The Portland Movement
The Beginning of the Portland International Church of Christ
The Portland International Church of Christ was the 94th planting of the Boston Movement (later renamed the International Church of Christ). It was planted in 1991. There were already twenty disciples “waiting” in Portland. Another twenty-five were sent collectively from the San Francisco and Seattle Churches to complete the mission team.
In 1996 the Portland Church began to flat-line in its growth. At its zenith, there were approximately 275 disciples with a Sunday attendance averaging 375.
Division in the International Church of Christ
In 2002, the central leadership of the International Church of Christ (ICOC) was officially dissolved at the Long Beach Unity Meeting, November 2002. Several key decisions made at this meeting went against the basic convictions of Kip McKean, the Boston Movement’s founder. The following decisions are part of what led to the disintegration of the ICOC movement:
- McKean and the World Sector Leaders of the ICOC were forced to resign, effectively undermining the unified global efforts of the ICOC and destabilizing unity and communication.
- A reactionary, “new vision” was introduced by the “Kingdom Teachers” and the “Kingdom Elders”:
- Independent congregations (autonomy) - which eliminated overseeing evangelists.
- Consensus leadership with no lead evangelists
- The elimination of structured outreach and relationships (Bible Talks and Discipleship partners - successful methodologies of the ICOC)
- McKean’s motivating dream of “evangelizing the world in a generation” was called “a good idea” yet touted as impossible.
- The goal of the ICOC during it’s onset was to build a movement of churches composed of only disciples, because a church comprised of disciples would multiply disciples, and so by multiplying disciples and multiplying churches it would evangelize the world. Yet proclaimed at the Long Beach Unity Meeting was the dissolving of the “exclusiveness” of the International Churches of Christ (ICOC). Many congregations in the ICOC dropped the “international” from their name, or renamed their congregations entirely.
It is into this highly charged atmosphere that the Henry Kriete letter Honest to God is released in February 2003. Kriete, opposed McKean and many of the top leaders in the ICOC and advocated “a time for anger and the overthrowing of temples: I believe the time is now.” [p24 Honest To God] Kriete agreed with the decisions at the Long Beach Unity Meeting.
At the urging of Henry Kriete in this document, many churches had open forums. Many of these forums poisoned the members toward the leaders and led to even more undermining of faith and unity in the churches.
This “new vision” coupled with the shockwaves of mistrust, disunity, and rebellion, affected all 400 churches in 171 nations of the ICOC fellowship. The Portland International Church of Christ was no exception.
Impact of ICOC Division on the Portland International Church of Christ
In March 2003, one month after the “Kriete letter” was released, the Portland International Church of Christ’s lead evangelist canceled all discipleship partners, Bible Talks, and all “structure” in the congregation. This was in response to being heavily criticized by many. In April, he resigns and later that summer stops attending a discipling church. The church fractured, with many members leaving to attend other churches, start their own groups, or leaving the faith entirely. The membership of the church went from approximately 275 to less than 100 during this period.
The Hiring of Kip and Elena McKean
In June of 2003, after the decimation of the Portland Church, Kip and Elena McKean received a phone call from Russ Ewell, representing the San Francisco International Church of Christ, to try to help the Portland Church. Russ told the McKeans that Portland might be a place to begin a new ministry. This is because the McKean’s monetary support in Los Angeles was ending and there was no offer for them to serve in the Los Angeles leadership. In mid-June, the McKeans came for their first visit and their “hearts went out to the faithful remnant who still wanted to have a church of only ‘sold-out’ disciples…” - Kip and Elena McKean
After reading McKean’s letter Revolution Through Restoration III, the remaining leadership unanimously asked Elena and Kip to serve as Women’s Ministry Leader and Lead Evangelist of the Portland International Church of Christ.
July 11, 2003 was the McKeans’ “first day on the job” as paid ministry staff for the Portland church. The church had lost so many members that at the first midweek service only 25 chairs were set up.
During the next month McKean deliberately focused his preaching on loving God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and obeying the Bible. A phrase commonly used in the Boston Movement was “be willing to go anywhere, do anything, give up everything for Christ.” McKean’s new term was simply, be a “sold-out disciple.” The implication being a wholehearted devotion to God and obedience to God’s Word, the Bible.
In reflecting on the ICOC and the beginnings of the Portland Movement, Kip McKean states “I believe God sent Elena and me to be into a “satellite church”[a smaller and geographically isolated congregation] where all the sins and mistakes of the movement were exaggerated so we could learn and understand how to rebuild the movement.”
In this context, McKean sets about to personally speak to every member of the Portland Church, both those who stayed and those who left - to ask them three questions:
- What was awesome about the Portland Church?
- What needs to change in the Portland Church?
- What Biblical books or themes should be preached?
From these discussions, McKean saw that there were still feelings of bitterness, anger and misunderstandings. In restoring the Portland Church’s faith, McKean from the pulpit, called for not only leaders to repent of arrogance, harshness, binding opinions, and hurting the weak, but also there was an equally strong call from the Bible for the “followership” to repent of bitterness, anger, factions and a lack of forgiveness.
Wednesday, August 13, 2003 was the Portland Church’s “Evening of Atonement.” McKean preached the Biblical principle that forgiveness is as much a part of salvation as baptism. Many members of the congregation, both leaders and followers alike, publicly confessed their sins in tears. More wanted to share, but the session was ended after two and a half hours.
Many members of the Portland International Church of Christ, regard the Evening of Atonement as a time of renewed love for one another and natural joy that comes from reconciliation. The congregation was spiritually and emotionally refreshed from these acts of repentance.
McKean then spent the next three weeks preaching about God’s plan of discipleship and small groups being Jesus’ method.
By September of 2003 the leadership called every person that desired to be a member of the Portland Church to attend all services, attend an evangelistic small group (Bible Talk) and to have a discipleship partner. Different from the ICOC’s former practice, members were encouraged to choose a Bible Talk as well as a discipleship partner and to define the nature of that discipling relationship. These discipling relationships could be either teacher/student relationships (parent/child) or adult/adult (peer to peer) relationships.
In the fall of 2003, the Portland congregation averaged a baptism a week. Likewise, every week someone would walk away from the congregation not wanting to be a “sold-out” disciple. Through the fall, McKean’s original Boston Movement First Principles was taught to everyone as some were confused about the Biblical teachings on who is “saved,” who is a true “Christian. ”
By January 2004, a solid foundation of disciples was built in the Portland Church - exactly 120 “sold-out” disciples (members). From the three questions McKean asked the disciples in the summer of 2003, he realized that their faith had waned long before the destruction of early 2003. Faith was lost through broken dreams and promises. Foremost were the promise of elders and deacons, the promise of a Eugene, Oregon Church planting, the promise of a Latin (Spanish-speaking) Ministry, the promise of a Chemical Recovery Ministry and the promise of a strong Teen Ministry.
In restoring and realizing their dreams, in January 2004, the Portland leadership appointed 11 deacon couples and selected two elder-in-training couples, Tony and Therese Untalan and Bob and Marcia Bertalot. In mid-January the Portland Church sent out its first church planting ever to Eugene, Oregon led by Jeremy and Amy Ciaramella. From January 2004 to September 2006, Eugene has nearly quadrupled in number. In March of 2003 the Latin Ministry was initiated when the Victor and Sonia Gonzalez and their ten kids moved to Portland. Beginning with just nine disciples, God has increased the Latin Ministry to almost 70 disciples as of late 2006.
In April 2004 the Chemical Recovery Ministry began with the arrival of the Russ and Lana Preston. (In November of 2004, 18 disciples composed the first graduating class.)
In June 2004 was the Portland Church’s first Jubilee, entitled “The Lord of the Fellowship.” Many came to learn what God was doing in a church that had been so quickly restored from such devastation. At this Jubilee Kip McKean preached for the first time that some former ICOC churches need to be restored or replanted. (A Great Light Has Dawned)
The vision of the Portland Church Leadership is the evangelization of all nations in the 21st Century. Thus the 2005 World Missions Jubilee was themed: UpSideDown21.
In the wake of the 2005 World Missions Jubilee, the Portland Leadership took the initiative to help rebuild any congregation that asked for their help thereby initiating the rebuilding of a global movement of “sold-out” disciples which has the goal to reach the entire world in a single generation. At the 2005 Jubilee in the bulletin article The Portland Story the Portland leadership announced it “believes it is time for a progressive ‘calling-out of the remnant of disciples’ from dying, former ICOC Churches.”
Also at the 2005 Jubilee, UpSideDown21, the global internet ministry of the Portland International Church of Christ, was formally launched in six languages - English, French, Russian, Spanish, Swedish and Estonian. As of 2006, the UpSideDown21 (USD21) website is available in 9 languages. Each language “page” has access to the Portland Bulletin editorials in that native language, as well as the video and audio of the most recent Sunday Sermon in Portland. At the 2005 World Missions Jubilee Jeremy Ciaramella, the Evangelist for the Eugene International Church of Christ, became USD21’s first Cyber-Evangelist.
Conceptually, the USD21 website strives to be similar to “Radio Free Europe” in the 1960s. The communist leaders built an “Iron Curtain” to block the message of freedom from America and the rest of the West in their press. Yet over the radio, broadcasts of messages of hope and freedom served to guide those oppressed by communism. Eventually many listeners found freedom as seen in the early 1990s when the “Iron Curtain” crumbled. The Portland Movement Churches believe that with church leaderships isolated by the walls of autonomy, the good news of the revolution through restoration occurring in the radical discipling churches needs to be “beamed-in” to hurting disciples. The goal of the Portland Movement is to someday broadcast in all the languages of the world, thus helping to unite more and more disciples of Jesus into a unified global effort to evangelize the world.
The Beginnings of the Portland Movement
In October 2005, 65 leaders and elders from some of the remaining congregations of the International Church of Christ wrote a letter criticizing McKean. A response letter called “A Concern for all the Churches,” was written by McKean and the leaders of the Portland International Church of Christ. A second letter was written in response to the reply letter “marking” McKean as divisive and not to be associated with. Many members and congregations around the world still supported McKean effectively leading to the beginning of the newly named “Portland Movement” which McKean currently leads.
As of September 2006 the Portland Movement is gaining great momentum. Earlier in the year, Steve Johnson, a former World Sector Leader and right hand man in the Boston Movement (ICOC) moved his entire family to Portland as a sign of loyalty to McKean and the cause of evangelizing the world in a single generation. Over the past two years, individuals from over 25 states across America have moved to Portland seeking out “the church they were baptized in.” Every week, disciples - often selling everything they have - are moving to Portland to be members of the Portland International Church of Christ.
During the summer of 2005 in Salt Lake City, there was a clear process of church rebuilding and restoration. A remnant of 25 disciples remained from the “Great Tribulation” of 2003. Portland then sent Jay and Angie Hernandez with a small mission team to revive Salt Lake City. In the two-and-a-half years before the mission team’s July 2005 arrival there were no baptisms. A little more than a month after the Portland team’s arrival, three new disciples were made and were baptized. As of 2006 the church membership has doubled.
In 2004 Raul and Linda Moreño of Chile came to visit Portland to seek “discipling” - training in life and ministry. The church in Chile has grown to over 300 disciples as well as planting churches in Viña Del Mar and Racagua. As of 2006 the Santiago Church is planning a third planting in for Conception. These are the only church plantings of any of the former ICOC Churches in South America in the past 5 years. Santiago, Chile is supported financially by the Florida Churches.
Another phenomenon has begun to occur, small groups of “sold-out” disciples have come out from dead/lukewarm ICOC churches to create new congregations that are aligned with the Portland Movement. This has happened in Kiev, Ukraine; Stockholm, Sweden; Belfast, Northern Ireland; Chicago Illinois; Toronto, Canada; Brisbane, Australia; Madison, Wisconsin; Milwaukee, Wisconsin and perhaps most significantly in Phoenix, Arizona. A small group of disciples left the old Phoenix Valley Church of Christ inspired by the call of the Portland Church to have a group of sold-out disciples. Other churches such as Syracuse, New York; Savannah, Georgia and Hilo, Hawaii have asked the McKeans and other leaders in the Portland International Church of Christ to disciple them. (Please see the “The Portland Family of Churches”)
In September 2006, Portland sent an Evangelist and Women’s Ministry Leader (Matt and Helen Sullivan) to Phoenix Arizona as well as several disciples to support the work there. As of 2006, their Sunday attendance has grown to an average of 70.
The Portland Church also has sent several of its members to the planting of the Chicago International Christian Church, and the McKeans have built a “discipling relationship” with the Evangelist and Women’s Ministry Leader of that congregation.
The Portland International Church of Christ has over 500 in attendance on Sundays as of 2006 and there are 40 people training for the full time ministry in Portland as well as several more in their family of churches. Multiplication is occurring through church plantings by sending out trained evangelists and mission teams around the world as in the days of the Boston Movement. These individuals training for the ministry have taken up the dream of evangelizing the entire world in a single generation. This is the defining and motivating vision of the Portland Movement Churches.
The Portland Leadership sees itself as a restoration movement within the former ICOC churches. McKean and the other leaders of the Portland Movement saw a tremendous wave of evangelism sweep the world in the days of the Boston Movement (ICOC). Their conviction is to learn from the past and to build a church growth movement that will far surpass any of the previous efforts of the ICOC.
