A Masculine Meltdown of Historic Proportions

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.

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