It has become chic to attack and criticize men. Even in the church, much attention is being paid in recent years to patriarchy and its supposed role in creating and sustaining both evangelicalism and purity culture. Increasingly, I fear that the attention paid to attacking and criticizing men and boys in the church and larger culture is going to have detrimental effects on boys, girls, men, women, the church, and society. I also see that the more we demonize men and boys for being men, the more we alienate them from serving faithfully within the church.
Men, the church needs you. The church needs you to serve her well–as men. The church needs you to serve her as pastors and deacons, as trustees and mission leaders. But the church also needs you to serve in the nursery, as children’s Sunday School teachers, and as role models and mentors for teenagers and young adults.
The church needs men to show young boys that being a Christian is not a female role and that serving in the church is not a job only for moms and grandmas. When men step up and serve, they show young boys what a Christian man should be, and they give young girls role models for the kinds of men they can look for in relationships in the future. When younger men serve faithfully in the church, they not only honor the Lord, they show the world that a man doesn’t have to have gray hair to serve the Lord.
Do men lead differently? Often they do. Men in a children’s Sunday School class tend to be a little rowdier and louder than their female counter-parts. But, 8-year-old boys are generally louder and more rowdy than 8-year-old girls. Men in the church can often give little boys the freedom to love Jesus with a sort of reckless abandon.
As the time for his death drew near, King David called his son Solomon to him with a few final instructions:
I am about the go the way of all the earth. Be strong, and show yourself a man, and keep the charge of the Lord your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his rules, and his testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn…
1 Kings 2:2-3
What were David’s final instructions? Be strong. Show yourself a man. Obey God’s word.
I’m blessed to pastor a church filled with men who serve in all sorts of capacities. But, the call to men needs to continually ring out. Men, the Bible expects you to lead in your home and in your church. Jesus taught his disciples that true leadership is servant leadership. Men, we need you to serve Christ and his church. We need you build buildings and playgrounds. But, we also need you build yourself through Spiritual disciplines and build others through the investment of your time and energy.
The church needs men who will heed David’s instructions. Be strong. Show yourself a man. Obey God’s word. Serve faithfully.
Men, we need you to step up. Will you heed the call?
Photo by Brad Barmore on Unsplash
