What a wonderful time! This being my 1st NCFIC conference, I was blessed beyond my wildest expectations. My wife and 2 of our 4 children learned a lot...and were encouraged to think. Really, we were exhorted and encouraged to consider Christ and His Bride!! Thank you!!! S.M.

They came representing thirty-four states and dozens of congregations. For three special days in August, more than six hundred men women and children, families and church leadership gathered in St. Louis to discuss both the theory and the practicals of biblical, Christ-centered, family-friendly local churches. Two years after church leaders gathered for the first national conference, and with hundreds of both new and established local churches since the time of the first conference embracing a Christ-centered, family-integrated approach to church life (see our Confession for Uniting Church and Family), we gathered to grow, to learn and to fellowship.

For more than a decade there has been a growing movement that spans denominational (and even many doctrinal distinctives) to correct the anti-family excesses and humanistic infiltration of the modern church. The cry of the hour is sola scriptura as many within the ranks of local church leadership and the home school movement have woken up to the devastating impact of building church culture and liturgy around methodologies foreign to Scripture.

Historically, crisis has always forced Christians to go back to the Bible and re-examine their prejudices and practices in light of the only objective, unchanging standard given by God to His Church. The defining crisis of this generation is the systematic annihilation of the Christian family. Leading the way in inadvertently facilitating this crisis is mainstream Christianity with its toleration for divorce, its advocacy of feminism, its acceptance of the banned parenthood philosophy of child prevention, its promotion of the idolatry of youth culture, its acceptance of Madison avenue corporate management to support ecclesiocentric visions of church life, its individualistic and anti-patriarchal philosophy of life which leads to an obfuscation of legitimate jurisdictions between the church and family, and its rejection of biblical holiness for cultural syncretism.

The result is that far too many churches are persecuting families (especially home educators), discouraging men from taking responsibility for their families and in the meeting of the church, encouraging children to look to youth pastors and peers even before parents, creating pressure for women to forsake their roles as wives, mothers and keepers at home, and building corporate empires which extend the jurisdiction of the local church well beyond the parameters given in Scripture.

The stories of abuse are simply epidemic. I have heard hundreds, if not thousands over the last ten years.

Themes of the 2004 National Conference
Two years ago, the emphasis of the First National Conference for Uniting Church and Home was on evaluating the problem and laying foundations for the future. This year the conference emphasized the need to humbly seek the Lord Jesus Christ and to make Him our focus and objective, even as we seek to honor Him by embracing His God-ordained means to the goal of seeing the local church and family work together with finely tuned unity and precision.

Conference themes included: (1) Jurisdictional Thinking vs. Authoritarianism or Individualism; (2) Biblical Holiness vs. Syncretism; (3) The Sufficiency of Scripture vs. False Notions of Neutrality; (4)A Vision of Victory vs. Acceptance of Status Quo; and (5) Biblical Patriarchy vs. The Church Effeminate; (6)Christ-Centeredness vs. Anything-Else-Centeredness; and (7) Preparations and Perseverance (in the wake of present and future persecutions both internal and external to the Church) vs. Indifference, Fatalism or Shortsightedness.

There was a special emphasis on encouraging church shepherds to love the flock, by discipling men and encouraging families. One young pastor wrote to us:

[This was a]fantastic, encouraging experience that was tailored to the needs we are facing as we seek to live out a family-integrated vision. As a 30 year old pastor with 5 children and a heart for family I was amazed to find many other young men just like me...How exciting to see God doing a work across the country in the hearts of young men like myself. I thought I was much more alone. I see God pouring out vision everywhere as a result of this time.

Another conference theme, beautifully emphasized by pastor Jeff Pollard, was humility. Carmon Freidrich of buriedtreasurebooks.com wrote this touching account:

Great emphasis was placed on the need to be tough on ourselves and forbearing with others. This was repeated over and over, reminding us that our convictions do not make us better than our brothers and sisters in Christ who do not agree with us. We had many encouraging conversations with folks who described their journey to their convictions about age-integrated church, homeschooling, modest apparel and eschewing planned barrenhood. To a person, they were very aware that their beliefs about these things had come because as they sought to obey God in everything, He had put them on a journey to reach their present beliefs, and they understood that others may still be on that journey. Though we strongly hold our beliefs and even need to propound them to others in the proper venue (as our jurisdiction merits), we are to be humble before God and men at all times.

This spirit and emphasis of the participants in the conference appeared to reflect a blessed maturity (often encouraged through God’s school of hard knocks)as many have been about the business, not only of building strong families, but making real strides towards building Christ-centered local churches with a passion for promoting multi-generational thinking, biblical fatherhood, personal holiness, and parent-to-child discipleship.

Since the first national conference, hundreds of church leaders have turned their hearts. Numerous congregations have switched directions for the better. The numerous testimonies of pastors were especially encouraging. Many new congregations with have been planted, or are in the process of being planted. The hundreds of individuals and local churches on the NCFIC directory is evidence of the hunger and enthusiasm for seeing the heart of families turn to the local church, and the heart of local church leaders turn to the men of their congregations and the families they lead.

That the fundamental principles of Christ-honoring, family-integrated worship need to continually be articulated was also evident. For many in attendance, the messages were a blessed, but very real splash of cold “wake-up” water. One particapant wrote:

I was invited to this conference by some brothers who came two years ago. Honestly, I did not want to come, my life is too busy. I pondered that thought as I looked at my 4 children. I am too, too busy, again as I looked into the eyes of my children, thinking these children need me here I can’t go away. The LORD ministered to me that night, you work 14-16 hrs a day, you’re gone for work. Go, go for 3 day’s and be fed, be encouraged, grow. You will hear things and learn the things you need for the proper teaching and training of these children that you love so. This is what the Lord spoke to me that night. I have been blessed abundantly, stretched and challenged...Thank you for fighting the good fight. God bless you and your families from the bottom of my heart. J.R.

But thanks be to God, most of us in attendance left with a deep sense of hope and a direction for the future. Now we must put our hand to the plow and press on.

(P.S. The smiling, bearded gentleman above is Dr.Dave Black. He lectured at this year’s conference on “The Myth of Adolescence,” which is also the title of his new book. Dave is a remarkable fellow of many accomplishments: A professor of New Testament Greek at a major seminary, a devoted husband and father, a defender of biblical voting ethics, an equestrian and farmer, the man behind the innovative and humorous website daveblackonline.com, and an expert “goofyfoot” who can masterfully take a 40 foot wave at Pipeline or Sunset, on Oahu, where Dave grew up. Don’t believe me, check out his website.)