WN: At nation's churches, guys are few in the pews - USA Today

[WorthyNewsBot]

Churches nationwide are fretting and sweating to reel men into their sanctuaries on Sundays.

http://www.worthynews.com/news/usatoday-co...h_N-htm-csp-34/

[yaqub]

Actually, this phenomenon happens all around the world.

[LadyRaven]

Not surprising to me, male leadership is always the first thing to go when things come apart. it either becomes overblown (absive) or underdone (absent). Satan would attack men first as they are the head and protector of the family.

[Guest yod]

Men are not challenged in too many churches. You have far too many sitting in pews who could really serve but instead they have a seminary student with no real life experience (outside of talking) claiming "authority" over them. OR...they have someone browbeating them with the same tired/twisted verses about why they should give money to build "church" kingdoms.

They just aren't going for it....why should they?

Not all churches are this way of course...but enough to make it a problem.

If churches allowed men to be a large part of the planning and building of a community instead of just being the source of $$$ for a select few to spend, there would be more men willing to put up with the Sunday beatings.

[damo1]

well whoes fault is it ? and this is also happening in Australia

this is why i never pull down my sisters in the lord

there are ways were the church can win the men over but before this happens the churches who have noticed this need to do some soul searching

we see this with our men in Australia especialy farmers and builders and carpenters thes guys tend to avoid church while you might have the wife and kids comming to the local church service their husbands would rather sit at home or go to the local watering hole or watch a live football match or just hang out

i get a monthly magazaine sent to me and it has valuable info in how we men can win other men over into the kingdom this magazaine also gives tips to pastors and leaders who run mens groups

we have a good mens group and we are seeing we are getting new men comming to our mens group also men are starting to stick it out and are stepping up

my old pastor use to encourage us men and he would always get us men to come down the front and pray over us

do the pastors in your part of the world that you live in encourage the men to be all they can be ? or are your leaders wimps them selves ?

sorry for being blunt but i am a male my self and i know it can be hard being a pastor wear you dont have all your men behind you and come each sunday you might only have over 40 0r 50 or even 15 men attending your services

i am about to kick of a mens group in the philippines my fiancee is happy for me to do this the churches in the philippines dont have mens groups like we do hear in Australia but the men do comitt to the local church their wifes go to i saw that their was a need and i said to my partner you focus on the women and the young girls and grandmothers and let me focus on the men and the grandfathers and the younger males

when i told the assistant male pastors under my fiancee they were amazed and said we do need this hear also in our country

my pastor and my old pastor can lead men and they know how to challange us guys i like straight forward preaching no beating around the bush no wimp preaching a wishy woshy gospel or this new age gospel that has snuck in

men want to be around real men and if you want the men to comitt you need to make some changes

we also get the big screen out and watch the state of origon or rugby or the cricket and there are weekends were we go away and just hang out we go fishing or camping this gives us guys the chance to unwind and get closser to each other and gives our pastor the chance to be him self and to get to know the new men that are comming to our church

we also go out to the local restraunt on a saturday night and sometimes we get together with sevral of the local churches and have what you cal a service for men were we have difrent guys sharing and then we open up the floor were you pray for each other

with the way the world is changing we also need to be moving forward and never scared to try something new

God bless from damo

[Xan]

Here is what a former Baptist preacher wrote in his blog last month:

"What's God Got to Do with It?

This post ultimately concerns the Southern Baptist Convention, but, first, a little history:

When the great American Puritan Jonathon Edwards wrote about what came to be known as the First Great Awakening, he described the colonial era revival as "the surprising work of God." Later, writing in the midst of the Second Great Awakening, prominent evangelist Charles Finney referred to the happenings as "entirely the result of the right use of means."

Clearly, a change of Copernican proportions had taken place between those two eras. One might suggest that in this instance change was not the same thing as progress.

Nonetheless, as Southern Baptists gathering in Indianapolis this week talk about what they intend to do about a decline in membership and baptismal numbers, it is clear that they are Finneyites, not Edwardsians. That might not seem as much of a surprise, given that Puritan theology has gone largely by the wayside over the course of the last three centuries (though a signficant resurgence is taking place). However, it is truly shocking to see the extent to which those who accuse others of humanism persist in describing human beings as being in control of the divine act of saving sinners.

When Baptists lament the falling number of baptisms, they presumably aren't regretting the mere fact that fewer people are getting dunked under water. Baptists believe solely in believer's baptism. Thus, to discuss a decline in baptisms essentially amounts to an expression of concern over the number of converts. However, conversion is the activity of God. Perhaps the entire Christian message could be expanded out from a simple three word statement: "God saves sinners." Given that God is the subject to that verb, one might expect that Baptists would respond to reports of fewer baptisms by imploring God to convert more people. Instead, they announce a new emphasis on evangelism.

Baptists seem to have short memories. If one were to look at press reports from Southern Baptist Conventions over the last quarter of a century, one suspects that at nearly every one of them Convention leadership spoke of emphasizing evangelism. Sharing the Gospel is a New Testament value that is a Southern Baptist obsession. That the constant emphasis on evangelism co-exists with a decline in baptisms and church membership might give more thoughtful leaders a reason to implore God to do something instead of focusing on themselves.

Of course, there are matters that Baptists should be addressing if their intention is to faithfully and meaningfully spread the Gospel in today's world. A large number of Baptist churches are moribund social institutions wed to a culture and social mores that are falling out of existence. Many of them lack leadership that is capable of providing guidance in applying biblical truths to modernity. Many of them prospered in a cultural environment that was friendly toward their existence and ministry, and they do not know how to function in a world that is either indifferent or hostile to their message. Far too many have been depleted by decades of infighting. Indeed, too many churches do not look at all like the Kingdom of God, but like banana republics, ruled alternately by illegitimate dictators and unruly mobs, and they cannot prosper.

On the other hand, a new style of church has emerged that appears more vibrant, but these churches have frequently replaced the values of the Sermon on the Mount with those of America's entertainment and marketing culture. They frequently fail to recognize the incompatibility of many of those values, at least as applied to doing church.

Thus, as the new President of the Southern Baptist Convention, like many of those who held the position before him, once again tells the churches that they should get back to evangelism, one might wish to ask him: what does God have to do with it?"

Two days prior, he also wrote this:

"Unfortunately for them, the Gospel is "the power of God that leads to salvation for everyone who believes." It is not a man-made marketing plan. As long as Southern Baptists fail to understand the difference, church membership will continue to lack meaning, as will the number of converts."