tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19532009.post7585232339024504940..comments2023-05-02T09:50:43.941-05:00Comments on Reformed Baptist Blog: Will Scott Brown Answer My Challenge?Keith Throophttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08112617983370327521noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19532009.post-64590696738074706402014-10-22T21:13:40.545-05:002014-10-22T21:13:40.545-05:00Yes, it does thank you so much for your time and e...Yes, it does thank you so much for your time and explanations...I really appreciate it! Particularly the portion regarding children's church, it has been most helpful. Blessings!Jesusfollowerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00974233518175394300noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19532009.post-5915770230210007172014-10-22T09:47:04.449-05:002014-10-22T09:47:04.449-05:00Well, as I pointed out in Part 1 of the series, &q...Well, as I pointed out in Part 1 of the series, "there is yet another way in which we can discern whether or not a ministry practice is Biblical, for we can look to see if a practice has a Biblical precedent. One example of such a precedent would be the practice of worshiping on Sunday (Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:1-2). Another example of such a precedent would be the inclusion of children in the worship gatherings of the church. It would appear obvious, for instance, that the apostle Paul assumed that children would be present with their parents at church gatherings when he included instructions for them in at least two of his epistles (Eph. 6:1-3; Col. 3:20), epistles which he expected to be publicly read when the church gathered for worship (Col. 4:16)." Given this precedent, and in keeping with some of the same concerns you have mentioned, we at Immanuel Baptist Church -- where I currently serve as the primary teaching elder -- do not have a children's church time. We keep our children in the worship service with their parents and the church body. The same is true for our Sunday evening teaching time. We do offer a nursery for infants and toddlers should their parents opt to use it, but we leave that decision entirely up to the parents, many of whom regularly bring their infants and toddlers into these gatherings.<br /><br />As for mid-week meetings, we offer a Children Desiring God program and a Youth Group on Wednesday evening roughly coinciding with a typical school year. However, involvement in these programs is also entirely up to the parents, of course, whose judgment concerning the necessity or value of such time and whose judgment concerning the needed time to be with family in a given week we trust as best. After all, balancing such priorities has to be done on a case by case basis anyway.<br /><br />As you can see, we seek to be Biblically balanced in what we do, and we offer these means of additional help in teaching and discipling children without putting pressure on parents to involve their children in ways which they might deem detrimental to their time together as a family or which might violate their consciences. In fact, for those parents who prefer not to involve their children in Sunday school either, we allow them to bring them into the adult Sunday school class with them if they desire.<br /><br />So, for example, if someone such as yourself should be involved at Immanuel, you would find it easy to follow your own conscience as to whether or not you would want to involve your children in any of our age segregated ministries. We think this is the best way to go, since we believe that Scripture allows freedom in the matter. I hope this answers your questions.Keith Throophttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08112617983370327521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19532009.post-58636034628952299512014-10-22T07:41:50.300-05:002014-10-22T07:41:50.300-05:00Hi Pator Keith! Thank you for your articles they w...Hi Pator Keith! Thank you for your articles they were informative and helpful. I agree with your position on SS, but I would like to get your position on other age - segregated classes such as children's church and weekly activities where the families are not together. This is where I personally start to have a hard time with the age-segregation because I feel the world continually divides the family and then it seems like in most churches when the family comes to church they get divided again. As for children's church I don't believe that is church as the children are separated from the church and then they have a hard time being integrated into the church as They grow older because they have never been a part of the actual church. They have been segregated. Again, I don't have this opinion in regards to children attending a SS class but when you combine SS, children's church and another weekly activity I see that as a division and would love to get yor Biblical opinion. Thank you for your time! Jesusfollowerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00974233518175394300noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19532009.post-25537474578374026422014-09-19T16:58:39.790-05:002014-09-19T16:58:39.790-05:00One of his old best buddies in business/ministry d...One of his old best buddies in business/ministry didn't even allow comments on his blog, and any questions sent to him were handled by those lower down the ladder. These men are unapproachable and above rebuke. Don't you know that by now? :(Marcia Wilwerdinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11601748042771639280noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19532009.post-82268821404310186082014-09-19T12:42:27.597-05:002014-09-19T12:42:27.597-05:00Well, I'm not holding my breath. Perhaps Brown...Well, I'm not holding my breath. Perhaps Brown thinks that, since they are currently working on a revision of their "Biblical Confession For Uniting Church And Family," the issues I have raised will be sufficiently responded to there. If so, then a note saying so should suffice for the time being. On August 28, he posted this update regarding the Confession: "One of the most significant things we have been engaged in recently is the upgrading of the NCFIC confession. We are re-drafting it with significant improvements. This new version will be very important in defining, what has been and still is, one of the truly important considerations for the church in the 21st century as well as charting the course forward through a better document. I have engaged a dozen men - pastors and theologians - who are working on the new version. Some of these men are not on exactly the same page as we are, but have graciously agreed to take a careful look at it and help us improve the language." It is posted on the NCFIC blog here: https://ncfic.org/blog/posts/ncfic_ministry_updateKeith Throophttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08112617983370327521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19532009.post-12746470563042866192014-09-19T12:12:09.042-05:002014-09-19T12:12:09.042-05:00If you hear from him, we (The Confessing Baptist) ...If you hear from him, we (The Confessing Baptist) wouldn't mind hosting a friendly dialog between you two. If you both think it would be worth it.Jason D.https://www.blogger.com/profile/11124226846257435314noreply@blogger.com