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Monday, May 11, 2015

A Critique of Family-Driven Faith

This weekend Tim Challies directed us to a blog site of the same title: A critique of family-driven faith.   Now this should be understood as a discussion among friends.  This is "iron sharpening iron." I am deeply disturbed by books, media and other forms of communication that lack peer review.  I believe that as I blog, tweet or update my Facebook site and make assertions, these public comments should be evaluated by discerning brothers and sisters.

When I'm asked to review a book or some material, one of my early searches is for "peer review."  I have a lot of respect for the family-driven church.  But I have also started to have some concerns. These concerns arose long before I read this critique. Not all of them are addressed in this article by Jerry Wragg and Todd Murray, but some of them are.  If you are a fan of family focused ministry and even a fan of Voddie Baucham, so am I.  But there are some red flags that ought to concern us.   Let's be discerning.

A Critique of Voddie Baucham's Family Driven Faith: Doing What It Takes To Raise Sons and Daughters Who Walk With God


Our elders get asked all the time whether we would endorse a particular book, ministry resource, or popular teaching.  Cultivating biblical discernment is one of the most crucial aspects of the believer’s growth in the Lord. What’s difficult is that trusted teachers and authors sometimes publish questionable viewpoints, even serious errors, which foster confusion and promote unbiblical ideas.  It’s our burden as shepherds of the flock to bring biblical clarity to these challenges and help the sheep distinguish between truth and error.  A critique of otherwise faithful, godly leaders should always be loving and gracious, but where a ministry’s output has become unsound it should be pointed out, corrected, and the body of Christ strongly cautioned if the error persists.  In that spirit, below is a brief critique of the book Family Driven Faith, authored by the Family Integration Movement’s most well-known proponent, Voddie Bacham.  While evangelicalism has benefitted greatly from Voddie’s preaching ministry and faithful gospel labors, we hope this brief review will help foster greater discernment regarding this influential teaching on the family and the church. 

To continue reading click HERE.

To read Part 2 click HERE.

To read Part 3 click HERE.

I'm sure the discussion will continue and so it should.  I welcome your comments.  


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