“The times, they are a changing,” as the Bob Dylan song goes.
A while back I attended a local alumni meeting for my seminary where I learned that my school now sanctions drinking alcohol. And then there is the megachurch I know of that holds some of its men’s small group Bible studies in bars.
I haven’t been a fan of alcohol
Personally, I haven’t been a fan of alcohol. For starters, I had an uncle who was killed by a drunk driver…just a few days before Christmas…when he was engaged to be married…along with three other young men who died with him. I also have a cousin who died in a car crash when he was driving drunk.
And that’s just the beginning.
But the Bible condones drinking alcohol
On the other hand, while warning us of its abuse, the Bible does condone drinking alcohol.
I’m not here to debate the details of what the Bible says about alcohol.
But I am a Biblicist and I have changed my mind on men’s ministry and alcohol, as of 5:43 am last Thursday, to be precise. I was standing in the kitchen making my first cup of coffee of the day and thinking about this topic when I decided that, when it comes to evangelism and discipleship of young American men, the merits of alcohol outweigh its demerits.
A number of other leading Christian evangelical organizations and individuals, ones whose opinions I respect and admire, have arrived at the same conclusion. For example, Campus Crusade for Christ (now called Cru) and Dallas Theological Seminary, my alma mater I referred to above, both condone alcohol in moderation.
It’s time for men’s ministry to infiltrate America’s alcohol culture with the gospel, biblical truth, and a message of moderation
I liken this change in my stance towards men’s ministry and alcohol to the way most conservative Christians have changed their views on movie theaters and contemporary music over the past few decades.
Sixty years ago, many evangelicals considered it a sin to attend a movie theater. The result was a complete absence of any evangelical influence on the production of movies. And the result of Christians marginalizing themselves from the movie industry was increasingly immoral, violent, and godless movies.
But slowly, evangelicals began attending movie theaters until, with the massive success of The Passion of the Christ in 2004, the movie industry realized that there was a huge, untapped audience they were not catering to. The result has been an explosion of Christian movie production companies and Christian-themed movies, movies that often clearly present the gospel.
The same observation can be made about contemporary music. It used to be that Christian music was limited to hymns and the few stations that played them. But with the rise of contemporary Christian music, we now have a plethora of very successful contemporary artists, contemporary music genres, contemporary Christian music radio stations, and even our own contemporary Christian music awards show. No longer does “the Devil have all the good music.”
In the same way, Christians, and especially Christian men, have often isolated themselves from those who drink alcohol. But without the ameliorating influence of the biblical teaching on alcohol, the result has been a culture that has become obsessed with it…and addicted to it.
Mature Christians, especially mature Christian men who know how to balance spirits with the Holy Spirit, need to permeate America’s alcohol culture with the gospel and biblical truth and a message of alcohol in moderation the same way we have done with movie theaters and contemporary music. Imagine a men’s bible study in every bar in your neighborhood. Or a beer festival outreach at your church for men in your community.
Like movie theaters and music, alcohol is not bad or good in itself, just bad or good in the way we use it.
(As always, your comments are appreciated. But please read the content I’ve linked to above before you do.)
Since 2003 New Commandment Men’s Ministries has helped hundreds of churches throughout North America and around the world recruit teams of men who permanently adopt widows, single moms and fatherless children in their congregations for the purpose of donating two hours of service to them one Saturday morning each month. We accomplish this with a free training site called New Commandment Men’s Ministry Learn how to mobilize your men’s ministry to meet every pressing need in your church at newcommandment.org.
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Learn how to form teams of men for every widow, single mom
and fatherless child in your church at NewCommandment.org.
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5 thoughts on “I’ve Changed My Stance on Men’s Ministry and Alcohol”
Consuming alcohol is far different from going to movies or contemporary Christian music. You don’t see people on skid row as a result of the latter two. However, many are there because of alcoholism. Drinking is a slippery slope.
I appreciate your willingness to tackle this very difficult subject for so many believers. As you stated there are no directives in Scripture about the use of alcohol and to me it is a non-issue. However, I understand why the need to address it.
Come on Saints lets try to reign in believers that are prone to divorce, adultery, uncontrolled tongue, addressing and helping of the poor…
Can I share a “cool one” with you?
I see your point Herb, but have some concerns. One being how “moderation” is defined. I had a very close, a self described recovery alcoholic with 25 years “clean & sober”, claiming to have mentored many others through AA. But, her definition of “sober” made acceptation in the case of fine dining where a nice bottle of wine (usually followed by a second bottle) was a necessary part of a good meal. And, of course, a few glasses of wine were also appropriate to celebrate a birthday, an anniversary, or any other happy occasion. And if one has a “bad day”, a few glasses of wine were therapeutic. She had a regular weekly one on one prayer time with a sister in Christ, where they would share several bottles of wine in an evening of prayer. Eventually, it became clear that wine was the conditioned response to just about every condition, even as she maintained she remained “clean & sober”, denial being one of the first symptoms of addiction.
When I lead Singles ministries, we banned alcohol out of respect for those in the group that night struggle with alcohol addiction. The person who took over that ministry removed the restriction, & I heard complaints that the alcohol consumption regularly exceeded what could be cony”moderation”, & the “Christian” singles gatherings were no different from secular single events. Yet the same Christian brother, who never had a “drinking problem” himself, complained of the excessive drinking at singles events. Nonetheless, he always enjoyed one or two beers when he & another brother in Christ went out for dinner. He saw no need to abstain for the sake of his friend, even thot the friend was a recovering alcoholic. In turn, the recovering alcoholic decided he too would be able safety to handle enjoy a mixed drink with his meal. Until he totaled out his new car.
Just a few of my thoughts
Just a comment on the differences. I’m a family physician, and we now know that alcoholism (and in fact many substance abuse disorders) have a strong genetic component. ( no such association for movies or rock and roll). The only “drinker” I knew as a child was my father’s older brother who was rarely sober from age 15 to 60 (when he met a woman who lead him to Jesus, and freedom from his drinking). As a young teen I had no interest in alcohol, because I though if you drank at all you would smell and act like my Uncle Kenny. As a medical student I learned that I likely carried genes that put me at risk for alcoholism. I agree with your challenge to be salt and light wherever we can be, but I am hesitant to be that salt on the edge of the margarita if it would embolden someone like me to take a risk that might turn out badly. I applaud your willingness to reconsider, but would point out that, at least for Nazarenes, our roots of non drinking come from a history (at least in the West) of having such a large number of our folk being alcoholics — and concern for the other, not judgement.