Questions About Christian Group Recruiting in CCNY Cafeteria

I put my lunch in the cafeteria microwave  and turned to see a young, well-dressed Black man standing near me., “Are you Jamaican?” he asked.  “Yes,” I replied automatically.  But I  was surprised to hear the question. I wasn’t wearing anything identifying me as Jamaican. Nor was I speaking. How did he know? I asked, and he said he could tell by how I looked. I found that rather strange. He invited me to join him and three other people at their table in the cafeteria in the North Academic Building (NAC) at The City College of New York (CCNY).  Members of the  group told me they do campus ministry and often host bible studies in the CCNY cafeteria. I said that I would be interested, and one of the women took my number.

It turned out that they are part of the New York branch of the International Christian Church (ICC). It was founded in 2006 by Kip McKean as an offshoot of the International Churches of Christ, which McKean led for two decades.  Online forums and media outlets have reported about their alleged aggressive recruiting on college campuses and attempts to control members. 

I had no idea what the ICC was, nor did I know that the people I met in the cafeteria that day were members of an organization outside of City College. After my initial meeting with them, I connected with two women members of what they called the campus ministry. They conducted a short bible study with me in the NAC cafeteria. It started with a bible verse, we discussed it and they prayed for me. It felt a bit suffocating, but I chalked it up to my lack of experience with bible studies. 

Afterwards, we joined a larger table where they held a bible talk. The topic was faith, and everyone went around sharing their thoughts on what it meant to have faith. I shared a quote from the movie “Conclave,” where the character Cardinal Lawrence said, “Our faith is a living thing precisely because it walks hand-in-hand with doubt. If there was only certainty, and no doubt, there would be no mystery. And therefore, no need for faith.” The other table members found the quote heretic, and edited my words to fit what the rest of the members were saying. Their faces looked confused and they attempted to rephrase what I had said. I became uncomfortable. That was the end of my bible study with this group. But I continued to see them in the cafeteria.

A year later, they were still in the cafeteria and I learned that the group had a reputation, on campus and online. One former member, Bridget, a junior at CCNY studying biology, agreed to share her story if we didn’t use her real name. She alleged that she was initially approached by members of the church in the cafeteria on the City College campus. They introduced themselves as a campus ministry group that hosts bible studies and promotes fellowship. She was eager for information because she had been looking for other Christians on campus to befriend. Bridget said she attended church with the group and attended their campus bible studies until she started to see the cracks in their ideology. 

“They assigned me a discipler, which was someone who I was supposed to confide in and they would help me grow spiritually,” she said. “My discipler was actually younger than me, but she didn’t form much of a bond with me. Actually she didn’t really talk to me outside of the bible studies.” She explained that the ICC’s doctrine heavily focuses on discipleship, rooted in the belief that Jesus controlled the lives of the apostles in the Bible, and taught them to ‘disciple’ others controlling their lives, and that Christians should mimic this when evangelizing.

“It felt like I was going to hell if I wasn’t following their orders. I was told I had to tell five people about Jesus Christ every day, and I would be questioned if I didn’t,” Bridget said. She recalled a session with her discipler where a new recruit to the group was also present. In that same session, she says they were told that they were to write out every sin they had ever committed, from birth until now. “It made me very uncomfortable. I didn’t even know the other girl there, and I had to confess all kinds of things, even private ones.”

Bridget left the group. But her story seems to illustrate what’s often called “love-bombing.” This is a tactic where a person suddenly and purposefully surrounds someone with huge amounts of friendly contact, various forms of aid, and an overall sense of being immersed in a community. 

Conveniently, that may be what idealistic college students crave. But questions remain about why these non-City College affiliated people are allowed to recruit on campus. 

We reached out to Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs Ramon De Los Santos for comment. He said, “The cafeteria is not generally designated as an open space for unauthorized external group recruitment or tabling activities. If the organization is not affiliated with a registered student organization or an approved campus activity, we will refer the matter to Public Safety so they are aware of the concerns raised and can appropriately monitor the area moving forward.”

I also spoke to the ICC members in the NAC cafeteria about these allegations. One member, Chizorom Ubozoh, a registered nurse, confirmed that she is not a student at the school.  She said, “If [former members] ever felt pressured, it was not by us—it was God.”