Man Stuff: When Men Lead Properly in Church
Matthew 10:1 And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction.
We have all heard the horror stories of male authority and leadership abused. Regardless of the story it has happened in the political realm of our country, the military realm, in marriages, and even in our churches. When men fail to love God and imitate His character it is guaranteed to end in disaster.
In contrast to those disasters we have been talking about Godly male leadership (part 1 here), Godly male leadership in marriage (part 2 here) and this week we will talk about Godly male leadership in the context of the church.
Without Godly male leadership the church will not grow and will become stagnate. As a matter of fact, church attendance is indeed declining all across the country and all across denominational lines. David Murrow, as we quoted in a previous post (here), clearly shows that the gender make up of the church is drastically skewed towards women and children. I think the reason we are in crisis is because men, by and large, are not attending churches.
In order to kind of verify that statement let us be completely honest and answer a few questions. Who runs your church? Who are the majority of the Sunday school teachers and lay leaders in your congregation? When you look around on Sunday morning is the majority of the attenders male or female? Lastly, is your church growing? Let me define growing before you answer. Is your church seeing people come to Christ and discipled? Is your church growing in numbers? According to research of churches in America, only 2% of churches reported growth (Read Here).
Of course we don’t even have to ask those questions, we can simply look at our lives or ask the men in our lives what they think. I have heard on many occasions from many men all across our nation that they will not darken the doors of a church because it is so overly feminized and non-masculine they literally feel alienated from the time the walk in. I remember one time being invited to a meeting of a lot of pastors to discuss the effects of a 10 year war and PTS(D) on their congregants. At the first break I needed to use the restroom and thought to myself, “I better not follow these guys because I will end up in the women’s bathroom!” They were not men that I would follow even to the bathroom, let alone in the Kingdom of God.
The statistics are loud and clear. If a wife converts to Christianity she will bring her children to church, but the husband will most likely not attend; however if a husband converts to Christianity a majority of the time the whole family will begin to attend.
So what do we do? How do we address the decline of the church, the lack of male participation, and the over all state of our nation as men take a vacation of all that is important? The answer is quite simple actually, probably more simple than you know.
First, Pastors, you must be men that men want to be like and to follow. Unfortunately, for a majority of men this isn’t the case. Remember the movie The Patriot? They are calling up the Militia to serve and need men. The pastor volunteers to serve along side the men. That is a Spiritual Leader men will follow. Are you that man? Let me answer that question for you.
Take a look at your church. What are your messages like? Are your messages geared towards men? On Mother’s Day do you praise women and on Father’s Day do you berate men? Is it decorated in fruity colors and an assortment of puffy, lacy, and flowery decorations? Does your men’s bathroom have a masculine feel to it? What about your worship? Do you have prom songs to Jesus? I was in a congregation where I literally heard the worship leader talk about Kissing Jesus to show him your love. Pastors, if this type of nonsense goes on in your congregation you will never have men and thereby grow.
Secondly, TARGET MEN WITH MEN! Start events geared towards reaching men, change the format or structure of service to reach men, preach the challenge of Christianity; that you will suffer and that it will be the most difficult challenge of your life that guarantees failure if you are not immersed in His Spirit, following His lead! Hold UFC parties, football parties, work days where men connect in a manly way, and give them objectives and goals to accomplish!
When Jesus started building His church, He started with men and called men to lead first! Lets do the same and finish the mission we were given to do.
Check out David Murrow’s site http://churchformen.com
Quick Facts by David Murrow http://churchformen.com/men-and-church/where-are-the-men/
Image: A seventy year old priest leading Armenians to battle filed; published in 1918 by Hairenik Pub. Co.; source: Why Armenia Should be Free: Armenia’s Rôle in the Present War; author: Garegin Pasdermadjian, Aram Torossian; public domain
