So how important is the issue of age segregation? How does the issue of age segregation in the church rank in importance of matters of doctrine and practice for the spread of the gospel. Like when we're doing theological triage, where does age integration fall in the list? First of all, all crises are not created equal. Some problems in the modern church are worse than others.
The most devastating problem that the church faces in any era is the perversion of the gospel. And therefore the Church must always endeavor to preserve and to present the Gospel clearly. Perversions of the Gospel should always be met with the most aggressive stance and the most authoritative arguments after the pattern of the Apostle Paul, who said, But even if we, or an angel of heaven, preach any other Gospel, then what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. Paul met this problem among the believers in the Galatian churches addressing it with passion and clarity and fatherly concern when he said, Oh foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you and I'm afraid for you. Second, while the crisis of systematic age segregation does not rise to the same level of that of a false gospel?
We maintain that it is a serious matter. The NCFIC's purpose is to correctly understand God's unified vision for church and family and rightly diagnose the problems that impede that vision and effectively try to communicate the biblical solutions that rebuild gospel-centered churches that fulfill the biblical principles of family life. We do not believe that family integration is the only or even the primary issue in selecting or establishing a local church, but it is unquestionably a defining issue for our day, as the modern church has just lost the essential familistic culture that we see modeled in Scripture. At the same time, We do not believe that age segregation as a primary practice is just another option on the table along with other viable models of discipling the next generation. Thirdly, the seriousness of the issue is illustrated by the fact that systematic age segregation is a symptom of the same problem that leads to a false gospel, and that's laying aside the commandment of God for the sake of the traditions of men.
When men leave the mooring of the all-sufficient Word of God, false gospels abound and worldly pragmatic practices arise within the church. So when someone preaches a false gospel, it's because he's ignored the truth of scripture, the details of it. And when the church advocates unbiblical methods, It too has ignored the truth of scripture, and whenever we ignore the scriptures, we exalt man's traditions.