John MacArthur has never been one to mince words or hold back what he's truly thinking and he doesn't look like he's going to start pulling the reins anytime soon.
At the Shepherd's Conference at MacArthur's church this week, Johnny Mac had some clear and deep criticism of the direction the church in America is going in, specifically calling out Andy Stanley and Tim Keller.
Here's what MacArthur had to say:
There's an inordinate affection, strange to say, for the culture. There's a driving desire that's twisted to reach the culture. You can go back to Tim Keller's mandates for urban renewal or Andy Stanley welcoming all the homosexuals because he wants to reach them. But pastoral ministry is not about changing the culture. And if you define it theologically, your church will never have anyone who's a genuine member who's not part of the remnant
But I think ministry has been woefully lacking to the souls of the people of God. And so they have struggled and they have been wounded. They have been without biblical teaching, without solid doctrine, without nourishing truth, while everybody is worried about what the world thinks and making sure we identify with the world and its style and its music and all of that when feeding the flock of God is how we discharge our ministry and how the Lord builds his Church.
You want my two cents?
I see this everywhere. Churches today are SO worried about what the world thinks of them and how to bring in new members that they have forgotten the primary function of pastors, which is to feed and protect believers from the wolves ("pastor" comes from "pastoral," from the French word for "shepherd").
Pastoral ministry is not about changing the culture.
We've confused pastoral work with evangelism and the Great Commission. Our desire to reach the culture has caused us to not only capitulate to the culture's sinful ideologies, but to neglect the faithful men and women (and their children!) who are on the frontlines every day proclaiming Christ in their vocations and communities.
Pastors are not feeding their flocks. The ones inside the fold are STARVING.
There are a hundred example of how this happens, but one is watered-down teaching from the pulpit. There are many pastors that don't want to get too "theological" on Sundays because it might confuse a visitor. Meanwhile, their congregation has no concept of theology or apologetics and their faith inevitably drowns.
