Posted: 04/19/07

Kiddie Pastors and the Consequences of Infantilism in the Ministry

There are telling trends in ministry today that can be witnessed on the new, revolutionary church websites. Without doubt, a church website is the church's face to the world. But what happens when the face is crossing its eyes and sticking its tongue out? I have written before about the cultural infantilism that is becoming the hallmark of the the last several generations. If it is sickening in society at large, it is impossible to adequately describe its catastrophic impact on the office of the ministry.

In I Corinthians 13:11, the Apostle Paul very clearly indicates that normal physical maturity demands that childish things be put away as boy grows into man. Such a concept is now discarded by many grown men who toddle down the streets of America in sports jerseys with giant, 64-ounce sippy cups filled with soda, pacifying their constant need for oral gratification. The archetypal American, 50-100 pounds overweight, enthroned in his Stratolounger before his plasma TV with two remote controls, his Ipod, his cellphone, a bag of chips and a beer is really living out a toddler's fantasy of instant and constant gratification. He has never grown up and told himself, "no." He has refused even the most basic self-discipline that comes with maturity. He has failed to graduate to manhood.  We have a nation full of these.

Pastors in emerging churches today mirror the culture. One church website featured a pastors' bio page where the "Executive Pastor" boasted that his favorite movie was "Snatch" with Brad Pitt. He thought it was a great movie once you got past the "493 F-bombs" in it. The image desired by some of these pastors seems to be a cross between college techno-geek and dissolute frat boy, with spiked, sometimes two-toned hair, funky glasses and faded, dirty looking t-shirts. They take pains to list the bands they like, the fast food, the TV shows, video games and favorite action movies. That would be unremarkable if we were talking about an adolescent's MySpace site. Instead, we are referring to a church website where these are supposed to be men-shepherds--who are mature enough to lead others within a local church. The same church website referenced above allowed each of the pastoral staff to answer a question about who they thought would win in a battle between Superman and Batman. It is a crisis of maturity that nearly defies belief.

There is a reason that there is such immaturity among these pastors today. Rather than take Scripture's admonitions seriously about those who should be in the office of pastor/elder in the first place, churches are watching the world around them and taking their cues. The blind are leading the blind in a very real way today. Those who follow these men have the leadership they want. The vulgarity and coarseness, the obsession with Hollywood movies and television, the refusal to grow up into men of dignity and wisdom are all symptoms of a church that has been defined and modeled after the world and its system. Awash in materialism and hedonism, our country no longer produces men and women of character. This should not be the case, however, within the true church of Jesus Christ. The milk of the Word is to be replaced in time with the meat of the Word that produces maturity. Boys should ultimately put away childish things and become men with physical and spiritual strength. In our effeminized culture, we are turning out men who can do nothing but attend to their own emotional and physical cravings. They are taught to feel and emote, but not to stand in adversity. These are the girly men who now  lead many emerging churches. They refuse to believe and defend sound doctrine and would rather spend hours blogging about "community", posturing as intellectuals and inventing meaningless pomo (postmodern) jargon.

Where is all of this leading? If the pastors are overgrown adolescents who are more interested in exuding a cool image than preaching Christ crucified, where does this take those looking for answers? Quite frankly, many are being misled. In the same fashion that a 3-year-old is unequipped to sit in a cockpit and fly an airplane, these "pastors" are unequipped to lead the church of Jesus Christ. The result is a flourishing of false doctrine, the spreading of carnality and ultimately, the loss of souls for all eternity. The new hip pastors are failing to keep the wolves out of the flock, and in some cases, are the wolves themselves. True shepherds are passionate about the spiritual well-being of their flocks, not the latest Hollywood flick or video game. Rather than imitating and embracing the pagan culture in the name of relevance, true shepherds will warn from the Bible that "friendship with the world is enmity with God." (James 4:4) They will be men of gravity, sobriety and moral excellence, as the Scriptures instruct pastors to be. (I Timothy, chapter 3)

A young minister who ultimately died at the age of 30, was frequently found walking the fields of Scotland weeping and praying over the names on his church rolls. He pleaded with God to save each and every one of those entrusted to him. He lived a blameless life and preached the whole counsel of God without fear and without an eye to the cultural trends. He did this because he had utter confidence in the Word of God and its sufficiency to meet every human need. These are his words to fellow pastors,  just before he died.

            "Get your texts from God-your thoughts, your words, from God. In great            measure, according to the purity and perfections of the instrument, will be     success. It is not great talents God blesses so much as great likeness to Jesus. A             holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God. A word spoken by you when      your conscience is clear, and your heart full of God's Spirit, is worth ten thousand     words spoken in unbelief and sin."

             --Robert Murray M'Cheyne

God, raise up men like this once again and give us hearts and ears to hear them.

By Ingrid Schlueter Email: vcyproducer@aol.com Click here for bio and archived articles