship Summit: Vision 2022 in Orlando.

Vision 2022

God made the conference an incredible success. It was kicked off with an amazing opening session, highlighted by a lesson entitled, “Light of the World” by Damon Curtis and Curt Ammons. Some said that this will be a benchmark moment in the history of youth and family ministry in the ICOC. The conference also had powerful and formative worship, lessons and events for families.

Our New Team

The World Discipleship Summit marked the conclusion of the term for that service team. As it was preparing to conclude, the team thought it wise to aim for greater representation across our regional families. As a result, a new team was selected after conferring with regional family chairs. The new team began their term of service in late 2022.

Giving honor where it is due

As the newest team was selected, some members stayed on in an effort to maintain the excellent spirit and culture of the previous team. It is fitting to express appreciation and respect for the three couples who moved on from the team, as they are the three couples with the most years served on the team.

Curt and Heidi Ammons have been on the team at various times through the years, always willing to offer their gifts however and whenever they were needed. They are owed a great debt of gratitude. Phil and Kris Arsenault along with Damon and Michelle Curtis also moved on. These two couples are the lone individuals who served on the team without ceasing since its very inception. Both couples have served as the chair at various times through the years. We thank them for the way they have impacted the ICOC through the years and for the impact their work will continue to have for generations to come.

The ICYFM through the Years

As the ICOC began a shift to Youth and Family Ministry in the early 2000’s, the International Conference of Youth and Family Ministry (ICYFM) was born. In total, this conference has taken place for our global fellowship six times.

• 2007 – Boston
• 2009 – Chicago
• 2011 – Los Angeles
• 2013 – New York City
• 2017 – Denver
• 2018 – Dallas

These conferences have always had an emphasis on preparing those that lead youth and family ministry. It has also at times included children’s ministry leaders, elders, church leaders and parents.

Upcoming conference

The current team is aiming to reestablish having the ICYFM on odd years. To that end, we are excited to be having the 2023 ICYFM in Atlanta, hosted by the North River Church of Christ. It will take place November 3rd-5th. At this conference, there will be amazing teaching for children’s ministry leaders as well as youth and family leaders, whether they serve on a volunteer or full-time basis. At every ICYFM, elders and church leaders are always invited.

Registration begins soon!

The Youth and Family Ministry Service Team desires to aid and support all the congregations of the ICOC in whatever way we can. We want to help build bridges across the generations and across the various ministries that we have. We pray that our service is a blessing to all and an honor to our God!

Eric & Megan Testa, Chairmen – Indianapolis
Mike & Kristen Lamb – Boston
Ross and Manami Lippencott – New York
Audie & Bethany Monday – Philadelphia
Barrett & Rachel O’Connell – Seattle
Jake & Kelsey Rock – Orlando
Nick & Brianne Shoff – Atlanta
Nadine Templer – Kathmandu
Melissa Tulloch – Atlanta
Randy & Kim Ware – Kansas City
Susan Wedin – Phoenix
Antoine & Charlene Wills – Chicago
Brandon & Lauren Yi – Austin

Our Mission

To inspire and train women servant leaders around the globe to connect and grow spiritually, and to advance the gospel.

The Women’s Service Team has many accomplishments during 2022. We are so proud of all the work the women put into serving on this team to provide material and support to our sisters around the world.

International Women’s Day Task Force

Knitting Together/Unidas en Amor 2022

In 2022 the task force voted on the theme Knitting Together to celebrate International Women’s Day. Families around the world used this theme to celebrate this day and had amazing events to bring out family and friends.

Prayer Task Force

The main mission of this task force is to unite and inspire women through prayer. It is also to enable women to be encouraged, trained, grown spiritually by the power of the Spirit through prayer and through the connection of the sisterhood in prayer.

This task force is new to the women’s service team, it has been in development throughout all 2022. We are excited to have our first official prayer time organized by this task force in March 2023.

Crucial Conversations Task Force

The mission of this task force is to provide a space in which women can talk about crucial topics in life. In 2022 we had crucial conversations for motherhood: “A Journey of Faith and Courage,” and for wives: “Beautifully Clothed in Strength and Dignity.”

WomenToday.International Task Force

The website has become an amazing space for women all around the world. Here you can find resources like webinars, devotionals, church locator, videos, Bible studies, and much more. Every day, editors look for people willing to make content and translate. So far, there is content available in six languages. We are always looking for sisters willing to translate, write articles, make videos of content from their country. During the WDS we were able to have a booth for more information on our services. It was an amazing time with sisters connecting from all around the world.

ILC Task Force – WDS

Women on this task force had the opportunity to plan the women’s track of the International Leadership Conference at the WDS. Their planning included the women’s main session of the ILC and 11 breakout sessions with 28 women teaching classes. It was an amazing time in which many topics were covered, and leaders left with so much material for their own ministries.

Luncheon Task Force – For WDS

This task force was also temporary for a luncheon event at the WDS. We were able to present all our resources and task forces to the chairwomen and delegates. Each service team presented what they were working on and what the goals were for the upcoming year. This gave chairwomen and delegates all the information to either participate themselves on a task force or to have material for their church members.

Women’s Service Team members:

Sarai Serra – Chair (USA)
Sheeba Alex (India)
Marci Arneson (USA)
Victoria Auki (Kenya)
Girlie Cabadsen (Philippines)
Erica Fortina (USA)
Sharon Gauthier (USA)
Kae Habel (Philippines)
Susani Karta (Indonesia)
Griselda Lua (USA)
Lily Musonye (Kenya)
Camila Perez (Argentina)
Sarah Setiawan (Indonesia)
Lesa Stronger (Canada)
Bola Sowoolu (England)
Jessy Tohme (Lebanon)
Caron Vassallo (Australia)
Meegan Zillman (USA)

The ICOC Elders Service Committee (ESC) consists of elders and wives from all around the world. Under the leadership of Walter and Kim Evans (Philadelphia, United States), the other members of the EST at the end of 2022 included John and Pat Brush (Southeast Florida), Larry and Marylou Craig (New York), Darren and Sharon Gauthier (Chicago), Imagbe and Weyinmi Igbinoba (Lagos), Frank and Erica Kim (Denver), Losha and Tanya Kravets (Kiev), Yannick and Emma Le Noan (Paris), Dan and Elexa Liu (Hong Kong), Sylvia Mendez (San Diego), Mike and Scarlette Van Auken (Boston), and Tom and Lori Ziegler (San Antonio). During the year, the Elders Service Committee witnessed some changes. We expressed our gratitude to Bill and Sally Hooper, Al Baird, and Jerry and Erlyn Sugarman as they all achieved “emeritus” status, stepping off of the committee after many years of dedicated service. The committee also warmly welcomed the Van Aukens and the Zieglers as new members, starting in the last quarter of the year. Throughout 2022, the ESC continued to serve our broad fellowship of churches, meeting almost monthly to discuss the issues that impact us around the world as we labored to live out the mission of God.

One issue that drew needed attention from the ESC was the unity of our churches worldwide. During the first quarter of the year, the Unity Task Force, overseen by the ESC, put forward for a vote three proposals and two affirmations to the ICOC delegates. Together these proposals and affirmations provided more clarity and guidance as we continue to work on our unity. The first affirmation reiterated our commitment to cooperation, contribution (financial), and relational connection. The second provided “a pathway” on how to add churches to our fellowship, affirming our common culture. The three proposals defined levels of decision-making on decisions that affect other regions, steps to be taken when a conflict emerges beyond a regional family area, and steps to follow when an “intractable conflict” arises. The ICOC delegates approved all of these proposals and affirmations.

The ESC also focused on Bible and gender as it sought to maintain and strengthen the unity of our fellowship around the world. At the very beginning of 2022 it issued an appeal to the regional family chairs regarding the role of women in our fellowship, seeking to inform, unify, and nudge us all forward as the year began. That statement was the culmination of much effort to collect information on and summarize the current practices of our regional families in this regard, an effort that was spearheaded by an ESC subcommittee tasked to gather and consolidate this feedback, established after the Jakarta meeting in early 2020.

The committee continued its work for the worldwide fellowship at the Vision 2022 World Discipleship Summit in Orlando, Florida, held in July-August. At that conference the ESC provided the guidance for the Youth and Family Conference of the Summit, helping to organize 24 classes for it. Furthermore, to promote the ongoing development of our churches the ESC also hosted a track in Orlando on raising up of elders and elderships worldwide. The committee’s latest information is that there are 218 elders around the world, with 39 now outside of the United States. Of the 34 regional families of churches worldwide, eleven do not yet have any elderships established in any of their churches, and these 11 are all outside of the United States.

The ESC continues to work for unity as together we strive to honor God’s mission for us in this world. The committee provides ongoing support to the training of mediators for conflict resolution, begun in 2021 by the Unity Task Force as the “Peacemakers” program. In 2019 every member of the service committee at that time contributed to a new book titled Church Building Elderships: Godly Qualities that Produce Great Churches, edited by Wyndham Shaw and Al Baird. For the near future, in 2023 the ESC intends to focus on the development of elders training materials that can be useful to churches around the world seeking to appoint elders and establish their own elderships. The Elders Service Committee will continue to labor for the growth of all our churches and devote its energies to strengthening and deepening our unity in the years ahead.

Chairman: Walter Evans (Philadelphia)
Eldership Development and Training: John Brush (Southeast Florida), Oleksii Kravets (Kiev), Yannick Le Noan (Paris), Mike Van Auken (Boston), Tom Ziegler (San Antonio)
Marriage and Family: Frank Kim (Denver)
Conflict Resolution: Larry Craig (New York), Walter Evans (Philadelphia)
Unity: Darren Gauthier (Chicago)
Prayer and Comfort: Imagbe Igbinoba (Lagos)
Minutes and Communication: Dan Liu (Hong Kong)