BIBLICAL MANHOOD PART II

(Not in church!)

BIBLICAL MANHOOD PART II

Where are the men? That's the question the Christian Church has been asking itself for the last 40 years or so. In that period of time there has been a shift in the Church's population. Whereas in the past, the Church usually had a majority of men, now it is reversed, with the majority being female. Books have been written asking the question, "Where are the men?" and books have been written seeking to give the answer: "Watching football." Books have been written trying to tell us why men have left the Church, and here's some of the things they tell us:

1. Content of music- Sometime in the early 70's there was a shift in the content of music sung in Evangelical Churches. Traditionally, the music had been hymns and the lyrics focused on concrete facts. But in the aftermath of the hippie movement, the Church's music began focusing much more on feelings in music. So with repetition, the Church would sing of the "beauty of Jesus' face," or over and over again, "I love you, I love you, I love you Jesus," etc. Is there anything inherently wrong with these lyrics? Not really, but men aren't known for pouring out their emotion this way, and they found themselves not being able to relate at all. One Preacher I know of referred to modern worship music as "love songs to a sky-fairy." Maybe he's right? Now I'm not at all suggesting that hymns only had biblical lyrics (there are plenty of awful, mushy, sappy hymns), but they were the exception, rather than the rule. Thankfully, modern worship music, seems to be going in a better direction as of late.

2. Felt Needs Preaching- What I mean by this is preaching began to focus on people's difficulties and challenges in life, rather than on declaring facts about God from the pulpit. Everything became about relationships, being a better this or that. The theory goes that men felt like they were being sold a bill of goods, and didn't want anything to do with it. Tell men facts, but just telling them stories that relate on a purely heart level, was again not appealing.

3. Female Preachers- With the rise of women pastors, the church's male population declined drastically. Whether this was based on strong biblical conviction that women aren't allowed to be Pastors (they are not, 1 Timothy 2:12) or just based on male chauvinism (probably the real reason for many), the fact is men did not want anything to do with this change.

4. A Lack of Standards- As more and more Churches began losing faith in the authority of the Word of God to be the final say so, and instead substituted therapeutic methods for leading the Church, more and more men left. Men thrive on things being black and white, on standards being laid out, and fuzziness being wiped away. The more and more clear and challenging the demand of a church is, the more likely men are to attend. The more safe, the more old lady-ish, the more wishy-washy, the less likely.

5. Nothing for men- Lastly, the reason men have left the Church is because there doesn't seem to be anything for them to do there. For some reason, many men have been made to feel that unless they preach, or teach, or play an instrument, there's not a place for them in the Church. Their wife may be teaching children, organizing potlucks, attending women's groups, etc., but there just isn't anything for the man.

In closing, let me just say, that in no way do I think our own Church has been above these problems, or for that matter that all the reasons listed are even problems. I merely bring up this issue about men and the Church because it does us well to think about how to reach any group of people that we may not be.

Tomorrow, we'll seek to define from the Bible, what a Godly man looks like...

Soli Deo Gloria,

Pastor Erick

RECEIVING FROM CHRIST....GROWING IN CHRIST....GOING WITH CHRIST....