Recently, the documents that DPI (Discipleship Publishing International) filed for tax-exempt status were uncovered by one of the ICC's critics (no, not me, but the one who first brought them to light wishes to remain anonymous). There are some fairly interesting details about DPI and the ICC in general that this brings to light.

No, your eyes do not decieve you, nor do I. The above is an excerpt of papers the ICC leadership sent to the IRS in which they refer to the Boston Church of Christ as a "denomination." The IRS did not appear to have asked them if they were a denomination, either, as you will see by looking at the complete excerpts.

This appears rather strange in light of the ICC's teaching that denominations are sinful, and their perpetual denial of being a denomination. As a matter of fact, there are still comments on the ICC's own web page where they claim not to be a denomination, and denounce "denominationalism" as "unscriptural." Check out these excerpts from their official web page:

"I Corinthians 1:10-13 -- No divisions. Following personalities and in time their writings (traditions) have caused the divisions (Matthew 15:6-9)." And again, "Denominations are unscriptural according to 1 Corinthians 1:10-13." (taken from the First Principles study notes)

"The International Churches of Christ are not interested in adding another denomination to the already cluttered landscape of dying churches. We are not trying to start a new church." (taken from their Answers to the Critics section)

Also, these documents claim that DPI is not making a profit, pays no royalties to the authors... and they still sell books at about the same cost as other publishers that do turn profits. What's the deal here?

Ok, here are the documents, as scanned in. Click here to start reading them.