Family Church

Abstract

"FAMILY CHURCH- good and bad? An assessment like this is complicated by the existence of several 'different types of Family Church. What is said here will_<:probably be inapplicable to some forms, but that is the risk run by any general c.onsiderlittion of this kind. It is disturbing to hear some talk about Family Church in terms which would suggest that it is only 'another method' or even 'a gimmick'. Perhaps some expressions of it could be so described, but the basic concept ought to be understood as an expression of certain beliefs about the church rather than as another organisational experiment. In the Autumn Conference, 1962, Michael Walker defined Family Church as an 'attempt to realise more adequately in the on-going life and worship of the church the true nature and function of the church itself'. This establishes for us the proper ground upon which an assessment should be made and, at the same time, places the practical problems into a secondary category"