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Straight Talk To Elders
This book should have been titled Straight Talk to PASTORS! Because this is what this book is about. But the pastors to whom the message in this book is addressed call themselves "elders," thus the title.
The Scene: Thirty pastors ruling over ten churches in Santiago, Chile invite one man from the United States to speak to them about church life and church leadership.
The Result: A high-drama, edge-of-your-chair message and a hair-raising question-answer session on church leadership, eldership, and authoritarian abuse that lasted the better part of an entire day!
What some have called "the most remarkable church council ever to occur on South American soil," this book contains the entire transcript of that meeting.
Within these pages you will read the entire story of how leadership functioned in the early church as Viola traces the subject from Matthew through Revelation in chronological order.
Straight Talk to Elders is a prophetic plea to abandon authoritarian abuse and oppressive leadership structures. Its liberating message has set many Christians free from the tyranny of dictatorial leaders who overlord God's flock.
112 pages, Paperback
Published August 1, 2003
30 people want to read
About the author
Frank Viola
65 books204 followersFrank is a bestselling author and in-demand conference speaker. You can find his books, podcasts, articles, messages, and courses at http://frankviola.org.
Viola doesn't interact on GoodReads. If you want to contact him, you can write him directly with a question or comment at frank@frankviola.com.
Viola doesn't interact on GoodReads. If you want to contact him, you can write him directly with a question or comment at frank@frankviola.com.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 27, 2014
"Straight Talk to Elders" by Viola is a very old book that is now out of print. It's no more than a transcript of a powerful message the author delivered to a group of pastors in Chile in 2001.
The transcript of the message is arresting, but it's a spoken talk so it doesn't read like a dissertation with sources and documentation. His books "Reimagining Church" and "Pagan Christianity" written with George Barna give all the documentation.
Viola is not an advocate of "house church" but the organic expression of the church, something very different. The book is powerful, but it's not a real book but rather a transcript. But the conclusions are supported by books by Robert Banks, Howard Snyder, and many other scholars, and Viola expands them and documents them in his previous books on the church.
What's cool is that this book has gone out of print a long time ago but it's been revised and updated and is called "Straight Talk to Pastors" and can be found on Viola's website frankviola.org / books
It's a much better version and it includes the whole story of the church in Chile that he planted while on his trips there.
My personal favorites by Viola are "God's Favorite Place on Earth," "Jesus Manifesto," and "From Eternity to Here" - these are classics and they are endorsed by some of the best-known Christian authors and pastors of our time.
This wouldn't be on the top of my Viola book list, even though it's neat for what it does. A chronological look at the appearance of "elders" and "pastors" from Matthew to Revelation. It's eye opening for that and Viola does a powerful job addressing oppressive leadership structures in the process.
The transcript of the message is arresting, but it's a spoken talk so it doesn't read like a dissertation with sources and documentation. His books "Reimagining Church" and "Pagan Christianity" written with George Barna give all the documentation.
Viola is not an advocate of "house church" but the organic expression of the church, something very different. The book is powerful, but it's not a real book but rather a transcript. But the conclusions are supported by books by Robert Banks, Howard Snyder, and many other scholars, and Viola expands them and documents them in his previous books on the church.
What's cool is that this book has gone out of print a long time ago but it's been revised and updated and is called "Straight Talk to Pastors" and can be found on Viola's website frankviola.org / books
It's a much better version and it includes the whole story of the church in Chile that he planted while on his trips there.
My personal favorites by Viola are "God's Favorite Place on Earth," "Jesus Manifesto," and "From Eternity to Here" - these are classics and they are endorsed by some of the best-known Christian authors and pastors of our time.
This wouldn't be on the top of my Viola book list, even though it's neat for what it does. A chronological look at the appearance of "elders" and "pastors" from Matthew to Revelation. It's eye opening for that and Viola does a powerful job addressing oppressive leadership structures in the process.
September 18, 2014
Before reading this book I was not unfamiliar with Viola's message contained in it, having some experience with those who have been deeply influenced by Frank Viola and his teaching on house church. I have seen little-to-no good fruit on account of this mindset. It is, ironically, separatist and elitist.
To be frank, "Straight Talk to Elders" is poppycock. Frank Viola argues in it that the office and role of pastor as we know it is unBiblical and that there should be no official leadership in the Christian Church. Church meetings should operate "organically" without any official leadership--no person or persons in the front leading the congregation in worship. Each member is expected to function in an atmosphere of complete freedom from any human authority. Frank explains the Christian's "freedom in Christ" as freedom from all authority other than the authority of Christ. Now, says he, Jesus is our Lord, and no one else can have authority in our lives. When asked about the authority of fathers in families, the answer is unsettling: the New Testament doesn't mention it and it, too, is probably unBiblical. Thus a beautiful Christian truth, that Christ is Lord, is twisted into a kind of earthly anarchy that would make the apostles roll over in their graves.
Frank's error is that he defines freedom in Christ as freedom from all human authority rather than freedom from the law of God, as the Bible defines it (Gal. 5:1). True Christian freedom is not freedom from the authority of fathers, political governors, or elders in the church, but freedom from condemnation, fear, judgment, and wrath. If Frank had understood this moral/spiritual freedom that Scripture talks about, there wouldn't be books like this, and the damage they create. Frank fails to see that it is the message of the gospel that sets people free. It is the gospel that saves, heals and restores individual lives, not the method of our meetings. The gospel is completely absent from this book, not mentioned on any page. Frank argues that our method of meetings is wrong and if we fixed it then everyone would be set free. He fails to see that it's the message, not the method, that is ultimately important, and if it is the message that's crucial, then the method is less crucial, so long as the truth of Christ is being proclaimed (although I also disagree with his methodology). One may have all the right methodology, but without the gospel of Christ, it is death, not life. The reverse is also true. Frank's understanding is shallow and mechanical.
Frank attempts to provide a basis for his teaching in the New Testament, and in a short space leaps across the epistles, glancing here and there. His argumentation is scant and speculative and at times laughable. For example, in trying to explain away the qualifications for elders in 1 Timothy and Titus, Frank reasons that because Timothy and Titus had been in ministry for a long time already, and since Paul is only now telling them about the qualifications for eldership, eldership, therefore, must not be a big deal! That's right. Eldership is no big deal because the qualification for elders only appears in 1 Timothy and Titus, which were written later in their ministries. Upon this rock Frank builds his church. Frank also argues that Philippians 1:1 is proof that eldership is "no big deal", because elders and deacons are mentioned as a "footnote". "Oh, and by the way, greet those nobodies, too..." Can't you just see how unimportant they are? What then are elders, according to Frank? Elders are nothing more than people who've been Christians longer and have more maturity; they aren't serving in any official capacity; they simply are respectable members of the group, without any more responsibilities than anyone else. That's all. Ordaining elders simply means "acknowledging" them, but acknowledging them doesn't give them any special responsibilities. There are, under no circumstances, to be any leaders in the Church.
Except for one circumstance. Not only is Frank's case for leaderless Christianity weak, but he admits in the book that he himself is an exception to the rule! When asked how he practically operates in meetings, Frank explains that he is essentially an apostle who doesn't participate in meetings the way everyone else should, but hops around from meeting to meeting and provides much needed oversight and leadership. He is the exception. That's convenient, isn't it?
Frank fails to see the connection between leadership in the Christian Church and the Old Testament, where we find leaders who function as leaders within the people of God, and see promises that God will raise up leaders to feed His flock with knowledge and understanding (Jer. 3:15). It is in fulfillment of these promises that Christ gave to the Church pastors and teachers with the command to "feed My sheep". Frank misses this connection completely. He ironically fails to understand the organic nature of leadership in human affairs.
One other thing I will note about the book. As serious as the content of this book is, the entire tone of the meeting is flippant, cheeky, and glib--not the kind of atmosphere befitting the revolutionary subject matter it claims to be. If you're going to come to the Christian Church and tell her that everyone has been doing it wrong for the last 2000 years, you'd at least think to be sober about.
To be frank, "Straight Talk to Elders" is poppycock. Frank Viola argues in it that the office and role of pastor as we know it is unBiblical and that there should be no official leadership in the Christian Church. Church meetings should operate "organically" without any official leadership--no person or persons in the front leading the congregation in worship. Each member is expected to function in an atmosphere of complete freedom from any human authority. Frank explains the Christian's "freedom in Christ" as freedom from all authority other than the authority of Christ. Now, says he, Jesus is our Lord, and no one else can have authority in our lives. When asked about the authority of fathers in families, the answer is unsettling: the New Testament doesn't mention it and it, too, is probably unBiblical. Thus a beautiful Christian truth, that Christ is Lord, is twisted into a kind of earthly anarchy that would make the apostles roll over in their graves.
Frank's error is that he defines freedom in Christ as freedom from all human authority rather than freedom from the law of God, as the Bible defines it (Gal. 5:1). True Christian freedom is not freedom from the authority of fathers, political governors, or elders in the church, but freedom from condemnation, fear, judgment, and wrath. If Frank had understood this moral/spiritual freedom that Scripture talks about, there wouldn't be books like this, and the damage they create. Frank fails to see that it is the message of the gospel that sets people free. It is the gospel that saves, heals and restores individual lives, not the method of our meetings. The gospel is completely absent from this book, not mentioned on any page. Frank argues that our method of meetings is wrong and if we fixed it then everyone would be set free. He fails to see that it's the message, not the method, that is ultimately important, and if it is the message that's crucial, then the method is less crucial, so long as the truth of Christ is being proclaimed (although I also disagree with his methodology). One may have all the right methodology, but without the gospel of Christ, it is death, not life. The reverse is also true. Frank's understanding is shallow and mechanical.
Frank attempts to provide a basis for his teaching in the New Testament, and in a short space leaps across the epistles, glancing here and there. His argumentation is scant and speculative and at times laughable. For example, in trying to explain away the qualifications for elders in 1 Timothy and Titus, Frank reasons that because Timothy and Titus had been in ministry for a long time already, and since Paul is only now telling them about the qualifications for eldership, eldership, therefore, must not be a big deal! That's right. Eldership is no big deal because the qualification for elders only appears in 1 Timothy and Titus, which were written later in their ministries. Upon this rock Frank builds his church. Frank also argues that Philippians 1:1 is proof that eldership is "no big deal", because elders and deacons are mentioned as a "footnote". "Oh, and by the way, greet those nobodies, too..." Can't you just see how unimportant they are? What then are elders, according to Frank? Elders are nothing more than people who've been Christians longer and have more maturity; they aren't serving in any official capacity; they simply are respectable members of the group, without any more responsibilities than anyone else. That's all. Ordaining elders simply means "acknowledging" them, but acknowledging them doesn't give them any special responsibilities. There are, under no circumstances, to be any leaders in the Church.
Except for one circumstance. Not only is Frank's case for leaderless Christianity weak, but he admits in the book that he himself is an exception to the rule! When asked how he practically operates in meetings, Frank explains that he is essentially an apostle who doesn't participate in meetings the way everyone else should, but hops around from meeting to meeting and provides much needed oversight and leadership. He is the exception. That's convenient, isn't it?
Frank fails to see the connection between leadership in the Christian Church and the Old Testament, where we find leaders who function as leaders within the people of God, and see promises that God will raise up leaders to feed His flock with knowledge and understanding (Jer. 3:15). It is in fulfillment of these promises that Christ gave to the Church pastors and teachers with the command to "feed My sheep". Frank misses this connection completely. He ironically fails to understand the organic nature of leadership in human affairs.
One other thing I will note about the book. As serious as the content of this book is, the entire tone of the meeting is flippant, cheeky, and glib--not the kind of atmosphere befitting the revolutionary subject matter it claims to be. If you're going to come to the Christian Church and tell her that everyone has been doing it wrong for the last 2000 years, you'd at least think to be sober about.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews