In November 2024, the International Christian Church (ICC) disfellowshipped its founder, Kip McKean, citing "unrepentant sins." A week earlier it had disfellowshipped the leaders of the newly formed Restored Church Worldwide (RCW).

Two months later, the RCW publicly restored him. A video titled "Kip McKean's Restoration," recorded at an RCW World Missions Gathering on January 10, 2025, marks the occasion. In it, McKean confesses to sexual impurity, pornography and drunkenness, says ICC leaders confronted him on April 18, 2024, and says his "root sin was arrogance." By April 2026 he was teaching. Restored Church LA posted a midweek lesson by Kip McKean called "Invest In Eternity," given at its Metro Coast midweek service.

He is still teaching. On October 14, 2026, McKean gave the men's midweek charge at RCW LA West Valley, and Restored Church LA posted it two days later under the title "10 Commandments of Reverence."

The RCW has described itself as a return to the "original convictions and culture" the ICC was founded on. Its leaders have said the ICC's problems were problems of leadership.

Questions to consider

  1. In the RCW's own video of his restoration, Kip McKean confesses to sexual impurity, pornography and drunkenness, sins he describes as spanning years. Scripture asks that a leader be "above reproach" and "sober-minded" (1 Timothy 3:2). With that confession on record, should he be given a pulpit and a position of influence?
  2. If the RCW's break with the ICC was about leadership, what does it mean that the ICC's founder now teaches in the RCW?
  3. Some in the RCW defend his teaching by pointing to Paul, whose violent past did not define him. But Paul's sins were done in the open and ended when he met Christ (1 Timothy 1:13). The allegations against McKean describe misconduct kept hidden for years while he was leading. Is Scripture being applied here, or stretched, with God's standard lowered because of the role he once held?

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