quote:"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."
Radical Reformission, p. 184
What biblical eldership is NOT about...
quote: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
posted
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 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 men should be preparing themselves for a life of service and dedication 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 relationships has become highly professionalized.
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