Sunday, June 11, 2006

Where did all the men go (again)?

Just found an excellent post on the GetReligion blog concerning the feminization of Christianity: Where did all the men go (again)?

A growing trend which more than just a few people have noticed is the disappearance of men from various Christian denominations. Not surprisingly, the very feminine left-liberal leaning churches have the greatest discrepancy between men and women attendees, while the more fundamentalist type churches are about 50/50.

However, even in the more fundamentalist leaning chruches, this ratio is not stable, and more and more men seem to be dropping out.

Being a man, and having been very disappointed by many churches in the little corner of the USA where I live, allow me to put my $0.02 in...

Most of the men I've met in leadership positions in their respective churches don't really have any idea as to what they are doing. Not all the men I've met, but quite a few. They don't seem to understand what Christianity is all about, nor do they really seem to care.

On the other hand, the women I've met in the various churches I've gone to are quite exceptional, and seem to really understand the "big picture" when it comes to the ministry and influence of Jesus.

Of course the unintended consequences is that you have women who are doing the real heavy lifting of spiritual formation and prayer, while the guys might do well to have an occasional "prayer" breakfast...where surprisingly little praying is done.

Yes, it's really just that simple, at least from my perspective...

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