Men and the Church

Did you know that women make up 61% of church attenders and men only 38%? If you put it into raw numbers, 13 million more women attend church than men on the average Sunday. This begs a few questions. Why is the church not engaging men? Maybe a better question is, "Is it easier for the church to engage women than men?" Have we really made the church effeminate asking men to get in touch with their "sensitive" side? All of these questions bother me as a minister. I'm sure I may have a bit of tainted view as I deal with some of the greatest Christian guys on a regular basis. However, I wonder about the average american man. In his book, "Why Men Hate Going to Church", David Murrow says "Men follow men-not programs". I think this typifies the men of America. Who do we aspire to-The CEO's, the NFL, NBA, and MLB stars and actors that "save the day." Men follow and connect with other men. We don't follow and connect with a bunch of other men watching one man talk about the issues of the day (Oprah for the ladies). So, I guess to get more men in the church, we need more men worth following-simple to understand, difficult in practice. Either way, if I was a single guy...13 million is looking like pretty good odds to me.