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Welcome to the ICF web page. We are on an exciting journey together as a body. While ICF has been around for many years, recently God has lead us in an exciting new vision. In 2007, after 12 years of typical church ministry full of joys and pains that God used to shape us and ICF, Marla and I began to feel that something was missing in the status quo church experience in our region. We longed for something more authentic and real. We were concerned by the inability of standard church models to keep young adults connected to the kingdom and build strong discipleship in family units. The next two years were a journey of discovery where God first gave us a hunger to see church transformed from programmed meetings that keep believers busy, but isolated, to an authentic community of faith where believers connect in genuine relationships, find their calling and kingdom purpose, and are equipped to fulfill this together. The second thing we became passionate about was seeing families strengthened through the community of faith. Our culture has families so busy that there is little cohesive family time left to impact our children with Biblical faith. Between running to sports and other activities, families seldom experience community. We were troubled to see church models further contributing to this fragmenting of families. Our desire now is to have God shape ICF to encourage, strengthen, and support families at a time when so much in our culture is pulling them apart.
In a Family Integrated Church, we hope to bring the generations together. We come gather as a community of faith where families come to worship, learn, and pray, .. together! We believe it is valuable for children to see their parents in worship, as well as to be integrated into the life and mission of the church so that they grow up knowing what it means to “be the church”. Several independent surveys have shown that the age-segregated models of church, while well intentioned, have contributed to the isolation and departure of the “i-gen” generation from involvement in church life. In addition we want to strengthen fathers to lead their families, and husbands and wives to team for the purpose of evangelizing and discipling their children in a Godly and Biblical world view. While the church can encourage and equip parents in this God-given task, it cannot and should not be a substitute for this high calling of parents. Your children will get their primary world view from you – and if you fail to provide one from your life and example, the culture will quickly substitute one that is far from the truth of God. Our desire is to exhort and assist you to be victorious is this sacred task!! Do we have all the answers? Not even close!! What we do have is a passionate vision from God to build the kingdom one person and one family at a time. We know we will have our challenges as we walk out this new vision, but are excited because already we are seeing God’s faithfulness as we obey. At its core, our vision is about authentic, Biblical relationships in the home and in the church. Pray for us as we embark on this adventure of faith, and as God leads you, we would LOVE to have you join us on Sunday mornings at 10:00 AM.
Blessings! |
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