Church Leaders Discuss Family-Integrated Churches

Doug Phillips

  by Douglas W. Phillips, Esq., September 25, 2001

During the week of September 11, 2001, a gathering of pastors, elders and church leaders from across  gathered with Vision Forum Ministries and the newly formed National Center for Family-Integrated Churches in San Antonio for the first ever “Summit on Uniting Church and Home.” At issue was the necessity of encouraging a reformation (and praying for a revival) concerning the relationship of the family to the local church.

At a time when God is turning the hearts of many fathers to their children, and where biblical patterns of Hebrew discipleship are being rediscovered and implemented in the homes of many families who have embraced home education, a glaring dichotomy still exists in those churches which practice unbiblical family-segregating, and teen-culture driven philosophies of church life.

The purpose of the Summit was to identify the basic issues which must be addressed for reformation to take place in local churches across America. Specific concerns included:

  1. The difference between an biblical family culture in the local church, and the prevailing age-segregated, youth driven philosophy of ministry;
     
  2. The role fathers should play in the meeting of the Church, and the necessity that local churches formally train them to be shepherds at home;
     
  3. The importance of treating the meeting of the Church as a family gathering of believers, not merely an evangelism outreach to the lost;
     
  4. The dangers of transforming the purpose and freedom of the church to grow as a body of believers because of the introduction of wrong philosophies of debt;
     
  5.  Reasons why reinforcing the New testament model for worship will encourage family revival., and much more.

Several important decisions were made. First, it was discussed that a committee of church leaders should be formed to draft a confession to be promoted and adopted by local churches as a reformation declaration of commitment to biblical principles of for uniting church and home. Second, plans were discussed for a national conference to address these and related issues. Third, it was proposed that a database be formed for churches who subscribe to basic principles of Christian orthodoxy by affirming the historic creeds, and who believe in uniting church and home, and signify such by affirming the confession.