More From Randy Stinson in the FIC (Part II): Rejection of the Church as a Family of Families

Thanks to readers of this blog who also have knowledge of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary's (SBTS) beliefs about the Family Integrated Church (FIC), I've become aware of more distinctions between between their views and those held by SBC minister Voddie Baucham and those at Vision Forum, etc.

 The following quote from Randy Stinson at Steve Wright's "reThink Conference" in May reflects something only vaguely described in the Towers Online announcement about the SBTS concept and unique version of the FIC. Though the seminary shares many common beliefs with Vision Forum, it does reject this concept of the church as one big family that is comprised of many families (not acknowledging the individual apart from a family).

 Randy Stinson's "reThink Conference" presentation (audio download from blog sidebar):

There are some, in their effort to help this problem, some are defining the church in such a way so that the family will be prioritized. Some are defining the church as made up of a family of families. And while it may be just a subtle shift, a subtle move, this kind of definition, frankly, leads to certain expressions of ministry in local churches that can lead to and can be exclusive, that can be isolationist, it has a tendency to homogenize the congregation and produce sameness. 

You see, I would argue that it’s not that the church is a family of families. I would just stop at the family part. The church is a family. In fact, if you look at Romans 8, it’s your real family. I mean, what Romans 8 is teaching us is this: Paul says, “You didn’t receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry, ‘Abba Father.’ The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ provided we suffer with Him in order that we may be also glorified with Him.” ..... Outside of Christ and outside the family of God, you don’t buy yourself in, you’re not born into it, you’re adopted. Adoption is central to the Gospel. 

Because you’re outside and then you’re in. You’re adopted in. And so, while three of my daughters were born into other families, they’re in their real one right now. This is their real family. And when you come to Christ, those fellow believers around you are your real family. Now you may have some people in the real family that are biologically related to you, and that is an added blessing. But when it’s all said and done, what Paul is saying here is that the family of God is your real family. 

So it’s not that the church is a family of families, it is a family – it’s your real family. I mean, Jesus said – just think about this. Jesus said almost just the opposite. Don’t expect everybody to come, you know, with a mother, father, sister, brother lined up. He said, “If you’re not willing to forsake mother, father, sister, brother, you’re not worthy of Me.” What’s He saying? There are going to be people that are coming who have had to forsake families. There are going to be husbands whose wives have rejected the Gospel. 

There are going to be wives whose husbands have rejected the Gospel. Teenagers whose parents have rejected the Gospel. I mean, that’s where this is an unbelievable picture of the Gospel -- when the church is truly operating as a family, like a family. We went to Taiwan, we had three kids already. We went to Taiwan and brought two home, dropped them in and told everybody, “Love them. Deal with it. They look different than you and don’t even talk your same language. Love them”... I mean, that’s exactly what’s happening every time somebody comes to Christ, God’s bringing some into the local church whenever somebody comes to Christ, and He’s saying. “You’ve got to love them. 

Here’s another one. Deal with it.” They’re not going to talk like you, they’re not going to have the same socioeconomic background. It’s every tribe, every tongue and every nation – it’s not just people like you. It’s not just people that talk like you. It’s not just people who look like you – who have the perfect family like you, who have the same socioeconomic background as you with the same hobbies. We’ve got church for cowboys, church for sky divers, church for homeschoolers. So, wow. You can get a bunch of people that look like you, think like you, and talk like you and love each other. Where’s the exhaltation of the Gospel in that? Big deal. That’s not what the Gospel says. 

The Gospel says that everybody’s going to be different. Now see what you’ve got. Now let’s love them and see what you’ve got... So if we believe that the church should be understood in this way, then I think we should structure the ministries in our church to cultivate this, to encourage this, to promote it. What we’re talking about here is such a – it’s not a radical shift. It is a trajectory shift which means that we’re saying that we’re going to re-tool this thing. 

We need to make it a shift, but it’s not radical, but it’s enough that it puts you in a different trajectory. You are going to end up somewhere other than where you were going to end up before. I mean, it’s family focus, it’s an intergenerational approach, that treats all believers as part of the family. This is where I think so many people are missing it.

Tweet

More From Randy Stinson on the FIC Part I: Vision Forum Commonalities

Steve Wright's concept of revising and "reThinking" youth ministry outlines the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary's concept of the Family Integrated Church. At least, that's what I'm told. On Wright's website entitled "Lasting Divergence," in the sidebar near the bottom, you can access Randy Stinson's message at Wright's May 2008 "reThink Conference."

In upcoming posts, I would like to point out where SBTS departs from the Vision Forum FIC concept, but in this quote, I note language that echoes the language that Vision Forum and others like Philip Lancaster have used for many, many years.

Randy Stinson's "reThink Conference" presentation
(audio download from blog sidebar):

We’re really talking about creating an ethos, a way of life in the church, a climate in the church.

A climate where as you’ve discussed all day long, where families are brought together, not fragmented. Where dads are encouraged to lead, where parents bear the primary responsibility of discipling their children, where the hearts of children are turned towards their mothers and fathers, where the hearts of mothers and fathers are turned toward their children, where teenagers who come without their parents have a place, where single moms and broken families can come and understand what real family living is all about but being part of the broader family of God. 

Because the Bible teaches that the church is a family. Or at the very least, it teaches that the church is supposed to operate like a family in its structure, in the way that members relate to one another. It’s supposed to be a family and it’s predicated on the family, and so the family is central to this and we need to pour a lot of energy into the preservation of the family because the family is the picture and the family is the paradigm for how the church is supposed to operate.

Please visit again for upcoming posts that point out some sharp contrasts between the SBTS concept and the Vision Forum concept of the FIC.

.
.

Tweet

More From Randy Stinson on the FIC (Part III): No Rejection of Age-Appropriate Education

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.
.
.

Tweet

"reThinking" the FIC in the SBC -- More Distinctions

In previous posts, I described how individuals within the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) criticized my inclusion of their seminary professors' statements within a lecture on patriarchy, and how at least two of their seminaries embrace a concept of ministry that they call the “Family Integrated Church,” (FIC) a system that originated outside of the SBC.

Tweet

The Family Integrated Church is "Errant and Schismatic"?

The Family Integrated Church Movement was deemed "errant and schismatic" by a group of Fundamentalist Baptists because....

• It encourages schism in the local church bodies by encouraging its adherents to change the theology and philosophy of the churches of which they are members.

• It does violence to local church authority, calling on local church members to leave their churches when the church does not bow to the philosophical demands of the movement.

• It espouses an ecclesiology based upon the family that is not based upon the New Testament but rather is an adaptation of Old Testament (Blog host note: ? or pagan Roman ?!) patriarchy.

• It falsely lays the claim that the destruction of the family in the U.S. is solely the fault of age-graded ministries in local churches. We contend that this is a simplistic and therefore false accusation.

• It espouses a post-millennial theology that is contradictory to a dispensational understanding of Scripture.

• It is oddly inclusive, basing fellowship on a particular philosophy of ministry rather than on the great fundamentals of the faith.
  

Tweet