International Christian Fellowship
organization

International Christian Fellowship (ICF) is an international charismatic Christian association of churches. The headquarters is located in Zürich, Switzerland.
History
ICF was founded in 1990 by Heinz Strupler. In 1996, leadership was taken over by Leo Bigger and Matthias Bölsterli, who emphasized an international policy of expansion. Around 2005, worship attendance at the Zürich church was 2,000 participants. In 2017, it was 3,500. In 2020, it would have more than 40 associated churches in 12 countries. ICF has 4 Bible Colleges, ICF College.
Beliefs
The association has a charismatic confession of faith.
Small groups
Senior pastor Leo Bigger (b.
The public source identifies “International Christian Fellowship” as organization. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around International, Christian and Fellowship.
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The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1666416. VIAF identifies the subject as 157446209. The Library of Congress control number is no2003004838. 2 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1990, 1996, 2005 and 2017.
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This entry incorporates text from “International Christian Fellowship” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.