Other topics addressed by Randy Stinson at Steve Wright's "reThink Conference" (note audio download from sidebar):
Concerning the integration of ministry, unlike what is professed within some FICs, what Randy Stinson described does not rule out separate ministries in the way that those who founded the FIC concept originated. Doug Phillips and Philip Lancaster vilify separate activities so that they are not permitted. Randy Stinson describes a system that directs families who minister and study together, but it does not vilify these separate activities, just as Steve Wright points out in the “reThink” book.
Stinson says that it’s not the ministries themselves but it is the lack of integration in these ministries. Previous statements did not distinguish the SBTS model from these pre-existing groups, and perhaps SBTS honestly did not realize that in the original FICs, activities like Sunday School and age-appropriate groups were not just discouraged but were outright forbidden. The practice in many FICs (specifically that advocated by Voddie Baucham and Vision Forum) is not so much of an integration model as it is a rebellion against and a rejection of group leaders and separate groups themselves, integrating by exclusion rather than by inclusion. Stinson argues against the exclusionary model that rejects age-appropriate education. Is this not all the more reason for SBTS to distance themselves from the groups that do vilify programs like Sunday School, particularly if they are going to use so much common language and terminology.
Stinson does say that those who do not have a traditional family can be “looped back in” so that they can participate in the church, just as fragmented family members are brought back into the whole of the church. He does not go on to describe how this is accomplished, but it does NOT sound anything like the “adoption by normative families” by the assignment of a surrogate “federal head of the family” as is necessary in Doug Phillips’ FIC.
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