Seven Reasons to Attend a Family Integrated Church

What is the family integrated church movement? Why do people attend family integrated churches? Here are seven reasons! Table of contentsFirst, a Family Integrated Church Fits the New Testament PatternJesus Had Children Present When He TaughtPaul Had Children Present When He TaughtPaul Expected Children to Be Present When His Letters Were ReadSecond, a Family Integrated Church Allows Parents to Spend More Time with Their ChildrenThird, a Family Integrated Church Encourages Fathers to Be Spiritual LeadersEncouragement for WivesFourth, a Family Integrated Church Allows the Church and Home to Look Alike"What If My Children Don't Sit Perfectly in Church?"Fifth, a Family Integrated Church Surrounds Children with Adults and InfantsSixth, a Family Integrated Church Surrounds Children with Wisdom Versus FoolishnessSeventh, a Family Integrated Church Gives a Family to Those Without FamiliesWhy Aren't More Churches Family Integrated?My Personal Burden Because I must "Give an Account" https://youtu.be/j6V15FxM4FU What is the family integrated church movement? Why do people attend family integrated churches? Here are seven reasons! My previous post on having children in worship examined Old Testament verses. This is part two and it examines New Testament verses. First, a Family Integrated Church Fits the New Testament Pattern Matthew 21:12 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 13 He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.” 14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant, 16 and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, “‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?” The religious leaders were upset about two things: First, what Jesus was doing—healing the blind and the lame. Second, the children in the temple—they didn't want them making noise and crying out praises to the Lord. But Jesus wanted the children there, and He defended their presence and praise. Jesus Had Children Present When He Taught Mark 9:35 And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” 36 And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, 37 “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.” Notice not what Jesus said, but what He did. Jesus was in the middle of teaching, and He reached down and grabbed a child. He didn’t have to tell one of the disciples to go get a child from somewhere to serve as an object lesson. He had children around when He was teaching. Mark 10:13 And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. 14 But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. 15 truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” 16 And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them. First, we see another instance of Jesus rebuking people who tried to keep children away. Second, He argued that children are central to the kingdom of God. That’s a strong statement that I think argues for children to be present during worship. If the kingdom of God belongs to people who are like children, then we should probably have children worshiping with us. Paul Had Children Present When He Taught Acts 20:9 And a young man named Eutychus, sitting at the window, sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer. And being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead. 10 But Paul went down and bent over him, and taking him in his arms, said, “Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.” 11 And when Paul had gone up and had broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while, until daybreak, and so departed. 12 And they took the youth away alive, and were not a little comforted. Paul was teaching late into the night when Eutychus fell out the window and died. The Greek word for youth in verse 12 is pais and it means child or infant. It is the same word used in in Matthew 2:16 to describe the infants Herod murdered and Matthew 21 to describe the children in the temple who were calling out. The young child was there while Paul was preaching. Acts 21:5 When our days there were ended, we departed and went on our journey, and they all, with wives and children, accompanied us until we were outside the city. And kneeling down on the beach, we prayed 6 and said farewell to one another. Paul was at Tyre and he was about to head to Jerusalem. Everyone, including the children, escorted him outside the city to say goodbye to him. These people were saying goodbye to Paul, which is not a strong argument for family integration. But this account and the previous account with Eutychus are the only two in Acts that mention children. Everywhere else in Acts it discusses households worshiping together and the children were part of those households. Let me read a few of the verses: Acts 10:2 [the Roman centurion was] a devout man who feared God with all his household…and prayed continually to God. Acts 16:15 [Lydia] was baptized, and her household as well. Acts 16:34 [the Philippian jailer]…rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God. Acts 18:8 Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with his entire household. Families were praying and worshipping together. There were no examples of children being separated from their parents for worship in the Old Testament and it’s the same in in the New Testament. Paul Expected Children to Be Present When His Letters Were Read Titus 2:1 But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine. 2 Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. 3 Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, 4 and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. 6 Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled...9 Bondservants are to be submissive to their own masters in everything; they are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, 10 not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior. The “you” in verse 1 is Titus, the pastor to whom Paul wrote the letter. Paul didn’t address older men in verse 2, older women in verse 3, younger men in verse 6, or bondservants in verse 9 like he addressed Titus, because the letter wasn’t written to them. Instead, Paul was telling Titus what these people should be so he could shepherd them well. Unlike the books of Timothy and Titus, which were pastoral epistles written to individuals, Ephesians, like Paul’s other epistles, were written to churches. The pastors and elders would receive Paul’s letters and read them aloud to the church. Ephesians 5:22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord....25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her...6:1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), 3 “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” 4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. There is a significant difference. Instead of talking about people like in Titus, Paul addressed wives, husbands, children, and fathers directly in these verses. He knew this letter would be read to the church and these people would be present, so he addressed them directly. Paul didn’t have to address children directly. He could have said, “Fathers and mothers, tell your children to obey you, for this is right, and you want your children to live a long time.” But he addressed children as directly as he addressed husbands, wives, and fathers, because he envisioned them being part of the church services when these letters were read. Something else worth noticing is Paul had high expectations for children: he thought they could pay attention, notice when they’re addressed, learn, be convicted, and obey. If someone asked why there are no verses in the epistles commanding churches to have children present, it is because it was assumed they were there. Second, a Family Integrated Church Allows Parents to Spend More Time with Their Children I like to be with them. I like to see them. And if there’s one place, second only to my home, that I want my children with me, it is at church and church activities. I have had more people than I can count tell me how fast the time goes with your children and I agree. The saying is: the days are slow, but the years are fast, and it is true. I value the time I have with my children. Third, a Family Integrated Church Encourages Fathers to Be Spiritual Leaders I was raised Catholic. God saved me in my early twenties in a Calvary Chapel. I’m thankful for what I learned there, but like I shared in the previous post, whatever we first experience we tend to think is best. Because Calvary Chapel was my introduction to Christianity,