It is not the responsibility of the church to usurp the role of teaching children. People in the age-segregated movements say to me, “We are not trying to usurp the parent’s role.” Then I ask them a simple question, “What is the mission statement of your youth ministry.” I ask that question because you can go to any orthodox church in the country, and the mission statement always says something like this, “Our mission is to win and disciple young people.” In other words, the mission of the youth group is to do what God has called parents to do. Whenever your mission is to do something that God has called someone else to do, you have a problem. We are working against God in many of our structures. (Dr. Voddie Baucham)
More than four hundred seminary students, church leaders, and mothers and fathers attended the NCFIC regional conference in Raleigh, North Carolina for Unity Between Church and Family. The conference, which featured Dr. Voddie Baucham, Dr. Ted Seago, Dr. David Black, Scott Brown, and Ten P’s in a Pod author, Arnold Pent, focused on identifying the nature of the family crisis within the church, refuting unscriptural humanistic practices which have infiltrated the church and threaten the stability of both church and family, and offering hope through clear biblical solutions. Four specific themes of interest are noted below:
The Sufficiency of Scripture: We are not at liberty to introduce into our church life-practices and patterns built on pagan assumptions and inconsistent with Holy Scripture.
Fathers Must Lead the Discipleship of Their Children: Whoever gives hope to the next generation will have the heart of the generation. Fathers are the God-ordained hope-communicators who are personally responsible for overseeing a relationship-driven, Word-based training program of their own children. It is the duty of the local church to prepare and train fathers for this role, not to take it away from them.
Existing Churches are Being Reformed; New Churches Are Ready to be Planted: The message of unity between local church and family is transcending denominational boundaries. Church leaders from a diversity of orthodox denominational and independent backgrounds are already about the business of reforming pre-existing local churches and planting new assemblies with a founding commitment to follow God’s program for church and home. NCFIC emphasizes that Christians must work honorably with deference and respect for reformation in pre-existing churches.
A Network of Resources is Being Developed: Numerous tools (books, CDs, and videos) have been developed, or are in production, to equip saints for the job of family and church reformation.
(Make a donation of any amount to support Vision Forum Ministries before the end of this month and we will send you a copy of Dr. Voddie Baucham’s address, “Getting Our Houses in Order,” on compact disc.)