Founded | 1965 with no official name 1970 as The Blitz Movement 1983 as Great Commission International 1989 as Great Commission Association of Churches 2005 as Great Commission Churches |
---|---|
Founder |
Jim McCotter Herschel Martindale Dennis Clark |
Type | Evangelical Christian Church Association |
Focus | Planting and building churches |
Location | |
Origins | Plymouth Brethren |
Area served
|
International |
Members
|
43,000 (2005) |
Official language
|
English |
Key people
|
Herschel Martindale John Hopler Rick Whitney Dave Bovenmeyer Tom Short Mark Darling Brent Knox Chris Martin Dennis Clark |
Slogan | New Testament Christianity In Action Today |
Website | http://www.gccweb.org/ |
Great Commission Churches (GCC) is a fellowship of independent evangelical Christian churches. The Great Commission church movement began in the United States in 1970. Other associated organizations include Great Commission Ministries (GCM), Great Commission Latin America (GCLA), and Great Commission Europe (GCE). The movement has grown in size and scope through its focus on church planting in the United States and abroad. GCC is a member of the National Association of Evangelicals, and one or more organizations within the movement has continuously been a part of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability since 1992.
The Great Commission Association of Churches (GCAC) is the current name of an Evangelical Christian association of churches that started as a movement in 1965, though not generally recognized as a movement until 1970. The movement at first avoided any denominational affiliation, becoming known in the early 1970s as "The Blitz" or "The Blitz Movement," then as Great Commission International (GCI) when leaders formed a formal organization in 1983. In 1989, GCI became GCAC ("Great Commission Association of Churches"), and Great Commission Ministries (GCM) was founded as the campus and international mission agency for GCAC; the campus ministry prior to this was known as Great Commission Students (GCS), although GCS did not employ full-time missionaries or do international work. Today, the "right hand of fellowship" ministry to international churches and ministries is known as the Great Commission Association (GCA). GCAC generally refers to itself as Great Commission Churches (GCC) in public communications.
In 1965, 20-year-old Jim McCotter (James Douglas McCotter) left his home in Colorado Springs, Colorado and moved to Greeley, Colorado in an attempt to recreate the New Testament Church, a church model he believed no existing Christian denomination was emulating fully.