U.S.
Is the Church Feminizing Men?
By Lee Webb
CBN News Anchor
CBN.com ? (CBN News) - A year ago, Greg Martin says he could not have led a devotional with his teenage daughters. The reason: he was playing in a Sunday baseball league that took priority over going to church.
As a result, Martin was feeling disconnected to a place where, in the past, he had felt at home. And he found himself unable to be the father he wanted to be.
?You start to see compromises take place when you're not sitting under good teaching, good preaching, and perennial fellowship with believers?,? Martin said. ?If I'm not setting a good, godly example to my children by being in church, and I'm out playing baseball, that was a pretty poor example for my children to see.?
For Martin, the desire to play baseball became more important than the desire to be in church. While he did not intend to leave the church, Martin just found less and less time for worship, a problem not uncommon for many men.
And a recent study shows many Christian men feel the same way.
A recent George Barna survey conducted for the men's ministry Promise Keepers found that more than 85 percent of Christian men are only marginally satisfied with their church experience. The study also revealed faith and spirituality are not top priorities for Christian men.
Family and children top the priority list at 42 percent, with career and money following at 39 percent. Health concerns rounded out men's priorities.
The survey also discovered that many men could not identify spiritual needs or goals. These numbers may sound surprising, especially in the past few years, with millions of men turning out for Promise Keeper rallies.
So why with so many Christian men pledging their faith are so many men dissatisfied? Pat Morley heads the ministry Man in the Mirror.
He believes the problem has to do with discipleship. ?I think one thing we need to grasp is that it takes a long time to make a disciple,? Morley said. ?Most of the big ideas about Christianity take about 10-20 years to sink in?think about words like grace, redemption, salvation, sanctification -- what's that all about? So somebody can become a Christian like that (snap his fingers)? But then, it takes about 10-20 years for these concepts to make sense.?
One of the problems with men and their church experience may be the expectation level.
Dever is with Nine Marks Ministry and is a pastor at Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington.
?I think, a lot of times, we try to make church just like another social club,? Dever said.
Dever believes that, for too many men, support fades after the sermon ends. ?I don't think the task of evangelism mainly takes place on Sunday morning, when we gather,? he said. ?The task of evangelism mainly takes place throughout the week, when the church scatters.?
It is this task that Dever believes churches need to improve in order to disciple men. And how does he plan to do it?
Many theological scholars and ministers believe part of the problem is what they call the ?feminization of the church,? meaning that worship and preaching focus a lot on the aspects that appeal to women, such as introspection and love, instead of masculine traits such as power and mission.
This feminization may be seen no further than the church hymnal. Songs like ?Onward Christian Soldiers and ?A Mighty Fortress is My God? have been replaced with softer praises of a God only found in one's heart.
Steve Turley is founder of Fretboard Fellowship, an evangelical Christian ministry that seeks to awaken all peoples to the worship of God by using music as a means to proclaim, teach, and enjoy the fullness of His glory.
Turley writes that modern "Christian worship is not characterized by a people who celebrate the fact that their King sits on heaven's throne, having conquered all the nations. But instead, focuses more on the pleasure and relief that God brings to the individual experience."
Turley is not the only theologian concerned that the church is feminizing men. Ergun Caner is a professor of theology at Liberty University
?Men are almost scared to speak of masculine things,? Caner asserted. ?They want us to speak in terms of ?I feel? as opposed to ?I believe.? We take responsibility, but they don't want us to do [it] so loudly. We take responsibility, but they don't want us to do so in a way that is boisterous.?
He added, ?I think they're not challenged because we're terrified of challenging them?we're so terrified of offending anyone by speaking about true masculinity, about men rising up, and taking -- not control of their wives ? but -- joining their wives, together, and being the godly men they're suppose to be.?
Understanding the ideals of a godly man and a godly father is what eventually led Greg Martin back to attending church. He offers this advice to men: ?I think they will be satisfied if they find a church where God's word is being taught. There is adequate preaching and there is instruction for men on how to be godly leaders in the home. Somewhere down the line, we have lost biblical masculinity. We have lost the manhood. God called us to be male, he called us to be holy. You can be both at the same time.?
Is the Church Feminizing Men?
By Lee Webb
CBN News Anchor
CBN.com ? (CBN News) - A year ago, Greg Martin says he could not have led a devotional with his teenage daughters. The reason: he was playing in a Sunday baseball league that took priority over going to church.
As a result, Martin was feeling disconnected to a place where, in the past, he had felt at home. And he found himself unable to be the father he wanted to be.
?You start to see compromises take place when you're not sitting under good teaching, good preaching, and perennial fellowship with believers?,? Martin said. ?If I'm not setting a good, godly example to my children by being in church, and I'm out playing baseball, that was a pretty poor example for my children to see.?
For Martin, the desire to play baseball became more important than the desire to be in church. While he did not intend to leave the church, Martin just found less and less time for worship, a problem not uncommon for many men.
And a recent study shows many Christian men feel the same way.
A recent George Barna survey conducted for the men's ministry Promise Keepers found that more than 85 percent of Christian men are only marginally satisfied with their church experience. The study also revealed faith and spirituality are not top priorities for Christian men.
Family and children top the priority list at 42 percent, with career and money following at 39 percent. Health concerns rounded out men's priorities.
The survey also discovered that many men could not identify spiritual needs or goals. These numbers may sound surprising, especially in the past few years, with millions of men turning out for Promise Keeper rallies.
So why with so many Christian men pledging their faith are so many men dissatisfied? Pat Morley heads the ministry Man in the Mirror.
He believes the problem has to do with discipleship. ?I think one thing we need to grasp is that it takes a long time to make a disciple,? Morley said. ?Most of the big ideas about Christianity take about 10-20 years to sink in?think about words like grace, redemption, salvation, sanctification -- what's that all about? So somebody can become a Christian like that (snap his fingers)? But then, it takes about 10-20 years for these concepts to make sense.?
One of the problems with men and their church experience may be the expectation level.
Dever is with Nine Marks Ministry and is a pastor at Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington.
?I think, a lot of times, we try to make church just like another social club,? Dever said.
Dever believes that, for too many men, support fades after the sermon ends. ?I don't think the task of evangelism mainly takes place on Sunday morning, when we gather,? he said. ?The task of evangelism mainly takes place throughout the week, when the church scatters.?
It is this task that Dever believes churches need to improve in order to disciple men. And how does he plan to do it?
Many theological scholars and ministers believe part of the problem is what they call the ?feminization of the church,? meaning that worship and preaching focus a lot on the aspects that appeal to women, such as introspection and love, instead of masculine traits such as power and mission.
This feminization may be seen no further than the church hymnal. Songs like ?Onward Christian Soldiers and ?A Mighty Fortress is My God? have been replaced with softer praises of a God only found in one's heart.
Steve Turley is founder of Fretboard Fellowship, an evangelical Christian ministry that seeks to awaken all peoples to the worship of God by using music as a means to proclaim, teach, and enjoy the fullness of His glory.
Turley writes that modern "Christian worship is not characterized by a people who celebrate the fact that their King sits on heaven's throne, having conquered all the nations. But instead, focuses more on the pleasure and relief that God brings to the individual experience."
Turley is not the only theologian concerned that the church is feminizing men. Ergun Caner is a professor of theology at Liberty University
?Men are almost scared to speak of masculine things,? Caner asserted. ?They want us to speak in terms of ?I feel? as opposed to ?I believe.? We take responsibility, but they don't want us to do [it] so loudly. We take responsibility, but they don't want us to do so in a way that is boisterous.?
He added, ?I think they're not challenged because we're terrified of challenging them?we're so terrified of offending anyone by speaking about true masculinity, about men rising up, and taking -- not control of their wives ? but -- joining their wives, together, and being the godly men they're suppose to be.?
Understanding the ideals of a godly man and a godly father is what eventually led Greg Martin back to attending church. He offers this advice to men: ?I think they will be satisfied if they find a church where God's word is being taught. There is adequate preaching and there is instruction for men on how to be godly leaders in the home. Somewhere down the line, we have lost biblical masculinity. We have lost the manhood. God called us to be male, he called us to be holy. You can be both at the same time.?
