Christ Church is a

Calvinist Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Protestantism, Continenta ...

church in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

, pastored by Douglas Wilson, and a member of the

Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches The Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC), formerly the Confederation of Reformed Evangelical Churches, was founded in 1998 as a body of churches that hold to Reformed theology. Member churches include those from Presbyterian, Reforme ...

. The congregation has received international coverage for its views, which include advocating for a

theocracy Theocracy is a form of autocracy or oligarchy in which one or more deity, deities are recognized as supreme ruling authorities, giving divine guidance to human intermediaries, with executive and legislative power, who manage the government's ...

, and its desire to make Moscow a "Christian town". It has formal and informal affiliations with a number of ministries, including a three-year ministerial training program (Greyfriars Hall), a private accredited college ( New Saint Andrews), a campus ministry (Collegiate Reformed Fellowship), and formerly a publishing operation and magazine (

Canon Press Canon Press is a Christian publishing house in Moscow, Idaho. It was founded by Douglas Wilson (theologian), Doug Wilson in 1988 as a literature ministry of his Christ Church (Moscow, Idaho), Christ Church. It has published more than 100 books by ...

Credenda/Agenda ''Credenda/Agenda'' was a Christian cultural and theological journal, published under the auspices of Christ Church of Moscow, Idaho. Douglas Wilson served as editor, Douglas M. Jones as senior editor, and N. D. Wilson as managing editor. Editi ...

). The church is estimated to have between 900 and 2,000 members.

Beliefs

Christ Church is a

church, holding conservative views. Its ministers are proponents of

postmillennialism In Christian eschatology (end-times theology), postmillennialism, or postmillenarianism, is an interpretation of chapter 20 of the Book of Revelation which sees Christ's second coming as occurring ''after'' (Latin ''post-'') the "Millennium", a ...

and have been described as holding to a form of

dominion theology Dominion theology, also known as dominionism, is a group of Christian political ideologies that seek to institute a nation governed by Christians and based on their understandings of biblical law. Extents of rule and ways of acquiring governing ...

. It is known for its promotion of

Christian education Christian education may refer to: * Catechesis, a type of Christian education associated with the Roman Catholic church and churches that follow a liturgical paradigm *Sunday school, a form of Christian education used widely among many different ki ...

and biblical courtship, and for its opposition to

liberalism Liberalism is a Political philosophy, political and moral philosophy based on the Individual rights, rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality, the right to private property, and equality before the law. ...

and

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

as being contrary to the Christian faith. Christ Church also holds to

biblical inerrancy Biblical inerrancy is the belief that the Bible, in its original form, is entirely free from error. The belief in biblical inerrancy is of particular significance within parts of evangelicalism Evangelicalism (), also called evangelic ...

and adheres to the

Westminster Standards The Westminster Standards is a collective name for the documents drawn up by the Westminster Assembly (1643–1649). These include the Westminster Confession of Faith, the Westminster Shorter Catechism, the Westminster Larger Catechism, the Direc ...

, the

Three Forms of Unity The Three Forms of Unity is a collective name for the Belgic Confession, the Canons of Dort, and the Heidelberg Catechism, which reflect the doctrinal concerns of continental Calvinism and are accepted as official statements of doctrine by man ...

, and the Apostles' and

Nicene Creed The Nicene Creed, also called the Creed of Constantinople, is the defining statement of belief of Nicene Christianity and in those Christian denominations that adhere to it. The original Nicene Creed was first adopted at the First Council of N ...

s. It is a charter member of the

. Heath Druzin, host of

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

's podcast ''Extremely American'', describes the church as "a major player, if not the major player" in the Christian nationalist movement nationwide. The church has drawn attention for its vocal opposition, and active resistance to federal and local restrictions meant to halt the spread of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

. The church's head pastor, Douglas Wilson, has posted on his

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

and on YouTube to call on his followers to "resist openly, in concert with any others in your same position", which he said would constitute "an example of a free people refusing to go along with their own enslavement". Wilson's remarks, which also warned "we are not yet in a hot civil war, with shooting and all, but we ''are'' in a cold war/civil war", drew condemnation from prominent

evangelicals Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of the Christian g ...

Affiliated organizations

New Saint Andrews College

New Saint Andrews College New Saint Andrews College is a private classical Christian college in Moscow, Idaho. It was founded in 1994 by Christ Church. The college offers no undergraduate majors, but follows a single, integrated classical liberal arts curriculum from a ...

is a classical Christian

liberal arts Liberal arts education () is a traditional academic course in Western higher education. ''Liberal arts'' takes the term ''skill, art'' in the sense of a learned skill rather than specifically the fine arts. ''Liberal arts education'' can refe ...

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further education institution, or a secondary sc ...

that is listed as a ministry of Christ Church. Ben Merkle, an elder at Christ Church, is president. The church's session of Elders is the spiritual authority for the college. Studies at NSA include "the languages, history, philosophy, and culture of classical antiquity and Western tradition in the light of Scripture".

Greyfriars' Hall

Greyfriars' Hall is a ministerial training program affiliated with Christ Church. Men who complete the three-year program, which is tuition-free, receive a letter rather than a diploma. Elders of Christ Church are the program's overseers. The faculty comprises Christ Church ministers Doug Wilson, Toby Sumter, and Ben Zorne.

Bakwé Mission

The Bakwé Mission is the church's foreign mission ministry to the Bakwé people of southwest

Côte d'Ivoire Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest city and ...

. It consists mainly of translating scripture for the Bakwé Church, as well as training teachers to teach reading and writing to the Bakwé people.

Logos School

The

Logos School Logos School is a private, classical Christian school in Moscow, Idaho. Logos School is one of the first Classical Christian schools in the modern movement. Its teaching approach is discussed in the book ''Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning''. ...

is nondenominational classical Christian school with numerous connections to Christ Church, which regularly promotes

Classical Christian education The classical education movement or renewal advocates for a return to a traditional European education based on the liberal arts (including the natural sciences), the Western canons of classical literature, the fine arts, and the history of W ...

Canon Press

was founded by Doug Wilson as a ministry of Christ Church. It was later sold to Wilson's son and other Christ Church members.

History

2020 anti-mask protests

In late September 2020, Christ Church organized and promoted two anti-mask protests at Moscow's City Hall. The protests consisted of members of the church and local community gathering mask-less at City Hall and singing psalms and hymns to protest Moscow's mandatory mask policy which required people to wear a mask in public places or at large gatherings. These protests occurred on Wednesday, September 23 and Friday, September 25. At the Wednesday psalm sing/protest about 150 people showed up and five people were cited and three were arrested with the most notable arrestee being 2020 Latah County Commissioner Candidate and Christ Church deacon Gabriel Rench. At the second psalm sing/protest on Friday, September 25, the protesters were joined by counter-protesters who beat drums to try to drown out the singing. About 400 protesters showed up and no one was arrested. Charges against Gabriel Rench were later dismissed. In February 2023,

U.S. District Court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...

Judge Morrison C. England Jr. ruled that "the City indisputably erred in interpreting its own Code", and that the church members ought never to have been arrested in the first place, since the city ordinances explicitly exempted both religious and protest activities.

Local influence

Dating back to 2019, the church's leader, Douglas Wilson, has stated that the church aims to "make Moscow a Christian town", and favors "theocracy" as opposed to "civil governments,

hich Ij () is a village in Golabar Rural District of the Central District in Ijrud County, Zanjan province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq ...

are in necessary degrees satanic, demonic, and influenced by the god of this world, who is the devil". In a November 2021 investigation, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' argued that "Church figures have browbeaten elected officials over Covid restrictions, built powerful institutions in parallel to

secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin , or or ), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. The origins of secularity can be traced to the Bible itself. The concept was fleshed out through Christian hi ...

government, harassed perceived opponents, and accumulated land and businesses in pursuit of a long-term goal of transforming America into a nation ruled according to its own, ultra-conservative moral precepts". Said parallel institutions include "educational institutions, publishing houses, churches, and national associations". Many of these institutions, including

, are run by members of Wilson's family. One of the founders of the college served as the former

chief executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of the town's largest

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

employer, EMSI, which has hired about 10% of all of the college's total graduates since the school's inception. A local businessman, who spoke anonymously to ''The Guardian'', said that the church had a large footprint in Moscow's downtown, and alleged that church members was attempting to attract new members to the town through a large development project planned by a church elder.

Queen's University Belfast The Queen's University of Belfast, commonly known as Queen's University Belfast (; abbreviated Queen's or QUB), is a public research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The university received its charter in 1845 as part of ...

professor of history Crawford Gribben notes that Christ Church has made "very little impact on local politics", and that Moscow is not yet a Christian town.

References

External links

Christ Church HomepageCanon PressGreyfriars' HallNew Saint Andrews CollegeCollegiate Reformed Fellowship
{{coord, 46, 43, 51, N, 116, 59, 59, W, format=dms, display=title, type:landmark_region:US-ID Evangelical churches in Idaho Buildings and structures in Moscow, Idaho Dominion theology Conservatism in the United States Christian organizations established in the 1970s Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches Christian nationalism in the United States