Men, we need you to serve Christ and his church. We need you build buildings and playgrounds. But, we also need you build yourself through Spiritual disciplines and build others through the investment of your time and energy. The church needs men who will heed David’s instructions. Be strong. Show yourself a man. Obey God’s word. Serve faithfully.

It has become chic to attack and criticize men. Even in the church, much attention is being paid in recent years to patriarchy and its supposed role in creating and sustaining both evangelicalism and purity culture. Increasingly, I fear that the attention paid to attacking and criticizing men and boys in the church and larger culture is going to have detrimental effects on boys, girls, men, women, the church, and society. I also see that the more we demonize men and boys for being men, the more we alienate them from serving faithfully within the church.
Men, the church needs you. The church needs you to serve her well–as men. The church needs you to serve her as pastors and deacons, as trustees and mission leaders. But the church also needs you to serve in the nursery, as children’s Sunday School teachers, and as role models and mentors for teenagers and young adults.
The church needs men to show young boys that being a Christian is not a female role and that serving in the church is not a job only for moms and grandmas. When men step up and serve, they show young boys what a Christian man should be, and they give young girls role models for the kinds of men they can look for in relationships in the future.
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Unlike our forebears, people today flounder in a sea of greed, materialism, and waste. Christians included. A bad attitude to money is a constant temptation. We must listen carefully to the words of Jesus in Proverbs on money, and we must also listen to the words of the incarnate Jesus on money: for he knew its power and danger, and had very much to say about it.

When my grandmother sold her 1976 Toyota Corona in 1996, the sun visors and doors were still covered with the protective plastic from the factory. The car’s original green paint was brilliant and immaculate, and it had been serviced within an inch of its life. In fact, when it rained Grandma had to go out with raincoat and umbrella because Grandad didn’t want to risk rusting their beautiful car.
It wasn’t just the car. Grandma only ever owned one electric toaster, a 1948 wedding present. It had flip down doors on either side, and you had to manually turn the bread. She only ever used one carving knife the one her blacksmith grandfather had repurposed, using forge and hammer from a worn-out steel file in the early 1900s.
In her last years, in the blazing Perth summers, she still cooled herself using a damp towel and electric fan, reluctant to waste electricity on her perfectly good split-system air conditioner.
Grandma was born in 1926, and so she lived her girlhood through the Great Depression. Her family had no car or cart, and they traveled by foot or bus. Her father, a school master, supplemented the family table by hunting rabbits. Her mother had to sell her beloved piano to buy food: “We ate the piano,” Grandma would sometimes say. Butter was scarce, and drippings on bread with salt and pepper made a frequent meal. (Dripping was the fat from a cooked roast, collected into used tins.) Grandma, like just about every other Australian in the 1930s, had to live frugally, and she never lost those childhood habits. She treasured and looked after every possession.
How different my life has been. I have had many cars, and I haven’t looked after any of them especially well. Cheap electric appliances come and go. My worn-out clothes are discarded instead of repaired. Every now and then we have to clear uneaten leftovers out of the fridge. If it’s cold, we put on the heater without much thought.
By any standard of history and place, the Australian middle class enjoys spectacular wealth. And with wealth comes wastage, greed, forgetfulness of the poor, pride, a sense of entitlement, and spiritual apathy.
These are not small dangers. And so we turn urgently to God’s word for help and guidance. Here are seven things the book of Proverbs teaches us about poverty and wealth, riches and want.
1.  Wealth comes from the Lord.
“The blessing of the LORD brings wealth” (Prov. 10:22). If God is sovereign, if he governs all creation, then both riches and poverty come ultimately from him. Poor and barren Hannah recognized this: “The LORD sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts” (1 Sam. 2:7; Scripture quotes from NIV version unless otherwise noted). And Moses warned rich Israelites never to forget this:

You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth. (Deut. 8:17)

Godliness and riches are linked: “Humility is the fear of the LORD; its wages are riches and honor and life” (Prov. 22:4). Psalm 112 concurs:

Praise the Lord.
Blessed are those who fear the Lord,who find great delight in his commands.
Their children will be mighty in the land;the generation of the upright will be blessed.Wealth and riches are in their houses,and their righteousness endures forever. (Ps. 112:1-3)

In a fallen world, however, the correlation is far from robust. The godly can be destitute (like Hannah, Job in his trials, Elijah, and Mary), and the godless can be rich (like Pharaoh, Nabal, Darius, and the glutton who pretended Lazarus didn’t exist). The rich should not presume that God smiles on them, nor should the poor assume that he frowns on them.
2. The Lord normally bestows wealth by hard work, frugality, and saving.
“Dishonest money dwindles away, but he who gathers money little by little makes it grow” (Prov. 13:11). “All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty” (Prov. 14:23). “The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty” (Prov. 21:5).
And so indolent epicureans tend to impoverish themselves: “He who loves pleasure will become poor; whoever loves wine and oil will never be rich” (Prov. 21:17). “He who works his land will have abundant food, but the one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty” (Prov. 28:19).
Some will inherit the benefits of the hard work, frugality, and saving of others. “Houses and wealth are inherited from parents” (Prov. 19:14a). The godly will want this for their children: “A good man leaves an inheritance for his children’s children, but a sinner’s wealth is stored up for the righteous” (Prov. 13:22). A patrimony does not however come without its dangers: “An inheritance quickly gained at the beginning will not be blessed at the end” (Prov. 20:21).
3. Greed is evil.
Gordon Gecko, the fictional Wall Street swindler, urged that “greed is good.” Scripture urges instead that greed is godless. The greedy fall easy prey to “get rich by corruption, stinginess, and bribery” schemes: “A greedy man brings trouble to his family, but he who hates bribes will live” (Prov. 15:27).
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The SJC was considering two questions in this case. The first was whether the session at Midway erred in convicting Phil Dudt of the charges brought against him, and the second was whether the Northwest Georgia Presbytery erred in upholding that conviction. The SJC answered yes to both questions, and that ruling is the subject of pastor Johnson’s disappointment.

As a member of Midway Presbyterian Church who recognizes and appreciates its importance to both my region of the country and the denomination to which I have fled as an SBC refugee, I have made it a point to closely follow the various controversies that exist within my own church, though I am not personally a party to the disputes. I was dismayed to read pastor Terry Johnson’s article criticizing the SJC’s ruling which overturned the conviction of RE Phil Dudt, finding his critique both poorly reasoned and generally unhelpful in that it serves to obfuscate the matter rather than clarify it.
Pastor Johnson complains that the SJC does not understand the context surrounding the case, but he provides very little for his readers as he does not even explain what Dudt was tried and convicted for. It is necessary for anyone interested in the matter to read the summary of the facts here.
On July 8, 2020, the session called a congregational meeting for the purpose of electing three assistant pastors as associate pastors to take place on July 19, 2020. Phil Dudt sent an email to the congregation in which he asked the congregation to support a substitute motion to postpone the meeting until January, 2021. The full text of his email can be read in the summary of the facts. He gave several reasons for this motion, one of which was the fact that Midway had only recently been involved in another controversy regarding the handling of officer nominations in which the SJC ruled against the session. His motion to postpone the meeting failed, and the congregation subsequently voted to install the three candidates as associate pastors.
The session at Midway then brought charges against RE Dudt, alleging that his email was a violation of the 5th and 6th ordination vows, as well as the ninth commandment. Dudt was convicted of the charges, appealed that conviction to the Northwest Georgia Presbytery, and then to the SJC.
The SJC was considering two questions in this case. The first was whether the session at Midway erred in convicting Phil Dudt of the charges brought against him, and the second was whether the Northwest Georgia Presbytery erred in upholding that conviction. The SJC answered yes to both questions, and that ruling is the subject of pastor Johnson’s disappointment.
Johnson’s first stated reason for his disappointment was that the SJC does not recognize the larger context within which the complaint was made. He speaks of a contentious minority that has been engaged in a prolonged battle against the will of the majority. The complaint being considered by the SJC was an appeal filed directly by Phil Dudt himself, not by any third-party members of the church. The context for the complaint is the actions of Phil Dudt and the trial that ensued, not the actions of other people within the church that took place before or after. There does exist a portion of the congregation which is vehemently opposed to the session at Midway in general and pastor David Hall in particular, but Phil Dudt has never publicly identified with them. Many of these members are anonymous in their opposition and therefore would be impossible to identify with in the first place. His only association with them is the fact that he is an officer of the church (which is a connection to this faction shared by all members of the session, not just Dudt) and the fact that they agreed with his arguments for postponing a congregational meeting called for the purpose of voting on a motion to install three associate pastors.
The second point made by Johnson in his critique of the SJC decision is the one I find most disappointing by far. The SJC agreed that there was no evidence in the ROC to support the charges that were brought against Dudt. Specifically, what the session failed to show was that Dudt’s actions constituted an offense according to BCO 29-1. This led to the sustainment of specifications of error 4, 5, 6, 14, and 24. Johnson argues that this constitutes an argument from silence and that the proper course of action by the SJC would have been to investigate further because, “the benefit of the doubt, or shall we say, the presumption of innocence, should be given to the majority in the local lower courts.”
This is extremely flawed logic. Pointing out that the prosecution failed to substantiate the charges is not an argument from silence. An argument from silence is when the absence of evidence for one proposition is taken as evidence for the truth of a contrary proposition, particularly in the field of historical analysis. The question being decided by the SJC was not whether Phil Dudt was innocent or guilty but rather whether or not the session erred in finding him guilty. The accused party has the presumption of innocence until proven guilty. The point is not that the lack of evidence of his guilt proves his innocence but rather that the failure to provide evidence of guilt renders a conviction unjustified.
More importantly, Johnson’s reasoning here shifts the burden of proof from the accuser to the accused. The burden of proof when bringing charges against any member of the church, let alone an elder, is on the one bringing the charges (BCO 29-1), not on the one being accused. This was addressed in specification of error 31, which was sustained in the SJC ruling. If no evidence to sustain the charges is provided, the proper course of action is for the court to render a verdict of “not guilty,” not to delay judgment until evidence can be found. The question being decided by the SJC was whether or not the conviction of Dudt by the court was warranted. To “presume innocence” on the part of the majority of the court on that question is to presume guilt on the part of Phil Dudt. Pastor Johnson’s logic essentially amounts to saying that the SJC should have upheld the rulings of the lower courts because they were the rulings of the lower courts. That is obvious question-begging and would defeat the entire purpose of the appeals process.
Johnson’s third point, that technical errors of process should not be given undue weight in light of the larger context is wholly irrelevant to the question at hand. He made no effort to explain how exactly the SJC gave undue weight to technical errors of process, and the facts do not support the claim. The SJC did not overrule Phil Dudt’s conviction on the basis of procedural errors but rather on the basis that the charges upon which he was convicted were unfounded and unproven. Furthermore, a number of the specifications of error listed by Johnson as technical errors of process are not in fact mere technicalities but rather are errors which fundamentally undermine the character of justice, particularly errors 25, 30, and 31.
Pastor Johnson’s fourth point, which he calls the heart of the issue, is another exercise in circular reasoning. He asserts that Phil Dudt “does not have the right to send private communication without the knowledge of the session, especially one which contradicts, and in the contradiction denigrates the session.” We can all agree that he does not have the right to denigrate the session, but the whole point here is that he did not denigrate the session. Phil Dudt only denigrated the session if you consider the act of arguing in favor of a substitute motion to be denigrating in itself. Such a position would be absurd. Dudt expressing disagreement with a decision of the session to call a congregational meeting to elect three associate pastors no more denigrates the session than pastor Johnson expressing disagreement with an SJC ruling denigrates the SJC. Dudt’s reasoning for delaying the meeting in no way denigrated the session. He did not even voice opposition to the session’s proposal to install the three associate pastors. All he argued for was to postpone the meeting until the following January. Johnson’s characterization of Dudt’s actions presuppose his guilt, and then he uses that presupposed guilt as a basis to criticize the SJC’s ruling overturning the conviction.
Pastor Johnson goes on to point out how the SJC decision has injured the ministry of a veteran, faithful, and devout minister. I assume he is referring to pastor David Hall. This is true, and I largely share the concern. Johnson explains that Hall, “has sustained constant, false, and destructive attacks from an organized and determined minority. At the foundation of their bitter opposition was an orderly process whereby the session voted to nominate assistant ministers to serve as associate ministers, and the congregation voted to concur with the recommendation to call the assistant ministers as associates. The minority did not like the decisions or the processes, though both were in order. They simply refused to submit to the majority.”
First, it is worth noting that Johnson’s assertion that both the decision and processes were in order is not a matter of unanimous agreement. The question of the orderliness of the process became the subject of another controversy when thirteen ordained members of Midway signed a 40-5 credible report alleging various BCO violations stemming from that meeting. That report was viewed as legitimate enough for the Review of Presbytery Records Committee to unanimously recommend that it be referred to the SJC for adjudication. That recommendation was ultimately rejected by the General Assembly by a 54% – 46% vote. Whichever side one might take on the questions surrounding that meeting, I do not think it is properly charitable to assume that these issues were raised out of nothing more than a stubborn refusal to submit to the will of the majority. It strikes me as unlikely that so many people—including many who were not themselves involved—would see legitimacy in the objections if those objections could not have been raised in good faith.
More importantly, even if you agree that the actions taken by the minority after the congregational meeting is a stubborn refusal to submit to a legitimate decision of the majority, that has nothing to do with the case of Phil Dudt. The actions for which he was tried and convicted occurred before the meeting, not after. He was not one of the signers of the 40-5 report. At no point did he indicate any unwillingness to submit to the results of that congregational meeting, and has taken no action to undermine it.
While I share pastor Johnson’s overarching concerns about the fact that many members of Midway have made use of this SJC ruling to launch all sorts of attacks on David Hall, it does not follow that the SJC made the wrong ruling in the case. Consideration should be given to the fact that Phil Dudt is also a veteran, faithful, and devout minister, and that his conviction did injury to his ministry as a ruling elder. To uphold a wrong conviction which injured one minister for the sake of protecting another from criticism would have been blatant partiality on the part of our denomination’s highest court, and I am thankful that did not happen.
As I see it, the true heart of the issue here is whether or not Phil Dudt deserved to be convicted of the charges that were brought against him on the basis of his email to the congregation. How an email advocating the postponement of a congregational meeting which contained no false statements, no accusations or assignment of ill motives, and no opposition to the proposed action itself constitutes violence to the unity, peace, or purity of the church, lack of subjection to the brethren in the Lord, or a violation of the ninth commandment is beyond any reasonable comprehension. That is why the SJC unanimously overturned the conviction, and I do not believe they erred in their judgment in doing so.
Jonathan McElrath is member of Midway Presbyterian Church in Powder Springs, Ga.
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