In 1978 a Fundamentalist preacher named Kip McKean became pastor of the Boston Church of Christ, which at that time was based in Lexington and boasted only 30 members. Today the Church holds Sunday services in the Boston Garden for a fanatically loyal flock of well over 3000.

Among the throng are 30 Harvard undergraduates, many of whom have joined the church in the past year.

The increasing number of students attracted to the church has drawn concern from administrators and clergy at several schools in the Boston-area, who are stepping up their efforts to stem proselytizing on their campuses.

At Harvard, officials in the College and the United Ministry have distributed a special pamphlet to warn students about proselytizers in general and have been outspoken in their criticisms of the Boston Church of Christ. They say the Church's recruiting pattern at Harvard and at other colleges in the area oversteps the bounds of legitimate religious activity.

Harvard officials say these practices, which include door to door solicitation in dormitories, repeated odd hour telephone calls to potential recruits, and deceptive descriptions of Church structure and activities, amount to harrassment of students.

Concerns about the Church have grown this year as it dramatically increased its Harvard recruiting efforts, targeting especially freshman.

Church officials deny these charges, claiming they are simply obeying the New Testament edict that Christians should spread the Gospel everywhere.

"I'm not aware of any real harrass- ment of outsiders by our members. We simplybelieve very strongly that people need God, thatpeople need to come to God. In order to bring thisabout, we will talk to people as long as they willlisten," says Boston Church of Christ HarvardMinistry leader Preston Shepherd.

"The means that we use to try and persuadepeople aren't any different from the ones thatanybody might use to talk a friend into doing theright thing, or even into going out to dinner or amovie," Shepherd says "Persuasion is a normal partof everyday life."

One student recruited by the church, who spokeon the condition of anonymity, says she joined thechurch after she was approached while eatingdinner alone in the Union. The student says shewas asked to go to a bible meeting, where everyonewas very affectionate and caring. It was madeclear, she says, that these friendships would onlycontinue if she devoted herself to the church.

Psychiatrists at University Health Service(UHS) say freshmen are especially vulnerable tohigh-pressure proselytizing because of theirrecent severance from home support networks. Acorrelation exists between the poor academicrecords of some freshmen and their involvementwith the Church, Harvard and United Ministryofficials say.

But Church officials point to students whosegrades have improved since they joined the Church.They claim that the Church provides a supportive,caring environment in which converts can growspiritually while continuing to achieve in thesecular world.

Nonetheless several univeristies have increasedtheir efforts to stem the Church's influence ontheir campus.

Boston University recently banned the Church'snon-student members from entering Universitybuildings.

The school's chaplain, Robert Thornberg, wrotein an August letter to the Church that they had"repeatedly engaged in actions which interferewith the privacy of Boston University students andthe policies of the University regardingsolicitation and proselytizing on campus,particularly in the residence halls."