Unfortunately, as I will exhibit below, Joey Cochran has turned an opportunity to dialogue and learn the true nature of Family Integrated Church into a rant that is riddled with fallacious arguments and concerns that have long since been dealt with by the NCFIC.

“Kendall and I watched Divided last night and found that we agreed with many of the comments. At the same time, we also felt like the agenda is too extreme. The movie Divided seems to paint the picture that every youth ministry undermines the work of parents. Our Church must apparently be some anomaly to this standard because Fellowship Bible Church views the youth ministry as merely a supplement to what happens in the home. We make intentional efforts to assist parents and connect with them as a support network as they disciple their families. In no way do we try to replace a parent or undermine their parenting.”

Too extreme? In what way is arguing for the sufficiency of Scripture for youth ministry extreme? In any case, Cochran misses the point in his next few statements when he argues for the honorableness of his own youth ministry. This point was well addressed by Voddie Baucham's comments. You can watch those comments HERE

“Ironically, I had a conversation about Divided the Movie with Tim Challies over dinner last week in Toronto. He’s written a review of the movie, which he and I discussed. I heartily recommend his review. Below is some of my critique from the movie.”

For those who would like to see my response to Tim Challie’s review, you may do so HERE.

“Much like how Rob Bell has blatantly ignored scriptures about hell in his book Love Wins, the Family Integrated Church (FIC) agenda has also ignored clear scriptural mandates that indicate that older people, besides the parents, play an important role in the spiritual development of younger people, namely Titus 2.1-6. Despite this mandate, (FIC) argues that any functional spiritual leader (Youth Pastors) will turn the face of a child away from his or her parents. Or do they argue that any functional spiritual leader will turn the face of a child away from his or her parents? They never seem to say the same about themselves as Senior Pastors. I don’t quite gather how Senior Pastors are distinctly beyond reproach whereas a Youth Pastor is considered anathema. If they wish to be consistent, why do they not argue for a Mennonite gathering where the council of elders meet and have ecstatic teaching at the assembly?”

This is quite simply an irresponsible and intellectually dishonest comment. In reality, Scott Brown deals with this passage in his book, “A Weed in the Church”. It is ironic that the only verse Cochran uses to defend his position actually argues for the FIC model. Scott Brown writes,

“Titus 2 does not describe a one-to-many ministry of the church that requires a program to fulfill; rather, it pictures a personal, one-on-one ministry of Christians to one another – older men teaching younger men and older women teaching younger women. There is no indication that systematic, age-segregated, peer-group-oriented training was involved. This is simply a command to Christians to participate in personal, intergenerational discipleship.” Scott Brown, “A Weed in the Church”, 170.

Cochran is obviously not as familiar with Scott Brown as he is with Rob Bell, or he might have found a more suitable reference. To equate Rob Bell’s heretical attacks on the doctrine of the Church with Scott Brown’s concern over the Biblical warrant for modern youth ministry is a classic straw man and should be avoided by honest participants in this discussion.

“In fact, the whole video seems a little inconsistent and arbitrary. How these FIC leaders arrive at what is worldly and what is biblical is beyond my comprehension. Loud music and people jumping up and down with dim lights and fog does not seem to be either biblical or non-biblical to me. I wonder what the FIC leaders would have thought had those people at the concert stripped down to their knickers like David did as he danced before the Ark on its return to Jerusalem. This is just another example of the apparent inconsistencies.”

Cochran may not understand how FIC leaders distinguish what is worldly from what is Biblical, but he also does not understand the point of the documentary. While ignoring the meat of what has been offered, he attacks the aesthetics. Of course, if Cochran locates the Ark of the Covenant, I welcome him to dance in his knickers I front of it, at least he would have Biblical precedence, as opposed to age-segregated youth ministry.

“The form under which older people mentor and lead younger people may not have been clearly delineated from the scriptures, but nonetheless that does not make the form invalid or, as the Family Integrated Church agenda argues, non-biblical. Strangely, these men argue that age segregated learning began in the 19th century, but it seems that they have completely overlooked how a young Jewish boy including Jesus would have been educated. All Jewish boys memorized at minimum the Torah during the times of Christ, and they did not do it in the home alone. They went to synagogue, sat with their peers, and learned the law from a Rabi.”

“Not clearly delineated from scripture” but not “non-biblical”? The logical inconsistency is strong enough in that statement that no retort is needed. Further, arguing from the common practice of the Pharisees is shaky ground at best. Jesus may have been in fact a part of these gatherings, but as a child who did not sin against the wishes of His parents, I would expect him to do so. The fact remains that all commands and instructions on the discipleship of youth are very consistent and in agreement with the stated confession of the NCFIC. Read this article by John Bunyan. Does modern youth ministry help or hinder these Biblical instructions?

“Sadly, I know that this issue will continue to haunt evangelical Churches and cause a lack of confidence in the current structures. I hope that FIC’s find that their form works for them and that they will then exert their energy to focus on the majors like reaching the lost, discipling the saved, and enjoying the redemption found in the glorious resurrection of Christ and his future return, rather than spreading strife and dissension within the body of Christ, all with the aim to gather more financial support for their blossoming denomination.”

In other words, “We’re comfortable. This kind of message rocks the boat. What’s true for YOU is your truth, what’s true for the rest of us is OUR truth. The Sufficiency of Scripture for the discipleship of youth isn’t a major like ‘reaching the lost’”. Quite frankly, that is what Rob Bell sounds like. I am sure that Pope Leo thought that Martin Luther was spreading strife and dissention as well. In my experience, nailing your theses to the door of an inexperienced youth minister can make some waves, but these waves are necessary on the road to reformation and sanctification. I would encourage those who see the problems with modern youth ministry, but see the FIC movement as extreme, to check out Doug Philips’ answer to critics of the Family Integrated Church movement HERE.