" 'We'll be able to take over both halls of Congress, we'll be able to reclaim sinful cities like San Francisco for the faithful, and we'll be able to wage very effective massive boycotts against companies that are going against God's will.' " "They speak about, 'If everyone starts having eight children or 12 children, imagine in three generations what we'll be able to do,' " Joyce says. But they have large ambitions, says Kathryn Joyce, who has written about the movement in her book Quiverfull: Inside The Christian Patriarchy Movement. Still, Quiverfull is a small group, probably 10,000 fast-growing families, mainly in the Midwest and South. "We look across the Islamic world and we see that they are outnumbering us in their family size, and they are in many places and many countries taking over those nations, without a jihad, just by multiplication," Campbell says. Campbell says if believers don't starting reproducing in large numbers, biblical Christianity will lose its voice. The more children I have, the more ability I have to impact the world for God."Ī Christian God, that is. "I think, help! Imagine if we had had more of these children!" Campbell says, adding, "My greatest impact is through my children. She and her husband stopped at six kids, and it is her great regret. "The womb is such a powerful weapon it's a weapon against the enemy," Campbell says.Ĭampbell has 35 grandchildren. That's also the hope of Nancy Campbell, a leader of the Quiverfull movement and author of Be Fruitful and Multiply. They are children who the Swansons hope will spread the message of Christ. The average family at their evangelical church has 8.5 kids. Of course we know what causes it - we practice all the time." "That's always my favorite one when I'm pregnant," Kelly says. And they've gotten used to the comments from outsiders, such as, "Do you know what causes this?" "That's what his word says, so why we're trying to fiddle around and controlling ourselves, we need to stop doing that."Įighteen years and seven children later, the Swansons live on Jeff's dairy farm salary of less than $50,000 a year. God opens and closes the womb,' " Kelly says. "We just started thinking, 'God is sovereign over life and death. And Kelly says that she and Jeff decided that God knew how many children they could handle. "When we first got married, we actually didn't want children," Kelly's husband, Jeff Swanson, says.īut then the Swansons began to notice that the Bible was very high on big families. The Swansons subscribe to the Quiverfull movement. The 40-year-old mom has seven children the youngest is 6 months. "At least I remembered your name," she says. But in listing their ages, Kelly gets Elisha's age wrong. If they didn't raise their own food, Kelly Swanson says, they'd spend $1,000 a month on groceries for her gaggle of growing children, including 15-year-old Josiah and 13-year-old Elisha. Her mother, Kelly, fries 3 pounds of sausage from the family's own pig and toasts a 12-inch loaf of homemade bread. While cooking a typical predawn breakfast in the Swanson household in Shelby, Mich., 10-year-old Lydia Swanson cracks a dozen eggs laid by the family chickens. Those in the Quiverfull movement shun birth control, believing that God will give them the right number of children. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them." The movement, called Quiverfull, is based on Psalm 127, which says, "Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth. "It's God's design it's beautiful."Īmong some conservative Christians, a movement is giving new meaning to the biblical mandate to "be fruitful and multiply." "Family has always been the foundation of church and society," Misty says. Misty and Seth Huckstead (seated) of Grand Rapids, Mich., have six children and another one on the way they plan to have as many children as possible.
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