And that is what this movement is full of: High-sounding talk. You see it in Barna’s book “Revolution”. You hear it everywhere you go in the ‘Out-of-church’ movement. Vast claims are being made for those who will simply “come out” - and actually “BE the church without having to GO to church”, etc. One would think that “coming out” was the solution to all that ails us. But as I have seen for 20 years now, nothing could be further from the truth.
The facts are plain and simple: If your thinking and behaviour are basically “anti-Body” and “anti-Leader”, then don’t expect to get anywhere. And don’t expect the Body of Christ to get anywhere either. We are not designed to be an “amorphous blob”. We are designed to be a unified army with leaders and direction and teamwork - taking the kingdom of darkness using “combined force”. United together we are very powerful - for God designed us to be a ‘Body’. Split apart into “individualists”, we are weak and ineffective…
In closing, I need to say this: Because I can no longer condone the ‘Out-of-church’ Revolution that I have endorsed for many years, I needed to take my e-book “The OUT-OF-CHURCH Christians” off the main page of our website - http://www.revivalschool.com. This has now been done.
Link: http://65.108.220.179/leavingbehind.html
So says Andrew Strom at the above mentioned and popular website. Some of his points are indeed valid - others not very. Scripture, in fact, does warn us of the modern manifestation of what are known as “church leaders.” Not all, of course.
In Seattle, the young men are, generally, pathetic. They are unlikely to go to church, get married, have children, or do much of anything else that smacks of being responsible. But they are known to be highly skilled at smoking pot, masturbating, playing video games, playing air guitar, free-loading, and having sex with their significant others. However, the emerging-church massage-parlor antics of labyrinth-walking by candlelight will do little more than increase the pool of extras for television’s Will and Grace. If there is any hope for a kingdom culture to be built in Seattle, getting the young men to undergo a complete cranial-rectal extraction is priority number one.
Mark Driscoll, Radical Reformission, p. 184
And:
The problem in the church today is just a bunch of nice, soft, tender, chickafied church boys. 60% of Christians are chicks and the 40% that are dudes are still sort of…chicks. It’s just sad.
We’re looking around going, How come we’re not innovative? Cause all the innovative dudes are home watching football or they’re out making money or climbing a mountain or shooting a gun or working on their truck. They look at the church like that’s a nice thing for women and children. So the question is if you want to be innovative: How do you get young men? All this nonsense on how to grow the church. One issue: young men. That’s it. That’s the whole thing. They’re going to get married, make money, make babies, build companies, buy real estate. They’re going to make the culture of the future. If you get the young men you win the war, you get everything. You get the families, the women, the children, the money, the business, you get everything. If you don’t get the young men you get nothing.
Mark Driscoll, speaking at the 2006 National Desiring God Conference
In the New Testament there is not a longer list of grammatical elements than those prescribed to older ones or elders of the church. There are two such long lists (1 Tim 3, Titus 1) and a host of other exhortations. It has to be a serious matter. The apostles “ordained elders” as they went from town to town. Those in view were ordained or appointed to a task - loving oversight of the younger ones - not to an office in the modern sense.
The term “elder” is a comparative one pertaining to age. Thus, the aimless younger men mentioned above are actually older ones in relation to their juniors. Regardless of their age, all Christian men should be preparing themselves for a life of service to the chief Shepherd and to his flock. This is their calling. Unfortunately, most don’t know it because they haven’t been taught it. As a result, this most natural of human relationships has become highly professionalized.
