History of C4FIC
The Council for Family-Integrated Churches (C4FIC) informally began on May 2, 2009 in Burlington, North Carolina. This was the first night of the inaugural Antioch Community Church Family-Integrated Church Conference. Eight men consisting of elders, pastors, authors, leaders of para-church ministries, and more met around the proposition of forming an organization designed to raise the visibility of the family-integrated church movement amongst the American church at large.
The exact question on the table was: “How can we, as national leaders of the Family-Integrated Church (FIC) movement, collaborate to promote the FIC message and empower believers to successfully plant and shepherd FIC churches around our nation and the world?” No name was suggested for the organization; it was merely a brainstorming session on whether it would be profitable for the group to formally organize for the purpose of raising the banner of FIC across the country.
Present at that meeting were:
The proposition of coalescing as a group was heartily endorsed by many of the men gathered that evening. So, over the next 11 months after the original meeting, while the group continued to informally develop the ministry via telephone and email, the group did not formally come together, again, until the T4G Conference in April 2010. It was at this meeting in Louisville, Kentucky that the moniker: “The Coalition” was adopted to describe the group. At that time, others joined the Coalition: Steve Rouse, Elder at Gospel Fellowship Community Church in Milwaukie, Oregon, and Jeff Akin, business leader with Trane and enthusiast for the FIC.
The Coalition met again in September of 2010, again in Burlington, North Carolina, at the second annual Antioch Community Church Family-Integrated Church Conference. During that meeting the Coalition resolved what had been a persistent question among the members since the beginning, “Do we work under the name Family-Integrated Church (FIC) or do we coin a new term?” Other descriptors the group considered included Age-Integrated Church (AIC) or Multi-Generational Church (MGC). While there may have been merit in choosing a different term, in the end, the group agreed to take advantage of the groundwork that had already been laid by both proponents and detractors, and embrace the term Family-Integrated Church (FIC). With this decision made, the group began to develop means for participating in the national discussion and promoting the doctrines, principles and values that define the term, Family-Integrated Church.
At this Burlington meeting, the Coalition also made strides toward setting up a website, developing a Statement of Affirmations and the possibility of corporately authoring a book on the FIC. Due to the all-volunteer nature of the Coalition, work was slow, but the group was making measureable progress. In August of 2011, approximately one year after the previous meeting, Dr. W. Ryan Steenburg, then Director of Administration and Development at The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, contacted Eric Burd and Mark Fox and expressed an interest in being a part of the Coalition in some fashion. Ryan had recently completed his doctoral dissertation on the effective practices churches implement to train parents to be disciplers and found that Family-Integration has the potential to make a significant impact upon the future of the church, in this regard. He learned of the Coalition from Mark Fox and Eric Burd, and was willing to invest significant time serving the Coalition in an administrative capacity.
Ryan proposed that the group consider incorporating the Coalition and move forward with plans that could broaden the effect of the organization. After talking with some of the other Coalition leaders in December 2011, the group scheduled a conference call to consider Ryan’s proposal. For that meeting, the group added Dr. Jeffrey Klick, author and founding pastor of Hope Family Fellowship in Kansas City, Kansas. During that tele-conference it was determined that since Ryan, who is experienced and equipped to lead an organization of this nature, and was available and desirous of doing the things necessary to establish and maintain the viability of the organization, the group should move ahead and incorporate.
Eric Burd and Mark Fox assembled a Board of Directors and Ryan Steenburg incorporated The Council for Family-Integrated Churches (C4FIC) in the State of Kentucky on January 13, 2012. Since then, the Board of Directors, the Board of Councilors, and the Friends of the Council have all grown in number and credibility and are still growing, today. As C4FIC expands, we strive to magnify the gospel. You will notice that we lock-arms with congregations from all sorts of backgrounds and traditions. C4FIC is represented by charismatic congregations, Baptist traditions, and non-denominational churches. Our focal point is the gospel. C4FIC desires to include churches and congregations who, although they may practice certain tertiary traditions, have an eye on the gospel of Jesus Christ and a heart for the home.
The efforts of C4FIC can be seen and followed on the internet at www.C4FIC.org, www.C4FIC.wordpress.com, and on Twitter at @C4FIC.
More significantly, the efforts of C4FIC to revere the gospel, reform the church, and restore the home are being experienced in congregations around the country and around the world. Won’t you join us in praying that God would be glorified in His church as men and women seek to place Him first in their lives, in their families, in their worship, and in their homes? The time has come, not just for church revitalization but for a church reformation. In addition to your prayers, please consider how else you might give to the work of this ministry. Financial contributions can be given on our website or sent by mail to our office.* Pray and consider, after you have first given to your local congregation, how you might give financially to one of our special projects or to the ministry in general.
Revering the Gospel.
Reforming the Church.
Restoring the Home.
The Council for Family-Integrated Churches
*The Council for Family-Integrated Churches, Inc. is a registered 501(c)(3) with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). All contributions will qualify as a tax-deductible contribution in the year contributed.
The exact question on the table was: “How can we, as national leaders of the Family-Integrated Church (FIC) movement, collaborate to promote the FIC message and empower believers to successfully plant and shepherd FIC churches around our nation and the world?” No name was suggested for the organization; it was merely a brainstorming session on whether it would be profitable for the group to formally organize for the purpose of raising the banner of FIC across the country.
Present at that meeting were:
- Mark Fox: Author, Professor, and Pastor from Elon, North Carolina
- Mark Kemp: Elder and Doctor of Dental Surgery from Burlington, North Carolina
- Marc Jantomaso: Former Pastor of Household of Faith in Lynchburg, Virginia
- Eric Burd: Elder and Executive Director of Household of Faith Fellowship of Churches, Gresham, Oregon
- Brad Shedd: Associate Pastor at Harvest Assembly in Chesapeake, Virginia
- And a handful of other men who have a heart for families and household discipleship.
The proposition of coalescing as a group was heartily endorsed by many of the men gathered that evening. So, over the next 11 months after the original meeting, while the group continued to informally develop the ministry via telephone and email, the group did not formally come together, again, until the T4G Conference in April 2010. It was at this meeting in Louisville, Kentucky that the moniker: “The Coalition” was adopted to describe the group. At that time, others joined the Coalition: Steve Rouse, Elder at Gospel Fellowship Community Church in Milwaukie, Oregon, and Jeff Akin, business leader with Trane and enthusiast for the FIC.
The Coalition met again in September of 2010, again in Burlington, North Carolina, at the second annual Antioch Community Church Family-Integrated Church Conference. During that meeting the Coalition resolved what had been a persistent question among the members since the beginning, “Do we work under the name Family-Integrated Church (FIC) or do we coin a new term?” Other descriptors the group considered included Age-Integrated Church (AIC) or Multi-Generational Church (MGC). While there may have been merit in choosing a different term, in the end, the group agreed to take advantage of the groundwork that had already been laid by both proponents and detractors, and embrace the term Family-Integrated Church (FIC). With this decision made, the group began to develop means for participating in the national discussion and promoting the doctrines, principles and values that define the term, Family-Integrated Church.
At this Burlington meeting, the Coalition also made strides toward setting up a website, developing a Statement of Affirmations and the possibility of corporately authoring a book on the FIC. Due to the all-volunteer nature of the Coalition, work was slow, but the group was making measureable progress. In August of 2011, approximately one year after the previous meeting, Dr. W. Ryan Steenburg, then Director of Administration and Development at The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, contacted Eric Burd and Mark Fox and expressed an interest in being a part of the Coalition in some fashion. Ryan had recently completed his doctoral dissertation on the effective practices churches implement to train parents to be disciplers and found that Family-Integration has the potential to make a significant impact upon the future of the church, in this regard. He learned of the Coalition from Mark Fox and Eric Burd, and was willing to invest significant time serving the Coalition in an administrative capacity.
Ryan proposed that the group consider incorporating the Coalition and move forward with plans that could broaden the effect of the organization. After talking with some of the other Coalition leaders in December 2011, the group scheduled a conference call to consider Ryan’s proposal. For that meeting, the group added Dr. Jeffrey Klick, author and founding pastor of Hope Family Fellowship in Kansas City, Kansas. During that tele-conference it was determined that since Ryan, who is experienced and equipped to lead an organization of this nature, and was available and desirous of doing the things necessary to establish and maintain the viability of the organization, the group should move ahead and incorporate.
Eric Burd and Mark Fox assembled a Board of Directors and Ryan Steenburg incorporated The Council for Family-Integrated Churches (C4FIC) in the State of Kentucky on January 13, 2012. Since then, the Board of Directors, the Board of Councilors, and the Friends of the Council have all grown in number and credibility and are still growing, today. As C4FIC expands, we strive to magnify the gospel. You will notice that we lock-arms with congregations from all sorts of backgrounds and traditions. C4FIC is represented by charismatic congregations, Baptist traditions, and non-denominational churches. Our focal point is the gospel. C4FIC desires to include churches and congregations who, although they may practice certain tertiary traditions, have an eye on the gospel of Jesus Christ and a heart for the home.
The efforts of C4FIC can be seen and followed on the internet at www.C4FIC.org, www.C4FIC.wordpress.com, and on Twitter at @C4FIC.
More significantly, the efforts of C4FIC to revere the gospel, reform the church, and restore the home are being experienced in congregations around the country and around the world. Won’t you join us in praying that God would be glorified in His church as men and women seek to place Him first in their lives, in their families, in their worship, and in their homes? The time has come, not just for church revitalization but for a church reformation. In addition to your prayers, please consider how else you might give to the work of this ministry. Financial contributions can be given on our website or sent by mail to our office.* Pray and consider, after you have first given to your local congregation, how you might give financially to one of our special projects or to the ministry in general.
Revering the Gospel.
Reforming the Church.
Restoring the Home.
The Council for Family-Integrated Churches
*The Council for Family-Integrated Churches, Inc. is a registered 501(c)(3) with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). All contributions will qualify as a tax-deductible contribution in the year contributed.