Why don't men go to church? Pete Rollins:
His groundbreaking theory devastates the various secularisation theories currently on offer by pointing out that the reason why most guys don't go to church is because 'they could take the pastor and can't respect a guy in a lemon-yellow sweater, sipping decaf and talking about his feelings'.
Hat tip: Gavin Richardson
UPDATE: Henry Neufeld dishes out a big serving of whupass in response:
Well, let me suggest something just as blunt: If you determine whether someone is worth listening to based on whether you could take him in a fight, if you despise someone because they wear a lemon-yellow sweater, sip decaf, or talk about their feelings, then you need to seriously reexamine both your intellectual and your spiritual life.
Friday, September 07, 2007
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17 comments:
But can they respect a woman in a lemon yellow sweater?
Good point, Dan. What is it that men really want in a church...a pastor? There are a great deal of men that have trouble with women pastors, which is a shame. Take Joyce Meyers for instance. She is not only Spirit filled and a great witness for Christ, but I also doubt I could take her. :)
It takes a big man to realize and accept the God will use the most unsuspecting people to spread His kingdom.
PAX
JD
just to make sure. that is pete rollins responding to mark driscoll.
John,
I liked your linking to this.
I'll give you an example of just such a pastor in the history of the UMC. It was Pastor Peter Cartwright. He was a circuit rider in the early 1800's before the war. He was a giant of a man, filled with the Holy Spirit, and tough as nails. I truly wished we had more men and women like him in the UMC.
He wrote the contents of "the Autobiography of Peter Cartwright". I highly recommend that you or any Methodist read it. It can be purchased on Amazon.com for a few dollars.
I'd like to see a smackdown between Cartwright and Joyce Meyers. I wouldn't fight either one of 'em.
I'd also love a preacher in the manner played by Clint Eastwood in the 1985 movie, "Pale Rider".
Joyce Meyers is less Spirit-filled than cash-filled.
A pastor must, at the same time, be as gentle as a lamb and as fierce as a shepherd. Sorta like Jesus.
Most men don't see pastors as real men.
My senior pastor told me that when he had a guy come to a bible study once he said to the pastor, "You told me there were gonna be men here."
The study had the pastor (male), two women, and the guy who came to try it out. The guy didn't come back.
Pastors are like a third sex...
Scott
In seminary I knew several male soon-to-be-pastors who could take most (if not all) of their flocks on in a fight, and probably have by now.
if you despise someone because they wear a lemon-yellow sweater, sip decaf, or talk about their feelings, then you need to seriously reexamine both your intellectual and your spiritual life.
Certainly. But for many men that reexamination is unlikely to be prompted by a guy in a lemon-yellow sweater asking him about his feelings.
John said:
"Joyce Meyers is less Spirit-filled than cash-filled."
While she and her ministry may have mounds and mounds of money, her ministry speaks to and meets a vast variety of individuals that relate to a message of hope and power over Satan, the great deceiver, i.e., The Battlefield of the Mind.
I have been to a few of her gatherings with my wife and I can say that the Lord truly speaks to me at times when I did not think that I needed a "talkin' to."
PAX
JD
Oh, and John, a link to my last visit to one of Joyce's conferences:
Joyce Meyer's Trip to Houston - October 5 -6, 2006
PAX
JD
i actually have a picture of my pastor in a lemon-yellow jumper. cacked myself when i read that.
but it's a good point - whoever thought that blokes are gonna want to get to know one another up the back of the church building with a cup of tea and a scone, having listened to some dweeb in a lemon-yellow jumper?
(us->aus translation key: sweater = jumper, laughed heartily = cacked oneself)
Do they want someone that can take them in a fight, or someone that they can relate to? Some of the previous comments have alluded to the idea of a pastor being of a different species. It has occurred to me that many of the men in my congregations just thought I had no concept of the real world--their world.
It wasn't until I MET THEM for lunch (you know, where they serve meat), or joined them on their ranch for a little work , or knew something of what they were interested in that some of them were more able to join in our faith discussions.
I'm with Gavin - i was confused to think Pete Rollins said something like this - but Mark Driscoll? That's no surprise.
Okay about the pastor but how about the worship leader?
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