The International Communion of Evangelical Churches. That’s the name of a new group of churches and ministries that hopes to “answer the international cry for urban churches to participate in both evangelism and community transformation.”
Bishop Harry Jackson founded ICEC to create a structure for church planting, foreign missions and societal impact starting with the U.S., but eventually reaching around the world.
The founding churches believe there must be a balance between the foundational work of evangelism along with discipleship and the ‘prophetic work’ of speaking out nationally on matters of public policy.
“ICEC believes that America needs a Third Great Awakening in which the indigenous church of America returns to its biblical design,” says Jackson, president of the High Impact Leadership Coalition and pastor of New Hope Christian Church in the Washington, D.C., area. “Farrakhan is right about one thing. Somebody needs to repent. The clergy needs to lead the way to renewing America by repenting and changing their personal and moral direction.”
At a Tuesday press conference, ICEC leaders address the most recent remarks delivered by Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam, who, on May 17, offered words of “warning” to America’s spiritual leaders as he addressed the American Clergy Leadership Conference’s prayer breakfast in Chicago. Jackson suggested that the controversial leader’s comments on America’s spiritual condition were warranted, but explained that the ICEC will point the nation toward biblical solutions.
The group aims to draw leaders from across broad ethnic and theological streams, including in its founding leadership African Americans, Caucasians, Hispanics and international leaders. Jackson’s fellow ICEC leaders include Bishop Joseph Mattera (New York City,), Bishop Eugene Reeves (Woodbridge, Va.), Bishop J. Alan Neal (Ramstein, Germany), Rev. Dr. Larry Palmer (Waldorf, Md.), Rev. Aubrey Shines (Tampa, Fla.) and Rev. Kyle Searcy (Montgomery, Ala.).
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