When men need spiritual sustenance they go to the gym or the corner bar. They watch their heroes play in the NFL on Sunday afternoons and watch Braveheart for the 7th time. Sadly, the Church is one of the last places men look for guidance, salvation, and inspiration. More than 90% of American men believe in God and 5 out of 6 call themselves Christians, but only 2 out of 6 attend church on a given Sunday. The avg. man accepts the reality of Jesus Christ, but fails to see any value in going to church.
David Murrow, the author of “Why Men Hate Going to Church” says, “Every Muslim man knows that he is locked in a great battle between good and evil, and although that was a prevalent teaching in Christianity until about 100 years ago, today it’s primarily about having a relationship with a man who loves you unconditionally.” Christ’s bold masculine command, “Follow Me!” is now, “Have an intimate relationship with me.” The challenge of bringing back men to the Church can be especially difficult in Los Angeles where we receive a healthy diet of moralistic therapeutic deism similar to Oprah Winfrey in our churches, rather than the “William Wallace Christ” that said, “no one takes my life from me, I lay it down on my own.” The issue in Los Angeles is not the stereotypical pink polo t-shirts and evian water that LA men like to rock, the issue is the kind of Christ we portray.
We need to see that Jesus not only said to turn the other cheek, but said to take up our cross and follow him. We need to see that the Bible encourages men to be leaders and not passive wimps. We need to see that Jesus is the greatest hero of any story, Jesus as our Courage who stood on our behalf like an older brother rescuing his helpless younger brother, and we need to see Jesus as our Commander and Chief who completed the mission we could not complete. The Gospel preached and exemplified will not only get men in the door, but it will develop men of God who are leaders of the church. If your church doesn’t look like that now, just watch it’ll happen if you faithfully preach and exemplify the Gospel.
Women are Murrow’s most popular audience interestingly enough. Why? It’s because women want their men to be God fearing leaders, not children they have to drag kicking and screaming to church. So, men of Los Angeles, go ahead and wear your pink polo t-shirts and your tight seven jeans, but let’s do it on the way to hear about a carpenter that would die for his people in order to lead them home.
-aj
