God’s Design for Church and Home
A Report of the Phoenix Uniting Church and Family Regional Conference
October 18, 2007
One of the most remarkable aspects of this Regional Uniting Church and Family Conference was how we got there in the first place. Since we only come where we are invited, it was Heritage Baptist and Legacy Baptist Church that teamed up to sponsor the meeting.
The two pioneer pastors of these churches — Jason Young, pastor of Heritage Baptist and Rob Hudelson, pastor of Legacy Baptist — were characteristic of many family integrated church pastors.
At some point, they realized that the modern church had drifted into worldly ways of thinking, and then they risked it all to make a change.
Here is the encouraging part: there is a new breed of pastor in this country — men who are not swayed by paycheck or peer pressure. There are hundreds of courageous, God-fearing pastors afoot in this nation, and they fear neither man nor mammon, for they have risked everything — all money and relationships and comforts — for faithfulness.
The overall objective of the conference was an appeal to see, appreciate, and apply God’s design for church and home in practical ways. Kevin Swanson challenged us to prioritize to meet the challenges of our day. His prescription: Maintain the fear of God in the establishment of worship according to God’s desires; Accept the sovereignty of God over ethics and metaphysics and trust God without fear of consequences; Establish of Trinitarian life in the church and the restoration of relational community.
Scott Brown opened the conference praising God for His design for His glory in everything and calling for a return to biblical design for church and home by increasing our appreciation of the commands and patterns of scripture. Next, Kevin Swanson, spoke of the centrality of God and the sufficiency of scripture for every aspect of church life. Don Hart took us into the world of biblical jurisdictions and how this applies to the complementary relationship of church and family life. Jason Young encouraged us to keep pressing on the issue of “all of Scripture for all of life.” We engaged sessions on the role of hospitality in evangelism and fellowship, pragmatism and the dangers of syncretism. The conference was concluded with a call to recover a biblical doctrine of the family, using the Puritans as a reference point.
After the conference, Kevin Swanson expressed what many of us were thinking:
Great conference! What a blessing to see the Spirit of God moving in the hearts of fathers and pastors. These conferences will change the face of the church both orthodoxically and orthopraxically. Equipping leaders is the most powerful ministry that can be done. May God give us gold, silver, and precious stones from the work.