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The mission of Church & Family Life is to proclaim the sufficiency of Scripture for both church and family life.
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The Family-Integrated Church Network

This network facilitates connections between churches who believe that scripture is sufficient and that the worship of God should be regulated by the Word of God alone. To apply these principles, these churches worship in an age-integrated fashion. See our statement, “A Declaration of the Complementary Roles of Church and Family.”

If your church substantially agrees with these applications of the sufficiency of scripture, we welcome you on our network. We want people to find your church.

The purpose of the network is to foster connections between like-minded churches, pastors, and families with the goal of building healthy congregations. Please note that the churches listed here do not comprise a denomination, The FIC Network is not an approved list of healthy churches. Church & Family Life does not endorse all listings on this network.

We welcome and encourage you to search for churches in your area. Further, that you create a profile on the network of your church.

How do you go about finding a healthy family-integrated church?

First of all, we recommend that you search our list of churches that have affirmed our confession for uniting church and family. It is a confession that establishes the supremacy of Christ and His Word. And it is an explanation of the way church and family are meant to function together in a harmonious way according to scripture. 

But here’s a word of caution as you go out to try to find this church. There is a danger of using our network to find a church and concluding that it is a perfect church because it is an age-integrated church. Then, after attending for a while, getting discouraged because that church from our network had flaws or wasn’t exactly what was described in the confession for uniting church and family. While we gladly promote the existence of family-integrated churches, family integration (while it is important) is not the most important thing about a church. 

Here’s how our network works: the churches on this network have not been evaluated by Church and Family Life. Our position towards the churches on our network is that you evaluate us, but we don’t evaluate you. We have written a confession that establishes the basics of what we stand for and, if a church genuinely embraces those things, we are happy to have them on our list of churches. However, we do not make any claims for the integrity of these churches or their leaders. 

Here is a seven-question checklist to determine whether a church you are visiting is a healthy church. 

  1. Does this church preach the true gospel? 
  2. Does this church place the Lord Jesus Christ at the center of everything?
  3. Is the Bible the ultimate authority in all matters in this church? 
  4. Does the pastor attempt biblical exposition or is he simply speaking out of his own passions?
  5. Is the church elder-led or is the senior pastor biblically qualified? (Ideally, we recommend you go to a church with multiple, biblically qualified elders.)
  6. Does the church practice discipline?
  7. Is the church age-integrated or substantially so? (Notice this element is much further down on the list of how to find a healthy church.) 

We do not believe that age integration is the most important matter in church life. While we do believe it is a biblical and, therefore, critical matter, it is better to be in a gospel-centered, Bible-preaching church that is not age-integrated than it is to be in an age-integrated church where the gospel is neglected, the word of God is not central, and the leaders are not biblically qualified. 

I pray that you will find a wonderful, gospel-centered church that is age-integrated but don’t be disconnected from a local church. The church is the body of Christ and it is so important that you and your family make a local church a huge priority in your life. I pray that God blesses you with a wonderful gospel-centered, Bible preaching, evangelistic, Christ-exalting, family-integrated church.  

Scott Brown 

Director of Church & Family Life
Sermons from the Network Meet the Regional Facilitators
FIC Resources
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Paul Washer
2M
Paul Washer Endorsement
Oct. 8, 2023
Many people have asked me about NCFIC, you know, and they've asked me about my participation in the conferences and many people have said, “Well, aren't they extreme on the family or they do not put enough attention on the church or that they're not gospel-centered.” And I think, my goodness, you know, where are people hearing these things? The reason why I come to these conferences is HeartCry and myself, we're all about planting churches. And we believe that the call, the great commission is not to just disciple, not just to evangelize, but to form churches, biblical sound churches that can reach the culture. And I have gained more insight and more help by coming to these conferences than all the other conferences I've ever participated in. This [year's] NCFIC [conference]... I have never seen a conference that so existed to exalt Christ; that worked so hard to present men as men and not to exalt men. I've never seen such a love for the gospel of Jesus Christ in any other place that I've been, any other conference. And especially in this conference and especially with Brother Scott, I have never seen an individual who is more concerned about the bride of Jesus Christ and the local church. I don't come here because I'm invited to speak. I come here because I've learned things that I've been able to take back to the mission field. And so that's why I have a deep respect for Brother Scott Brown and for NCFIC. And I will continue coming here as long as they ask me. 
SB
Scott Brown
11M
Is Age-Integrated Worship a Historical Norm?
Oct. 7, 2023
Aaron Denlinger posted an article on Reformation21,   In the article, he identified a time in the sixteenth-century Church of Scotland in which children were excluded from worship services. I’m still chuckling at the YouTube video satire he included on how children’s church started… I don’t disagree with his content in terms of his source documentation of a historical fact in the history of the church of Scotland. Further, I did appreciate that he believes there are advantages to age-integrated worship.  He quotes from Margo Todd’s book, “The Culture of Protestantism in Modern Scotland” where children were excluded from hearing sermons in order not to interrupt the more mature parishioners. This is neither old or new. Jesus encountered it when his disciples wanted to whisk the children away from him and he said, “suffer the little children…”  It is clear that our Lord Jesus Christ did not believe his teaching was hampered by the presence of children. The question Mr. Denlinger poses is historical – not biblical. Is the historical pattern age-segregated or not? While Aaron Denlinger is correct that the church in Scotland did in fact practice this form of age segregation, I would like to offer four considerations. First, our argument has always been that age integration has been the norm in the church, while there have been exceptions and different expressions of it throughout history. We have crafted an extensive document to explain the nuances,   Here is how I describe history on the matter in my book, “A Weed in the Church”: > “for most of Christian history, children were present in the meetings of God’s people.”1 I would have preferred that Mr. Denlinger provide some positive proof that excluding children in the services of the worship of God has been the norm. He is correct if he is saying that there are examples which are exceptions, where age segregation was practiced. Second, exceptions don’t invalidate the no
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Carlton McLeod
55M
Transitioning to a Family-Integrated Church
Oct. 6, 2023
We believe that the family-integrated church model is the church structure that is found in scripture. This is not a matter of first liking the idea of family-integrated church and then looking for it in scripture. Instead this conclusion is based on not only the inerrancy and inspiration of scripture, but also the sufficiency of scripture. Recognizing the scriptures as the sufficient standard for the local church is really the foundation of the family-integrated church and must be the starting point for a change in church structure.
DJ
Dr. Joel Beeke
53M
The Family at Church
Oct. 5, 2023
How should you train your children to prepare for worship services? How should children listen to the preached Word and receive it? How can you help them retain it and put its content into practice? What role should the prayer meetings have in your family? Why are they so important biblically and historically? Answering these questions, we see the need for families - parents and children - to be actively involved in the church’s core callings of corporate worship and corporate prayer. To begin with, it is crucial that fathers teach their children first how to listen attentively to the preached Word.
VB
Voddie Baucham
39M
Voddie Baucham on Youth Ministry
Oct. 4, 2023
In modern evangelicalism, it is almost impossible for some to imagine church life without dedicated youth and children ministries. But what are the foundations of this modern innovation? What has been its fruit? In this video, Voddie Baucham answers a series of questions on the history, foundation, and outcome of the modern youth ministry movement.
SB
Scott Brown
76M
What is a Family Integrated Church?
Oct. 3, 2023
With the prevalence of age segregation of all kinds in the modern church there can be a lot of confusion and misunderstanding, and sometimes even distrust, about what family integrated churches are and why we structure our churches in this way. While family integration may seem novel today, if we look at history we can see that the innovation is really the program driven, divided church - family integration is an attempt to return to a more historic, and biblical, way of doing church.
SB
Scott Brown
53M
How Do You Train Children to Stay in the Worship Service
Oct. 2, 2023
When discussing family integrated worship one of the first concerns raised it "How do I get my kids to behave in church?" The practical aspect of keeping children in the worship service is an important issue and in many cases a real difficulty, especially if changing from an age segregated meeting. Thankfully, there are simple, practical things that parents and members can do and it all starts with the mindset of recognizing the goodness of having children in the church.
SB
Scott Brown
48M
A Biblical Case for Age-Integrated Discipleship
Oct. 1, 2023
Is there a specific text that commands the New Testament Church to keep their children in the congregation on the Lord's Day? No there isn't. However, a survey of the Bible shows that the consistent patterns of God's people under both Covenants was one of age-integrated discipleship where families brought their children in to participate in the community of faith.
MJ
Mark Jones
7M
Shall Children Listen to Sermons?
Sep. 30, 2023
I’ve been pastoring in Vancouver for roughly twelve years now, preaching close to 1000 sermons, to over 50 nationalities, with people of various backgrounds and theological understanding in the pews. And 100s of children (ages 0-13) have been present. We are a Presbyterian church and, as such, believe children belong to the kingdom of God (Matt. 19:14). For us, there really is no question whether children belong in the worship service (Eph. 6:1). It would make more sense for me to cut off my right leg than it would for me to tell my children to leave the worship service (see 1 Cor. 12). As a preacher and a father of four young children, few things have given me more delight in this world than singing with my children in the worship service and looking at them when I’m preaching knowing that they are hearing and listening to the preached word of God. As Presbyterians, besides the fact that we believe worship is a privilege for God’s people, regardless of age, sex, race, class, etc., we also believe there is a unique God-ordained power in the preached Word that transforms the people of God (2 Cor. 3:18). The preached Word has a unique power to “make alive” and “build up,” such that willfully removing ourselves from such a blessing is to remove us from the primary means God has ordained for our salvation (Rom. 10:14ff.). Naturally, when I came across an article offering reasons why one church “let the little ones go from the worship service,” I was rather disappointed. The author (Pastor Paul Carter) “believe[s] in the transforming power of the preached Word of God,” but his church sends those under the age of 10 to Sunday School where, I assume, adults teach and thus also miss out on the preached Word. The implication is that this transforming power is better reserved for those over the age of 10. According to his experience, having “little ones in the service works against the smooth operation of that process” because “every fussing toddler is surrounded by a 20 person circle of distraction” and “of course, no one is listening to the sermon.” Children are “distraction factories,” and so need to be removed for the common good! As a pastor, I would say that much of my own efforts in sermon preparation are geared towards making the sermon simple enough for both children and adults to understand. Having pastored in a church that allows all ages to worship in the sanctuary, I have found that having children
SB
Scott Brown
3M
Some Answers For Critics
Sep. 29, 2023
Over the years, many people have written both positively and negatively about Church and Family Life.  Here are the seven most common mischaracterizations. Church and Family Life redefines the nature of the church as a “Family of Families.” False. Our understanding of the nature of the church is consistent with the historic doctrinal statements of the faith including the second London Baptist Confession of 1689, the Westminster Confession of Faith, the Heidelberg Catechism and The Baptist Faith and Message 2000. Many years ago, we said, “the church is a spiritual family of families.” Some said we were presenting a new definition for the church when in fact we were not speaking of the nature of the church at all. All we meant is that a separate jurisdiction – a family - comes to church and it needs to be acknowledged as such and equipped to be a biblical family. We were not redefining the nature of the church. Church and Family Life believes that the church is an extension of the family. False.  We do not believe the church is an extension of the family, rather they are separate yet complimentary institutions. Church and Family Life wrongfully places the family over the church in priority.  False. We have plainly stated that we believe the church is supreme among the institutions for it is eternal while the family is temporal. Church and Family Life believes that the church should be family-based. False. We do not believe that the church should be family-based. We believe that the foundation and center of attention of the church ought to be the Lord Jesus Christ and His gospel. Further, we believe that families form critical building blocks of the church in the sense that families send their members to church and if you have weak and unbiblical family life, you will have a weak church.  Church and Family Life believes that the church can only relate to family members through the father. False. We do not believe that the church must always work through or communicate through a father. We believe that the church has authority to discipline and instruct every individual believer in the family not just the head of the family, or through the head of the family. Church and Family Life believes that the whole family must always be together for all gatheri
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