Announcement to Memorial Congregation

April 24, 1977

It is with deep sadness that we announce that on May 15, 1977, this congregation will discontinue its financial support of Roger Lamb and Kip McKean at Charleston, Illinois. The elders of the Charleston congregation have been advised of this decision, and of our reasons for it. As faithful Christians, you are entitled to know those reasons.

Roger Lamb served Memorial faithfully for years, and we came to love him and his family. Recently, however, we became aware of indications that Roger and Kip McKean were teaching doctrines and following practices that were not in accordance with God's Word. We were very reluctant to believe this. Therefore, we gave the matter the deepest study and consideration, including a trip to Charleston made by two elders, one deacon, and one minister, and personal conferences with Roger and Kip, the Charleston elders, and Memorial's ministers and deacons on the Mission Committee of Memorial concluded unanimously that Roger and Kip were in fact, teaching and practicing doctrines and policies which were not in accordance with the Bible. Their motives may well have been good, but these doctrines and practices were not. WE asked them to change this by breaking away from this teaching and its source. They would not agree to do this. The elders here must account to God for your souls, and for all that is entrusted to us, including the Lord's money. Therefore, we had no choice but to terminate the support.

We will be available to meet with any of you to discuss in detail the practices and doctrines which were wrong. Also, the elders intend for in-depth lessons and information to be presented to you about this in the near future. By way of summary, however, the problems apparently originated from a congregation in the Southeastern United States. A "new" plan was developed based mostly on a book written by a man who apparently claims to have been miraculously inspired by the Holy Spirit, in the 20^th Century. The result has been that, in many areas, persons have been teaching or practicing things such as these that are foreign to God's Word:

• That a person should be refused the right to be baptized until some other human decides, or "judges", that the candidate has sufficient "mature knowledge."

• The idea that every Christian must have a superior, or more mature, "prayer partner" to whom he or she must confess every sin, whether of action or only of thought, no matter how personal, how intimate, or how destructive that might be; also, that the one confessing may be "disciplined" in various ways until he or she satisfies standards which are established by human judgment.

• The idea that in addition to Jesus, some human must suffer in order for another human to be saved.

• The idea that every Christian must spend every waking hour in "sharing", as defined by standards established by humans.

• That women may lead public prayer in the presence of men.

These are not the only un-scriptural teachings and practices involved, but as you can see, those alone would make it necessary for us to terminate the financial support.

As your elders and fellow Christians, we ask that you join your prayers with ours that in the future, Roger and Kip will use their God-given abilities to teach the pure Gospel and that the Charleston elders may be strong in faith and truth to guide the congregation in Charleston, and that Memorial in some way, may help that congregation to grow and be strong in the Lord's Work.

COMMENT: After the elders from Charleston were here in the meeting, they went back and met with Roger and Kip, asking them to make the necessary changes and to turn away from the false teachings and the people associated with it. Roger and Kip would not agree with their elders to do this. All this information is documented through tapes and discussions.