God calls men to be leaders. The Bible presses the need for Christian men to lead their families as well as His Church. Throughout the World, in the Christian Church we see men taking a back seat and women frequently put at the front fulfilling a role they were not made to fulfill. Some of this is done out of reluctant necessity and some a reflection of cultural egalitarian principles. Whatever the cause, churches lacking male leadership are invariably weak.
I wrote an earlier article titled: What’s your advice? about the unfortunate and heartbreaking circumstances of Aukaan women and their unbelieving, unfaithful and unrepentant husbands. A typical Aukaan woman in our church is young (in their 20’s or 30’s) and has a number of children along with her unbelieving man. She comes along with all her young kids to church each Sunday. In this groups is a significant number of young boys (13 years and younger). Nearly every one of Godoholo’s Christian women were saved after they were already with their husband. They often lament of how things would likely be different if they were Christians before they already lived with their man. But things are the way they are. Praise God for his revealing himself to them and bringing them out of darkness -unlike their ancestors before.
The boys in Church have been raised hearing the beautiful life-changing, life-saving Gospel message. These youth have the amazing privilege and responsibility to choose and follow Christ as men or to turn their back and follow Satan. Unlike their fathers, heathens without knowledge of Christ, they are without excuse. These Aukaan boys see how their fathers live….and conversely how their mother’s live. I know statistics show how boys, a vast majority of the time, follow in their father’s footsteps. God made young boys with a desire to emulate their fathers. Boys will take on habits and qualities as well as faults. The father is invariably the primary male role model for his sons.
It’s a tough crossroad to be at. As an outside observer, a grown man with a clear and Biblically determined perspective who can weigh the options and logically choose what path the boys should take. They see the righteous and love-filled lives of their mothers and their lust-driven, dishonest and deceitful fathers. They hear the message of truth weekly, joyfully worship at church and see (albeit a few) examples of Christian men and the good lives they live. They see young men who don’t fear God, seek only wealth, women and whatever fame or reputation they can get and are only angry, discontent and unfulfilled. Jesus: why wouldn’t you?
But I’m not these boys. I hope they’ve see me as an example to follow, but I know I’m also a white-guy outsider and by virtue of being foreign, am both placed and judged in a completely different category as a man. I don’t know the pressure that comes from the unbelieving majority of males whose long-standing concept of a man is blatantly non-Biblical. I don’t know what its like to have a father who would scoff at going to Church and tell me its only for women and kids and incongruous to true Aukaan masculinity. I don’t know what goes through their heads when older males pass by and contemptuously smirk at the youth worshipping.
Moreover, I know that statistically that outlook is bleak. Boys in America predominantly follow their fathers into belief or unbelief as well. And the cultural weight is nowhere nearly as heavily pressed against males to follow Christ in the U.S. as it is on Aukaaners. But I do know after leaving his disciples astonished to such a degree as to prompt them to say: “well then who can be saved?!” in response to his sobering, seemingly hopeless statement that it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God Jesus answered saying, “with man this is impossible but with God all things are possible”.
Amen. And So I take full solace in Jesus’ words. Even if the circumstances were every bit of what I would consider ideal, the truth is it’s still impossible without God to ever be saved. God has shown himself to the generation in Church now and has transformed their lives. He did the work there and I have faith he will do it with the young boys who will become men. They have been blessed to be raised in Church, heard the Gospel and have seen the diametrically opposed lives between the saved and unsaved. I often consider and imagine the magnitude of even a handful of young male Christ-followers and the impact they’d have on their unsaved brothers. Additionally, they’d be the leaders the Church needs. It’s my hope…and my prayer for these boys.
