Christ Church (Moscow, Idaho)

Last updated
Christ Church
Nu Art Theatre NRHP 01001304 Latah County, ID.jpg
Nu Art Theatre on Main St, Moscow, where Christ Church meets.
Christ Church (Moscow, Idaho)
Location Moscow, Idaho
Country United States
Denomination Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches
Membership900
Website christkirk.com
History
Former name(s)Community Evangelical Fellowship [1]
FoundedLate 1970s [1]
Clergy
Pastor(s) Douglas Wilson

Christ Church is a Calvinist church in Moscow, Idaho, pastored by Douglas Wilson, and a member of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches. The congregation has received international coverage for its views, which include advocating for a theocracy, [2] and its desire to make Moscow a "Christian town". [3] It has formal and informal affiliations with a number of ministries, including a three-year ministerial training program (Greyfriars Hall), a private accredited college (New Saint Andrews), a campus ministry (Collegiate Reformed Fellowship), and formerly a publishing operation and magazine (Canon Press, Credenda/Agenda). The church is estimated to have between 900 and 2,000 members. [4]

Contents

Beliefs

Christ Church is a Calvinist church, holding conservative views. [2] Its ministers are proponents of postmillennialism and have been described as holding to a form of dominion theology. [1] It is known for its promotion of Christian education and biblical courtship, and for its opposition to liberalism and feminism as being contrary to the Christian faith. Christ Church also holds to biblical inerrancy and adheres to the Westminster Standards, the Three Forms of Unity, and the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds. It is a charter member of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches. [1]

Heath Druzin, host of NPR's podcast Extremely American, describes the church as "a major player, if not the major player" in the Christian nationalist movement nationwide. [5]

The church has drawn attention for its vocal opposition, and active resistance to federal and local restrictions meant to halt the spread of COVID-19. The church's head pastor, Douglas Wilson, has posted on his blog and on YouTube to call on his followers to "resist openly, in concert with any others in your same position", which he said would constitute "an example of a free people refusing to go along with their own enslavement". Wilson's remarks, which also warned "we are not yet in a hot civil war, with shooting and all, but we are in a cold war/civil war", drew condemnation from prominent Evangelicals. [2]

Affiliated organizations

New Saint Andrews College

New Saint Andrews College is a classical Christian liberal arts college that is listed as a ministry of Christ Church. [2] [6] [7] Ben Merkle, an elder at Christ Church, is president. [8] The church's session of Elders is the spiritual authority for the college. [9] Studies at NSA include "the languages, history, philosophy, and culture of classical antiquity and Western tradition in the light of Scripture". [10]

Greyfriars' Hall

Greyfriars' Hall is a ministerial training program affiliated with Christ Church. [6] Men who complete the three-year program, which is tuition-free, receive a letter rather than a diploma. Elders of Christ Church are the program's overseers. [11] The faculty comprises Christ Church ministers Doug Wilson, Toby Sumter, and Ben Zorne. [12]

Bakwé Mission

The Bakwé Mission is the church's foreign mission ministry to the Bakwé people of southwest Côte d'Ivoire. It consists mainly of translating scripture for the Bakwé Church, as well as training teachers to teach reading and writing to the Bakwé people. [13] [ better source needed ][ dead link ]

Logos School

The Logos School is nondenominational classical Christian school with numerous connections to Christ Church, which regularly promotes Classical Christian education. [6]

Canon Press

Canon Press was founded by Doug Wilson as a ministry of Christ Church. It was later sold to Wilson's son and other Christ Church members. [2] [6]

History

2020 anti-mask protests

In late September 2020, Christ Church organized and promoted two anti-mask protests at Moscow's City Hall. [14] The protests consisted of members of the church and local community gathering mask-less at City Hall and singing psalms and hymns to protest Moscow's mandatory mask policy which required people to wear a mask in public places or at large gatherings. These protests occurred on Wednesday, September 23 and Friday, September 25. At the Wednesday psalm sing/protest about 150 people showed up and five people were cited and three were arrested with the most notable arrestee being 2020 Latah County Commissioner Candidate and Christ Church deacon Gabriel Rench. [15] At the second psalm sing/protest on Friday, September 25, the protesters were joined by counter-protesters who beat drums to try to drown out the singing. About 400 protesters showed up and no one was arrested. [16] Charges against Gabriel Rench were later dismissed. [17]

In February 2023, U.S. District Court Judge Morrison C. England Jr. ruled that "the City indisputably erred in interpreting its own Code", and that the church members ought never to have been arrested in the first place, since the city ordinances explicitly exempted both religious and protest activities. [14]

Handling of sexual abuse

Christ Church ministers have garnered widespread criticism for their handling of instances of sexual abuse within the church's congregation. [2] [6] Head pastor Douglas Wilson publicly asked for leniency in 2005 when Steven Sitler, a student at New Saint Andrews College, was convicted of sex offenses involving children; and following the student's release from prison, Wilson married Sitler to a woman introduced to him by a former church elder. [2] [6] After the wedding, a judge ruled Sitler must be chaperoned around his infant son, after he admitted to feeling sexual stimulation resulting from contact with the baby. [6] Wilson has been criticized for his handling of the abuse case and for marrying the couple. Responding to allegations that he supported Sitler's actions, Wilson wrote, "My role was to encourage the father who discovered it to report Steven to the authorities immediately, and in subsequent counseling with Steven, to require him to confess to the crimes he had committed that had gone undetected." [18]

In 2005, Greyfriar's Hall student Jamin Wight, then in his mid-20s, was criminally charged with having a sexual relationship with 14-year-old girl. Pastor Douglas Wilson reportedly asked investigators for leniency and testified to the trial judge that the relationship between Wight and the accuser was a secret parent-arranged courtship. Ultimately, Wight was found guilty of "injury to a child". In 2013, Wight was again arrested, and convicted of domestic battery. [6]

In September 2021, Vice Media published an article documenting allegations of sexual assault from a dozen victims. The article interviewed several former members of the church who claimed that "women are told they must defer to church leaders and cannot say 'no' to their husbands, men are taught to strictly control their homes, and those who speak out can be isolated and harassed". One former church member, and student at the Christ Church-affiliated New Saint Andrews College, told Vice that she felt compelled by the church to marry her boyfriend from New Saint Andrews, despite the constant rape and abuse she claims she suffered. Her wedding was officiated by the church's pastor, Douglas Wilson. The woman said that other wives in the church reported that marital rape was common, and that when she went to church leaders to protest, they told her that a wife is not allowed to say 'no'. She reported that when she eventually divorced her husband and left the church, her car was repeatedly vandalized, and she received online abuse from church members. [6] Pastor Douglas Wilson responded to article saying that it was slanderous and inaccurate, writing that "Every Christian leader, pastor, board member, writer, thought-influencer, or teacher who read that Vice article and then publicly voiced their solidarity or sympathy with it—in any way, shape, or form—has disqualified themselves ... they might as well step down now before the methods and procedures they have internalized and endorsed come back around when it is time to devour them." [19]

A number of additional allegations stemming from anonymous sources have been documented on Christian blogs and YouTube channels. [6]

Local influence

Dating back to 2019, the church's leader, Douglas Wilson, has stated that the church aims to "make Moscow a Christian town", and favors "theocracy" as opposed to "civil governments, [which] are in necessary degrees satanic, demonic, and influenced by the god of this world, who is the devil". [2] In a November 2021 investigation, The Guardian found that "Church figures have browbeaten elected officials over Covid restrictions, built powerful institutions in parallel to secular government, harassed perceived opponents, and accumulated land and businesses in pursuit of a long-term goal of transforming America into a nation ruled according to its own, ultra-conservative moral precepts". Said parallel institutions include "educational institutions, publishing houses, churches, and national associations". Many of these institutions, including New Saint Andrews College, are run by members of Wilson's family. One of the founders of the college served as the former chief executive of the town's largest private employer, EMSI, which has hired about 10% of all of the college's total graduates since the school's inception. A local businessman, who spoke anonymously to The Guardian, said that the church had a large footprint in Moscow's downtown, and alleged that church members was attempting to attract new members to the town through a large development project planned by a church elder. [2]

According to a Vice Media report, there is a regular section in the printed church bulletin that lists the names of those denounced by the church. Some people whose names have appeared on the list have allegedly faced harassment from church members, as well as boycotts of their businesses. [6]

Queen's University Belfast professor of history Crawford Gribben notes that Christ Church has made "very little impact on local politics", and that Moscow is not yet a Christian town. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Church of God in Christ</span> Holiness-Pentecostal Christian denomination

The Church of God in Christ (COGIC) is an international Holiness–Pentecostal Christian denomination, and a large Pentecostal denomination in the United States. Although an international and multi-ethnic religious organization, it has a predominantly African-American membership based within the United States. The international headquarters is in Memphis, Tennessee. The current Presiding Bishop is Bishop John Drew Sheard Sr., who is the Senior Pastor of the Greater Emmanuel Institutional Church of God in Christ of Detroit, Michigan. He was elected as the denomination's leader on March 27, 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Calvary Chapel Association</span> Evangelical association of Christian churches

Calvary Chapel is an international association of charismatic evangelical churches, with origins in Pentecostalism. It maintains a number of radio stations around the world and operates many local Calvary Chapel Bible College programs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evangelical Presbyterian Church (United States)</span> Protestant Reformed Evangelical church body

The Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) is an American church body holding to presbyterian governance and Reformed theology. It is a conservative Calvinist denomination. It is most distinctive for its approach to the way it balances certain liberties across congregations on "non-essential" doctrines, such as egalitarianism /complementarianism in marriage or the ordination of women, alongside an affirmation of core "essential" doctrinal standards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eden Theological Seminary</span> Christian Seminary in Missouri

Eden Theological Seminary is a Christian seminary based in Webster Groves, Missouri. It is one of the six official seminaries of the United Church of Christ (UCC).

The Free Church of Scotland is a conservative evangelical Calvinist denomination in Scotland. It is the continuation of the original Free Church of Scotland that remained outside the union with the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland in 1900, and remains a distinct Presbyterian denomination in Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Seventh-day Adventist Church</span>

The Seventh-day Adventist Church had its roots in the Millerite movement of the 1830s to the 1840s, during the period of the Second Great Awakening, and was officially founded in 1863. Prominent figures in the early church included Hiram Edson, Ellen G. White, her husband James Springer White, Joseph Bates, and J. N. Andrews. Over the ensuing decades the church expanded from its original base in New England to become an international organization. Significant developments such the reviews initiated by evangelicals Donald Barnhouse and Walter Martin, in the 20th century led to its recognition as a Christian denomination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Saint Andrews College</span> Christian college in Idaho

New Saint Andrews College is a private classical Christian college in Moscow, Idaho. It was founded in 1994 by Christ Church. The college offers no undergraduate majors, but follows a single, integrated classical liberal arts curriculum from a Christian worldview in its associate's and bachelor's degree programs. The college also offers master's degrees in theology and letters and classical Christian studies. The New Saint Andrews board, faculty, and staff are confessionally Reformed (Calvinist). Board members are affiliated with the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC). The Elders of nearby Christ Church serve as the college's spiritual authority.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Assyrian Evangelical Church</span>

The Assyrian Evangelical Church is a Presbyterian church in the Middle East that attained a status of ecclesiastical independence from the Presbyterian mission in Iran in 1870.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Douglas Wilson (theologian)</span> American theologian

Douglas James Wilson is a conservative Reformed and evangelical theologian, pastor at Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho, faculty member at New Saint Andrews College, and author and speaker. Wilson is known for his writing on classical Christian education, Reformed theology, as well as general cultural commentary. He is a public proponent of postmillenialism, Christian nationalism, and covenant theology. He is also featured in the documentary film Collision documenting his debates with anti-theist Christopher Hitchens on their promotional tour for the book Is Christianity Good for the World?.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evangelical Methodist Church</span> Methodist denomination in the US

The Evangelical Methodist Church (EMC) is a Christian denomination in the Wesleyan-Holiness tradition headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. The denomination reported 399 churches in the United States, Mexico, Burma/Myanmar, Canada, Philippines and several European and African nations in 2018, and a total of 34,656 members worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches</span> Christian denomination

The Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC), formerly the Confederation of Reformed Evangelical Churches, was founded in 1998 as a body of churches that hold to Reformed theology. Member churches include those from Presbyterian, Reformed, and Reformed Baptist backgrounds. The CREC has over a hundred member churches in the United States, Canada, Japan, Russia, Hungary, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Belarus, Poland, Brazil, Jersey, and the Czech Republic. These are organised into nine presbyteries, named after figures in church history: Anselm, Athanasius, Augustine, Bucer, Hus, Knox, Kuyper, Tyndale, and Wycliffe.

In Christianity, an elder is a person who is valued for wisdom and holds a position of responsibility and authority in a Christian group. In some Christian traditions an elder is an ordained person who serves a local church or churches and who has been ordained to a ministry of word, sacrament and order, filling the preaching and pastoral offices. In other Christian traditions, an elder may be a lay person serving as an administrator in a local congregation, or be ordained and serving in preaching or pastoral roles. There is a distinction between ordained elders and lay elders. The two concepts may be conflated in everyday conversation. In non-Christian world cultures the term elder refers to age and experience, and the Christian sense of elder is partly related to this.

Nathan David Wilson is an American author of young adult fiction.

<i>Collision</i> (2009 film) 2009 American film

Collision is an American documentary film by Darren Doane released on October 27, 2009. It features a debate between prominent antitheist Christopher Hitchens and Douglas Wilson, a pastor of Christ Church, a CREC church located in Moscow, Idaho. Described by Hitchens as a "buddy-and-road" movie, it provides an overview of several days' worth of debates following the release of their book Is Christianity Good for the World? The book was generated by correspondence published in the magazine Christianity Today.

Canon Press is a Christian publishing house in Moscow, Idaho. It was founded by Doug Wilson in 1988 as a literature ministry of his Christ Church. It has published more than 100 books by Wilson and his family members. Canon Press was sold in 2012 and continues to operate as a private company owned by Aaron Rench and N. D. Wilson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ECO (denomination)</span> Protestant denomination

ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians is an evangelical Presbyterian denomination in the United States. As a Presbyterian church, ECO adheres to Reformed theology and Presbyterian polity. It was established in 2012 by former congregations and members of the Presbyterian Church (USA), abbreviated PC(USA). Denominational disputes over theology—particularly ordination of practicing homosexuals as pastors and gay marriage—and bureaucracy led to the founding of ECO. In 2018, ECO has over 383 congregations, 103,425 covenant partners and over 500 pastors. ECO churches are egalitarian in beliefs and ordain women as pastors and elders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benjamin R. Merkle</span> American theologian

Benjamin R. Merkle is president of New Saint Andrews College, a Christian college in Idaho, United States.

The Open Brethren, sometimes called Christian Brethren, are a group of Evangelical Christian churches that arose in the late 1820s as part of the Assembly Movement within the Plymouth Brethren tradition. They originated in Ireland before spreading throughout the British Isles, and today they have an estimated 26,000 assemblies worldwide.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Gribben, Crawford (2021). Survival and Resistance in Evangelical America: Christian Reconstruction in the Pacific Northwest. Oxford University Press. pp. 32, 50–56. ISBN   978-0-19-937023-8 . Retrieved November 20, 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Wilson, Jason (2021-11-02). "'Make it a Christian town': the ultra-conservative church on the rise in Idaho". The Guardian . Archived from the original on 2021-11-02. Retrieved 2021-11-02.
  3. ↑ Kuipers, Anthony (21 September 2022). "Christ Church in spotlight by 'Meet the Press'". Moscow-Pullman Daily News . Retrieved 18 August 2023.
  4. ↑ Simmons, Tracy (17 November 2019). "Controversial church aims to 'make Moscow a Christian town'". The Spokesman-Review . Retrieved 18 November 2019.
  5. ↑ Kuipers, Anthony (22 June 2024). "Christ Church the topic of NPR podcast". Moscow-Pullman Daily News . Retrieved 25 June 2024.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Stankorb, Sarah (2021-09-28). "Inside the Church That Preaches 'Wives Need to Be Led with a Firm Hand'". www.vice.com. Vice Media. Archived from the original on 2021-10-31. Retrieved 2021-11-02.
  7. ↑ "Home". christkirk.com. Christ Church. Retrieved 29 July 2024.
  8. ↑ "Our Staff & Leadership". Christ Church. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
  9. ↑ "Mission & Vision". nsa.edu. New Saint Andrews College. Retrieved 29 July 2024.
  10. ↑ "Moscow-Pullman Visitor's Guide 2011 by Moscow-Pullman Daily News - Issuu". issuu.com. 28 January 2011. Retrieved 2021-11-02.
  11. ↑ "Home page". greyfriarshall.com. Greyfriars Hall. Retrieved 29 July 2024.
  12. ↑ "Faculty". greyfriarshall.com. Greyfriars Hall. Retrieved 29 July 2024.
  13. ↑ "Bakwé Mission - Bringing the Word". Bakwe.christkirk.com. Retrieved 2012-10-01.
  14. 1 2 Brown, Jon (7 February 2023). "Moscow, Idaho, church deacon wins motion over COVID-protest arrest at outdoor hymn sing: 'I feel vindicated'". Fox News . Retrieved 8 February 2023.
  15. ↑ Cabeza, Garrett (September 23, 2020). "Candidate Rench arrested at downtown Moscow event". Moscow-Pullman Daily News. Archived from the original on 2020-09-24. Retrieved 2020-09-30.
  16. ↑ Cabeza, Garrett (September 26, 2020). "Second singing event ends with no citations or arrests". Moscow-Pullman Daily News. Archived from the original on 2020-09-26. Retrieved 2020-09-30.
  17. ↑ "Charges dropped against deacon arrested for singing hymns outdoors". www.christianpost.com. 17 January 2021. Retrieved 2021-01-19.
  18. ↑ Wilson, Douglas. "Controversy Library". Blog and Mablog. Retrieved 18 August 2023.
  19. ↑ Wilson, Douglas (4 October 2021). "Tabloid Tarantula". Blog and Mablog. Retrieved 18 August 2023.

46°43′51″N116°59′59″W / 46.73083°N 116.99972°W / 46.73083; -116.99972

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.