Promising Men
One Friday night this past June the Indianapolis Hoosier Dome was packed; outside, thousands had been turned away. A rock concert? World Cup soccer? No, a gathering of Christians— all men. Sixty-eight thousand of them, part of a growing movement called Promise Keepers.
The men came with the purpose of committing themselves to the following promises:
• “To honor Jesus Christ through worship, prayer, and obedience to His Word. . . .
• “To practice spiritual, moral, ethical, and sexual purity. . . .
• “To build strong marriages and families through love, protection, and biblical values. All men, whether married or not, can further the work of God by honoring women and supporting families. . . .
• “To support the mission of his church, by honoring and praying for his pastor and by actively giving his time and resources. . . .
• “To reach beyond racial and denominational barriers to demonstrate the power of biblical unity. . . .
• “To influence his world, being obedient to the Great Commandment (Mk. 12:30–31) and the Great Commission (Mt. 28:19–20). His desire is to contend for the truth of Jesus Christ without shame for the Gospel. Willing to allow his walk with the Lord to demonstrate itself daily, he reaches out to the needy with compassion and love. . . .
• “To pursue vital relationships with a few other men, understanding that he needs his brothers to help keep his promises. He agrees to meet with a small group of men two to four times each month. Each man willingly grants the others the right to inquire about his relationship to God, his commitment to his family, his sexuality, and his financial dealings. . . .”
This movement comes at a time of crisis in our families and should be welcomed as a promising renewal movement among Christian men. All of the reports so far have been positive, though it is inevitable that Promise Keepers will have its detractors. The most likely detractors may react strongly to the second and third promises, which have to do with “spiritual, moral, ethical, and sexual purity,” and building “strong marriages and families through love, protection, and biblical values.” There is an assumption here of a commitment to traditional Christian morality as the norm that should be upheld and practiced. Most of the men come from traditionally-oriented evangelical churches and inevitably will be labeled by the media as another part of the “Religious Right” that is so ominous in the eyes of the media right now.
This movement also will receive criticism within some churches, especially from those that are in the process of abandoning the clear moral teachings of the Scriptures. This abandonment comes under the guise of redefinition and is excused as necessary because of a reassessment of the biblical texts themselves. The latest reassessment is the peculiar goal of radical feminists, who argue that Christianity is the product of a male-dominated society that sought to define God, religion, and morality in male terms, for male advantage over women.
James M. Kushiner is the Director of Publications for The Fellowship of St. James and the former Executive Editor of Touchstone.
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