Where have all the men gone?

One of the main reasons men have stopped going to church altogether is the way they view Christianity and Jesus himself. Men are very particular about the type of people they follow. All of my leadership studies have shown people, men, in particular, will not follow a lesser leader. Of you have been in the workforce you have experienced this yourself. Think of a boss you have ever had that you thought was incompetent, under-qualified and an all-around idiot. Did that make it easy to get up in the morning to go to work? How long did you keep that job? Men take this a step further with Jesus. We look at him and all depends on how we view him on whether or not we get up and go to church.

David Murrow says that over the years he has offered this quiz to thousands of people of all religions and backgrounds believer or not. And over 90% of the time people much like I am sure you did have chosen set B to more closely describe Jesus. Here is the fun part, it is a trick question… The list is from the book Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus. Set A is used to describe men and set B is used to describe women. This is how we view Jesus today. Men do not want to follow a feminine man into spiritual battle.

We talked about the gender gap last week. This week I want to show you how we can fix this gap, not just in this church, but all churches. We need to get men active in the church. They need a place to serve and it is up to the church give them an opportunity to serve. Men don’t want to sit in the pews and do nothing. “Men are not led into action unless there is danger involved.”

What we have now is a church that is culturally relevant but not spiritually relevant. To men, it’s like have a men’s softball league that never plays a single game. They get together every week sometimes two or three times a week and talk about playing. They go over the fundamentals they read books on it and watch videos about softball but they never play. Why would a man stay in that league for very long? He wouldn’t!!! This is a typical church today. We get together and talk about what the church should do in this world to change it and then we never actually do any of them. To the men of the world, we are all talk and no action.

What can we do to bring the men back to church? We need to get back to the model of the first church. We need to get out and fish for men!!! Jesus called his first church leaders and told them he was going to make them fishers of men. Let’s look at this in scripture. The first calling.

Scripture: Luke 5: 1-11.

When faced with the true character of Christ Simon was changed. He followed Jesus and made a difference in the world. He followed him in a real authentic relationship. If men were to get to know Christ for themselves, they would follow him without hesitation. I am going to do my best to help us get men back into this church. I will not sleep until I have made a difference in this church. when I am done with this church I will go out into the world with the men I will equip to help change the world.

The best way to do that is to go fishing. We have to fish for men right where we are. Start fishing!!!! Today the Trail Life boys are going fishing and you can bet I am going to talk to them about fishing. It is what Jesus would do so who am I to argue with perfection?

I am sending you home with a decal. You can put it on your car or wall at home. you can get a picture frame and put a cool background in it and put it on the glass. there are lots of things you could do with it. I just want you to remember to fish it is the best way to a biblical church. we need fishers, not SeaWorld employees. I'm begging you FISH!!!!