By Scott Brown:
"Evil effects inevitably arise when we deviate from God’s pattern…. Because of the close relation between family and church, godly family life stimulates appreciation of God as our Heavenly Father, and appreciation of God stimulates godly family life. Both are enhanced by the example of mature, fatherly leaders within the church. Conversely,disintegration of household order within the church adversely affects both our consciousness of being in God’s family and the quality of love within Christian families". Vern Sheridan Poythress, The Church as Family, p30
And these words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart’ and you shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of the m when you sit in your houseand when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up".
- Deut 6:6-9
A meltdown has occurred, as the modern church has rejected God’s order for the family and the church. This defeat has unleashed many devastating effects, including the perpetuation of a very embarrassing situation for men: P.M.S. It stands for Passive Male Syndrome. It is as old as Adam, and it is cutting off the church’s long term prospects for vitality.
Robert Lewis has said that we have experienced "a masculine meltdown of historic proportions." There is nowhere that the meltdown is so vividly illustrated as in the schedule of the average church, and in the behavior of the average father in his home and his local church. The scriptures are perfectly clear: children should be trained in spiritual matters primarily by their fathers. The father is one of the most important aspects of the delivery system for the news of the kingdom of God, and when you bypass him, you reject the Biblical order for the church and the home.
The church has followed the world system and has nearly obliterated the scriptural role of the head of the household in church life. This has paralleled what the world has done inthe broader culture. Unwittingly, the church has taken over the fathers role and given it to preachers, women, Sunday school teachers, and childcare workers. Look at where the bulk of the energy of human resource is directed in the average church.
Massive amounts of energy are plunged into things that secure short term attendance bumps by making low entry level slots for people to be involved, but neglect the long term activity and energy investment that secures a future for many generations. Many of our popular Church programs for children inflame PMS and make it normal for the average man to drive the shuttle bus to the meetings without personally performing his duty as pastor, teacher and theologian for his children. I once heard someone say that in the church, "we drop our children off in kindergarten and pick them up again in twelfth grade and wonder what happened to them." This condition oozes with PMS. It is produced by a culture that eliminates the father’s role that is so clearly detailed in scripture.
How has modern church structure worked to facilitate PMS? To answer the question I would like to briefly profile church structure prescribed by the apostles as well as a dominant theme of the Old Testament regarding the training of children.
Church Structure in the New Testament
In the New Testament, we find a surprisingly simple approach to ministry. It happens mainly in homes, public squares and sometimes in the synagogues. It is also striking that there are only a few specific equipping structures mentioned. If we only had the Bible to guide us in church form and structure, we would find a startling simplicity. If we select from the equipping structures mentioned in the Bible there are a only few from which to choose. Quite simply, the church met for the apostles teaching, breaking of bread, prayer,and evangelism.
To read the entire article click here.
Monday, October 3, 2011
Lost: The Biblical Order in the Church and in the Home
By Scott Brown:
The church is in such a state. She needs energy invested in things that are foundational.
I am sounding an alarm.
I advocate that an "in-course correction" is necessary in the church. Modernity has taken its toll, and the Bride of Christ has become more of a reflection of her culture than her Lord and Savior. She has, in her attempts to be relevant, lost some of her basic practices designed to make her beautiful. I want her to recognize (and shed) some of her accumulated practices and attitudes that are harming her precious members:
* She was meant to be constantly "washed by the water of the Word" (Eph. 5:26), but her main occupations have removed her from her means of beautification.
* She has abandoned the basic discipling structures called for by the Apostles, and replaced them with lowest common denominator activities that have devolved her maturity and strength.
* She has structured herself to bypass God’s primary delivery system for the knowledge of the treasures of God, and has adopted non- biblical methods for training her children.
The results have been disastrous. We are losing ground in each generation. At this point, we are in danger of almost completely losing the younger generation.
Cold statistics profile the harm:
Those who identify Christ as Savior has been dropping with each generation;
Builders (54 years and above) 65%
Boomers 35%
Busters 15%
Bridgers/Mosaics (4 years -24) 4%
(Source: Promise Keepers conference speaker, Raleigh NC 2002)
This loss is staggering and we will not feel the full impact for at least three decades. If you think the church is secularized now, just wait a few years. Not only will the churches be full of unbelievers, they will be filled with almost completely secularized people, and they will be suffering under an unparalleled brokenness as a consequence of their departure.
Do you have children? There is a forceful tide that is sweeping many of them away to destruction:
* 70% of evangelical youth (involved in a youth group) will leave the church after high school graduation.
* 50% of Southern Baptist youth will leave the faith after college.
* Divorce rates in the most conservative churches in the Southeast are higher than the liberal denominations in every part of the country and higher than those of unbelievers.
We are losing our children-
We are losing our youth-
What is the root cause?
I submit that the Biblical order for the church and the home has been unintentionally abandoned. The Biblical equipping structures have been set aside, marriages have been dishonored, and fathers are not personally teaching their children anymore. Exemplary fatherhood has been reduced to taking the family to church and showing up at soccer games and recitals. What is so disturbing is that the churches are aiding and abetting the abandonment. The men in our churches, instead of plunging their energy into saturating themselves in God’s Word; and training the future business, government and church leaders; and preparing their children to be evangelists, deacons, elders, mentors and "Titus two women"; they spend their strength on activities that ignore their basic roles as leaders and teachers of the next generation.
To read the entire article click here.
The church is in such a state. She needs energy invested in things that are foundational.
I am sounding an alarm.
I advocate that an "in-course correction" is necessary in the church. Modernity has taken its toll, and the Bride of Christ has become more of a reflection of her culture than her Lord and Savior. She has, in her attempts to be relevant, lost some of her basic practices designed to make her beautiful. I want her to recognize (and shed) some of her accumulated practices and attitudes that are harming her precious members:
* She was meant to be constantly "washed by the water of the Word" (Eph. 5:26), but her main occupations have removed her from her means of beautification.
* She has abandoned the basic discipling structures called for by the Apostles, and replaced them with lowest common denominator activities that have devolved her maturity and strength.
* She has structured herself to bypass God’s primary delivery system for the knowledge of the treasures of God, and has adopted non- biblical methods for training her children.
The results have been disastrous. We are losing ground in each generation. At this point, we are in danger of almost completely losing the younger generation.
Cold statistics profile the harm:
Those who identify Christ as Savior has been dropping with each generation;
Builders (54 years and above) 65%
Boomers 35%
Busters 15%
Bridgers/Mosaics (4 years -24) 4%
(Source: Promise Keepers conference speaker, Raleigh NC 2002)
This loss is staggering and we will not feel the full impact for at least three decades. If you think the church is secularized now, just wait a few years. Not only will the churches be full of unbelievers, they will be filled with almost completely secularized people, and they will be suffering under an unparalleled brokenness as a consequence of their departure.
Do you have children? There is a forceful tide that is sweeping many of them away to destruction:
* 70% of evangelical youth (involved in a youth group) will leave the church after high school graduation.
* 50% of Southern Baptist youth will leave the faith after college.
* Divorce rates in the most conservative churches in the Southeast are higher than the liberal denominations in every part of the country and higher than those of unbelievers.
We are losing our children-
We are losing our youth-
What is the root cause?
I submit that the Biblical order for the church and the home has been unintentionally abandoned. The Biblical equipping structures have been set aside, marriages have been dishonored, and fathers are not personally teaching their children anymore. Exemplary fatherhood has been reduced to taking the family to church and showing up at soccer games and recitals. What is so disturbing is that the churches are aiding and abetting the abandonment. The men in our churches, instead of plunging their energy into saturating themselves in God’s Word; and training the future business, government and church leaders; and preparing their children to be evangelists, deacons, elders, mentors and "Titus two women"; they spend their strength on activities that ignore their basic roles as leaders and teachers of the next generation.
To read the entire article click here.
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