Slideshow image

I must admit that I did not know what a “Kingdom Bro” was, either before or after I read this column by John Stonestreet (Colson Center). So, before you click on  the article (  --> here  <--), here is your definition:

Kingdom Bros are Christian young men, operating largely online and in the podcast spaces. They call Christian men away from wimpy ideas about God, the Bible, and theology. They call them into a stronger vision of manhood, centered around masculine strength, commitment to better theology, and a call to renew our culture in a Christian way. 

All that is good; great in fact! Stonestreet, warns us of Bro culture detached from the gospel of Jesus. If they lurch away from devotion to the Word of God and the cause of Christ, then they are just another cultural moment in our history (and we see cultural moments rise and fall weekly, it seems). 

In every age, Christians are tempted to exchange holiness for influence and Christlikeness for winning.

Jesus warned his followers about following the patterns of the world instead of being shaped by the Kingdom of God.

And Jesus … said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. (Mark 10:42-43a ESV)

Changing culture is in line with the gospel message. We are called to be salt and light. In the sermon on the mount, Jesus taught:

You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven (Matthew 5:13-16 ESV)

If you detach cultural influence from the source of the salt and light, if you promote masculinity without the humility of following Christ, and if you promote cigar-smoking self-righteous G.K. Chesterton self-congratulatory sessions over personal devotion to the Word of God and work of the great commission, then the movement is lost. 

This is precisely where the modern Church has often failed. We have too frequently produced Christians who are informed but not formed—people capable of arguing Christian ideas without embodying Christian character. And yet character is the apologetic the modern world finds hardest to dismiss.

Stay anchored Bro’s!!