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| westcoast frame of mind Moderator |
 Faith at Home advertisement |
Posted Feb 7, 2010; 4:59 pm |
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The current Herald (February 2010) is running an advertisement for a Faith at Home conference and invites us to learn more at Link. It seems to have some connection to Willow Creek Canada and Focus on the Family. (as far as I know Willow Creek tends towards an egalitarian approach while Focus on the Family has a complementarian approach).
I haven’t heard of Faith at Home before. I have however, heard of Family Integrated Churches (FIC). See the following links: http://www.ncfic.org/contact-us and http://www.visionforumministries.org/
FIC is quite a big movement in the states. I understand it to be very patriarchal and some proponents of it have caused quite a bit of division in churches/denominations. Emphasizing home schooling, large families etc as the only way to interpret and apply scriptures.
I’m wondering if there is any connection. Does anyone know? Is Faith at Home FIC lite? |
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| lornewel Member Joined May 11, 2004 568 posts Location: Abbotsford |
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Posted Feb 8, 2010; 10:28 am |
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I followed the Link to the ad and watched the video clip. It gives me no clue about egalitarian v. complementarian, (a couple of extra-biblical words and categorizations IMHO.) But it totally majored on the concept of the home being the primary place for raising children and passing on the Christian faith - something that definitely needs reinforcing as I see it.
It brought to mind this scripture from Genesis 18
17 Then the LORD said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? 18 Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. 19 For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him."
Have you ever wondered why God chose Abram out of all those on earth - a childless heathen - with whom to make a covenant of blessing for the whole world and through whom to bring Messiah? I have, and except for this little clue, I would have thought it was a totally sovereign, mysterious, even capricious choice.
But here I see a clue as to why the Lord took a guy with no family and probably no faith in the one true God, and chose to give him a family through which to bless and redeem the world. "..he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him." It seems to imply this is the kind of guy able to receive such a covenant, a covenant to bless the world through his descendants, because he would direct the next generations to keep the way of the Lord SO THAT the covenant blessing could flow down the generations. It even seems like the taking of Abraham into His confidence about what he was going to do with Sodom and Gomorrah was connected with this. |
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| westcoast frame of mind Moderator |
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Posted Feb 8, 2010; 8:24 pm |
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Thanks for responding Lorne,
| Quote: | | I followed the Link to the ad and watched the video clip. It gives me no clue about egalitarian v. complementarian, (a couple of extra-biblical words and categorizations IMHO.) But it totally majored on the concept of the home being the primary place for raising children and passing on the Christian faith - something that definitely needs reinforcing as I see it. |
Even though the terms: egal/comp are not found in the Bible, the terms are useful shorthand (similar to terms/labels like liberal/conservative Anabaptist/Calvinist). And I used the egal/comp terms to show that I hope the Faith at Home Ministry may be ‘balanced.’
Regarding the need for family, children and raising them in the Christian faith I agree with you.
The reason for my post was concern that Family Integrated Churches (FIC) might be showing up in Canada. Canada is very influenced by movements south of the border. A few years ago I did a bit of online research into the FIC movement and have read about it on other blogs. I remember finding one FIC church in Edmonton.
Anyone interested in spending time reading critiques of the FIC movement may find this Link interesting. The critique appears to come from a very theologically conservative perspective. By the way, there are other interesting movements in the States like the Quiverful Movement – Link think the Duggars (that tv reality show with 18+ kids in one family).
Regarding Father Abraham: I take the view that God came to him as he was within a patriarchal society and used language Abraham could understand. Fast forward to the New Covenant, we have the new people of God – God’s family. If we take the words of Jesus seriously there is a tension between family ties and church. Of course, this doesn’t negate the family. But in my view, we aren’t called to replicate patriarchal society either in our families or the church. |
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