One of the greatest gifts I have been given in my life was winning the family lottery. God gave me an incredible family that was dedicated to following Jesus, serving others both in our church community and around the world. I grew up in a church in Phoenix AZ that had to this day was one of the healthiest community’s I’ve experience in my life. We all did life together at a level that was borderline family. I had what most would consider the standard American church experience. I learned all the fun stories in Sunday school, I attended Vacation Bible school every summer, and I served in both local missions and missions abroad. Our youth group was fun and I vividly remember being so excited to go be with my second family on Sundays and Wednesdays. All that to say, I loved church. 

One of the harder things in my adult life was watching that church fall apart, the people I grew up with scatter, and gradually lose connection with the relationships that had been built. This made me question community at a much higher level. It also left me as a young man wondering what the ultimate intention was for the church. Were we missing the mark on how we were supposed to support each other? Was iron sharpening iron or was dodgeball just a fun way to get kids to attend church? Was the Lord’s plan for our communities to actually be a superficial youth group that only cracked open the Bible after we had our fun? I can count on one hand the amount of times our leaders opened the word and said something that was codifying, or challenging. Something that was polarizing and rooted in truth as Jesus was. This isn’t a critique of those leaders. I actually have a great degree of respect for their willingness to serve the immature high school kids and mentor them. My challenge is to the status quo we have created in the American church. 

When the church split and these relationships faded it left me in a place where I realized, I had not been prepared to do life alone. I had not been prepared for my faith to be truly my own. I wasn’t ready to crack open Gods word without having my fun first.

Without that community… What was I? 

A very strange but in some ways perfect example that comes to mind is straight out of the avengers movies. There’s a scene where Captain America asks Ironman “take off the suit, without that what are you?” Then unshaken Tony replied “Genius, Billionaire, Playboy, Philanthropist”. That level of personal understanding, while it’s just a funny line in a movie, is something I lacked completely. Without that community what was I? 

This is my question I am wrestling with today. Is the modern American church creating men who are capable of building the kingdom on earth, or are we creating one generation at a time that bows at the feet of consumerism? Do we champion the easiest parts of the Bible while throwing out the clear calling of the Lord to seek the welfare of our nation and city even when it’s polarizing? Do we have a modern equivalent of what baptism really was in the years of the early church where you stood in a public place and outcast yourself from culture? Or do we get dunked in a branded church t-shirt that says “I’m redeemed” in a room full of people that are supporting our decision?

So as we look backward with thousands of years of human history, what do men do? Historically, men build, and men fight. That’s pretty much it. If you were not on the frontlines dying for the king you were born into the servitude of, you were building society. There was a deep purpose in shaping the world around you, or protecting it. Today, the majority plunge their identity into relationships, surrender their calling of leadership in their marriage for the sake of easy sexual access, numb themselves with consumerism, and beg God for a meaningless job that will give them just enough to get by. All the while ignoring the calling to make disciples, stand on truth, and witness to the unbeliever.

The modern Christian man has been neutered by society and reduced to a toxic specimen that should feel sorry for himself.

So, why do I hold a candle to the church? 

If there’s any institution that’s called to empower men to be a force for good, it’s the church. I believe the calling of Jesus to make disciples, and the desire to build the kingdom on earth as it is in heaven is a calling that is misunderstood. I can’t for the life of me understand why men think that calling starts and ends with marrying someone attractive that believes the same as him, getting a job that will pay the bills, attending church, tithing and spending time in the word. 

That list is the bare minimum. 

So how do we encourage Christian men to build society? How do we empower them with meaningful community that doesn’t just coddle where they are at, but pushes them into the callings the Lord has for them? 

I believe we need to be encouraging a new generation of renaissance men. Men who are involved in theology, politics, philosophy, fitness, the arts, etc… 

The world needs strong men, who are competent in any realm of endeavor. 

So if we need men who are well rounded, strong, and have integrity. What’s the blueprint? 

I think there are three core things that men need to naturally enter this arena. 

1. Accountability. Men need to be in community with other men that know their personal beliefs and principals, and hold them accountable to living it out.
2. Yearning for wisdom. The book of James says if you ask the Lord for wisdom he will give it generously. Men need to be given a healthy desire for wisdom. This comes from mature mentors that can provide perspectives unique to their life experiences. Men need to be exposed to new thought processes. I believe this includes studying other world views and history. You have to know where we have come from to understand society, and you have to understand society to lead them to the cross. Jesus knew his opponents well, and he used his understanding to draw them near to his truths. 
3. A war to fight, or a city to build. Men need a war time mentality or they need a project. There are so many examples of this but let’s reduce it. A war time mentality could be finals in school, all the way up to fighting an addiction or a generational curse. It’s something that can be identified as the enemy, and it allows you to become a driven fighter with urgency. We are currently in a powerful spiritual war. We need more men treating it as such. If men aren’t fighting they should be building. A family, business, a ministry, or even a small community. We need to be encouraging men to fight and build for the kingdom. 

This is in direct conflict with what society says. Society says men are toxic, angry, abusive, and they should completely tame every primitive instinct God put in them. I would argue, if a man is pursuing Jesus and wants to be like him, you need to start studying who Jesus was. Jesus was not a comfort seeking conformist. He was a polarizing man who both fed the thousands and flipped tables. He also was willing to die. 1 John 3:16 says “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.”

I pray in the coming years the Christian church will call on the boys to become men who are dedicated to building a family, culture, and community that are dedicated to Jesus. I pray they are unafraid of the devils attempts to destroy these righteous efforts. I also pray that men will begin to feel a sense of purpose in a society that wants to cast them aside. 

One man at a time. We need a generation to rise up and exhault the throne of God in our public square. Unashamed, and unafraid.