Men and the Church
Matthew 11:12 “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.”
As we approach Father’s Day here in North America my thoughts have turned to men in the Church and this interesting verse from the Gospel according to Matthew.
Interesting verse … “…and forceful MEN lay hold of it” and yet on any given Sunday there are many more women in any given church service than men. Less than 40% of adults in most churches are men, and 20 to 25% of married churchgoing women attend without their husbands. And the men that do attend often look bored – so bored.
Interesting facts … recently in an edition of Outlook Magazine I have been reading I was startled by the statistics regarding men and the Church. The “fact” that really got to me was that even the majority of men who do attend never let God change their hearts. Their hearts are not engaged in the experience we call worship and apparently they are not finding the teachings helpful or beneficial or, at least, are not applying the teachings to their personal lives. Church is failing to engage men on any meaningful level.
Interesting comment … Business guru W. Edwards Deming: “Your system is perfectly designed to give you the results you’re getting.” David Murrow goes on to say in his book “Why Men Hate Going to Church” that…”in other words, if every third car rolls off the assembly line with bumpers installed upside down, you don’t blame the bumpers. You’ve got a system that’s unintentionally designed to produce defective cars … It’s time to stop blaming the bumpers. The modern church system is getting the results it’s designed to get.”
Interesting observation … even thought the Founder was a male and His original 12 disciples were all male; the early heros of the Christian faith were almost exclusively male; men penned the New Testament; all popes have been male and over 90% of pastors in North America are still males … but, truth be told, the majority of leaders in almost all churches are female. Examine the bulletin and see who the contact names are. Look around and see who does the work during the week. Notice on Sunday who is actively involved in practical, hands-on ministry. Women are in the vast majority!
Matthew 11:12 “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.”
Interesting contrast … Jesus tells us that men should be involved in a military takeover of the darkness pushing it back with the Gospel of Jesus which is the beginning of light. That this is a power thing as men will take it over “forcefully.” That this will be necessary if we hope to see the Kingdom of heaven advancing as it should. So, obviously this is not the case and things will need to change drastically. But, I honestly don’t think we need to start changing things at the “church” level as the Church we have built is simply a result of a deeper problem – the way we see Jesus!
Interesting change … I believe we need to change the image or picture, the impression, we have of Jesus. When I was in my original seminary back in the late 1960’s there was a book published by a Jesuit priest called “Good-old Plastic Jesus.” It really impacted me even in my pre-salvation state because it presented a different side of Jesus than I was given in any sermon or church I had ever attended. And now, 40 years later I am doing a major study on Jesus in my research time each week … and sitting right across from where I write there is a pile of 14 books on various aspects of God as seen in the life and ministry of the real Jesus … books as diverse as “Jesus” by Charles Swindoll to “Jesus Mean and Wild” by Mark Galli to “Your God is Too Safe” by Canadian Mark Buchanan.
Interesting solution … Jesus is the key to what needs to change. Many books look at the Church and suggest what needs to happen to make it more male-friendly – I believe that is putting the cart before the horse. We need to see Jesus as He really is and that is different than how most churches represent Him. He is the Head of the Church; He is building His Church; and if we see and know Him as He really is then we will know and see God the Father as He really is because Jesus came to reveal the Father to us. Then with a clear picture of God that is not so culturally influenced and more biblically based we will allow Him to build His Church His way and that will look and function much differently than we see today.
Interesting work … and that is partly my task as an apostle. I am called a “Master Builder” in the Bible and as God reveals more and more of the blueprint for His Church we will begin to help Him build a Church that will be attractive to both men and women, saved and unsaved, young and old. Jesus attracted people of all ages and backgrounds – both men and women – and so will His Church if and when we represent Jesus for who He really is and the way He has truly revealed Himself to us – and then we can bury “good old plastic Jesus” and not pray for a resurrection because we will then know the real Jesus and men will flock to Him and find life, meaning, and signifigance.
Just my take on things!