Christian men’s movement David Murrow

Church takes Mothers Day to new heights For sheer guts, you’ve gotta admire Bethel Church in Richland, WA. Their Mothers Day service was designed to reach men. Let me run that past you again: their Mothers Day service was targeted at men. Why? Mother’s Day is one of the three big Sundays that unchurched men attend services (the others being Christmas and Easter).     These crazy guys landed a helicopter outside the worship center. The foyer was festooned with model airplanes. Two man-lifts graced the auditorium. The title of Pastor Dave's sermon was "Man Lift" – how a man who follows Jesus lifts his entire family up.   If you’d like to see more photos from Man Lift Sunday, click here.   The death of men's ministry? The Christian men’s movement is in steep decline. Ten years ago Promise Keepers packed hundreds of thousands of men into large stadiums in nineteen cities. Today, they’ve cut back to smaller arenas in seven towns. The National Coalition of Men’s Ministries drew fewer than 200 guys to its national conference in April. The Purpose Driven Men’s conference had to be canceled when just 37 signed up. In April I offered the keynote address at the National Coalition of Presbyterian Men, which drew 95 guys from around the nation. The Presbyterian Women, who met two months earlier, had more than 3,000 at their gathering. Why are Christian men taking a pass on these events? I think we’ve “been there, done that.” Whenever Christian men gather, we know what to expect: singing, sermons and socializing. We’re asking men to shell out lots of time and money for the same experience they get for free on Sunday morning. When somebody changes the formula, men respond. John Eldredge’s Wild at Heart Boot Camps are always a sellout. Sure, there’s a dollop of singing and some speaking, but there’s so much more. The ropes course. Walks in the high country. Stogies on the deck after dinner. As John’s Web site says, “We couldn’t offer this in a church setting, or in the basement of a hotel.” Those of us who minister to men need to keep things fresh to keep them alive. Pray. Ask God how he would have you break out of your religious programming routines.

Where are all the men?   You’re not just imagining it: Christianity is short on men. Here are the facts:     • The typical U.S. Congregation draws an adult crowd that’s 61% female, 39% male. This gender gap shows up in all age categories. • On any given Sunday there are 13 million more adult women than men in America’s churches. • This Sunday almost 25 percent of married, churchgoing women will worship without their husbands. • Midweek activities often draw 70 to 80 percent female participants. • The majority of church employees are women (except for ordained clergy, who are overwhelmingly male). • As many as 90 percent of the boys who are being raised in church will abandon it by their 20th birthday. Many of these boys will never return. • More than 90 percent of American men believe in God, and five out of six call themselves Christians. But only two out of six attend church on a given Sunday. The average man accepts the reality of Jesus Christ, but fails to see any value in going to church.   It’s not just a lack of presence; most of the men who do attend our worship services just aren’t “getting it.” Every week the gospel bounces off their souls like bullets off Superman’s chest. Here are the facts:   • A significant number of churchgoing men attend out of habit, unaffected by what they hear. • Quite a few men go to church simply to keep their wives/mothers/girlfriends happy. • The majority of men who attend church do nothing during the week to grow their faith. • Relatively few churches are able to establish or maintain a vibrant men’s ministry.     This gender gap is not just a U.S. phenomenon; churches around the world are short on men. No other major religion suffers such a large, chronic shortage of males. In the Islamic world men are publicly and unashamedly religious—often more so than women. Of the world’s great religions, only Christianity has a consistent, nagging shortage of male practitioners.   Jesus had no trouble captivating men. Fishermen dropped nets full of fish to follow Him, but today’s church can’t convince men to drop their TV remote controls for a couple of hours a week.            The big questions:   • What is it about modern Christianity that is driving men away? • Jesus was a magnet to men, but our churches repel them. What’s changed? • Why do rival faiths inspire male allegiance, while ours breeds male indifference? • What can we do about it?