The Man-Church
A few weeks ago in Central Florida, a group of guys got together and held the first meeting of the Church for Men. In case you can't tell from the clever name, Church for Men is a church designed to appeal exclusively to guys. More specifically, it's designed to appeal to guys who don't come to church.
Meetings are short (no sermons over 15 min.) and filled with masculine themes. They don't have a pastor, they have a coach. Worship music? How about a little "Onward Christian Soldiers."
Church for Men is trying to provide a solution to a problem that many churches in America face: a lack of men in the pews. About 61 percent of the people in churches today are women. The church clearly has a problem engaging men, but is the solution really to build a campfire in the sanctuary and hang a "No Girls Allowed" sign on the door?
Church for Men's goal is not to compete with regular services. They meet once a month on Saturday nights. The idea is to attract men who avoid a typical Sunday morning service. The key will be whether the group can successfully draw those men into the Christian community as a whole (i.e. a regular church family). There's a problem when a group separates itself from the rest of the body of Christ.
But as long as a large percentage of guys don't feel comfortable on Sunday mornings, we can expect to see more man-friendly services and churches for men.
Meetings are short (no sermons over 15 min.) and filled with masculine themes. They don't have a pastor, they have a coach. Worship music? How about a little "Onward Christian Soldiers."
Church for Men is trying to provide a solution to a problem that many churches in America face: a lack of men in the pews. About 61 percent of the people in churches today are women. The church clearly has a problem engaging men, but is the solution really to build a campfire in the sanctuary and hang a "No Girls Allowed" sign on the door?
Church for Men's goal is not to compete with regular services. They meet once a month on Saturday nights. The idea is to attract men who avoid a typical Sunday morning service. The key will be whether the group can successfully draw those men into the Christian community as a whole (i.e. a regular church family). There's a problem when a group separates itself from the rest of the body of Christ.
But as long as a large percentage of guys don't feel comfortable on Sunday mornings, we can expect to see more man-friendly services and churches for men.
posted by Chris at 4:29 PM
7 Comments:
I find your editorial interesting coming from a magazine that appeals to men only. Isn't your theme to get a hook into marginal men and get them involved in a church. I do not see much difference between you and them. You both do similar ministries, different ways.
The blind spot you display is that men MUST come into the church. Well, yes and no. Men MUST come to Christ. How they choose to fellowship will not affect their salvation.
hello are you the guys from good mornig america if so way to go god loves us becuase we confess our love for him well he loves us anyway but to recieve salvation we must confess our love to him. my name is virginia as the mother of 4 sons and dozen plus foster boys (by the way i did the work myself without child support no affence but i want you to know i am not some jessabell. anyway my 21 year old son was killed (long story sad very sad but he loved jesus and he is safe now.)in pheonix this past march and i have a need to reach out to others that are in need i would like to write to you all and give a point of veiw from time to time you can read the tip of my story at www.postindepedent.com aprpil 13 2007 i have started a foundation to help those in pain at www.anbbank.com in the name of lennon derochey. please rememmber we are at our best when we turn all things over to god and read the word please pray for me and all my boys god bless you in our calling and even if you are not the church from gma god bless you cause you are doing somthing to help jesus. amen your sistert in christ virginia
if any one would like to talk i can be reached at silkisland@msn.com
"The Man-Church is an excellent idea! I was raised in the Church
and now at the age of 43, I have
left the Church. I believe the
Church has a problem in how it re-
lates to men. I am still a follower of Christ. I read my Bible daily, I have plenty of study aids, and I pray often, and
I live out my faith daily and I do
interact with people who may have a question about God. They come to
me, and I answer them always. I
am often asked if I am a Pastor,
when I tell them I am not, they
usually don't believe me.
My reasons for leaving the Church
are simple. The Church has become to much of a gimmick! An example
of the sayings they have, when you
arrive are "The Devil is a Liar" or "Jesus loves you and so do I".
Or having prayer circles where
everyone holds hands. I don't want to hold a sweaty guy's hands!
The Traditional Church would do well to look at "The Man-Church"
and see what they are doing to attract men. We need to be honest, the Traditional Church is a very feminine church. It is the reason women love it and men don't and the very reason why I left it but not God.
Please check out what we are doing in Daytona Beach, FL to reach men.
http://churchformenflorida.blogspot.com
Great approach, but I think this issue needs more than a man-themed liturgy. Personally, I don't want to sit around and talk. I would rather DO! For me, there is nothing more spiritual than having a bunch of guys work together building a house for a charity group like Habitat for Humanity. For me, that's how you really get to know the other guys. At lunch or dinner you can introduce topics for thought or conversation, but I think it's so important to establish a relationship with the other guys first. I really have to know somebody before I'll open up to them. You know?
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