The good news is that men desperately need what only a loving, nurturing, and Christ-centered church can offer. Through the ministry of the church, the following needs of a man can be met:
- To know God and really feel His unconditional love (Rom.
- 1:20)
- To find rest for his weary soul (Matt. 11:28-29)
- To fellowship with other men who are struggling with similar
- issues (2 Cor. 1:4)
- To hear God’s Word proclaimed and related to in both practical and personal ways (Ps. 23:4)
- To feel inspired, encouraged, empowered, and understood (1 Thess. 4:18)
- To seek refuge from the world’s problems (Ps. 46:1)
- To find ways to deal with the daily issues he faces (James 1:2)
- To find appropriate ways to model Christ’s love to his family
- (Matt. 19:19)
- To receive moral and religious instruction (Ps. 32:8)
Once again, we connect with my good friend David Murrow’s work Why Men Hate Going to Church:
The modern church is having trouble reaching men. Women comprise more than 60 percent of the typical adult congregation on any given Sunday. At least one-fifth of married women regularly worship without their husbands. There are quite a few single women but hardly any single men in church
Today…
Tough, earthy, working guys rarely come to church. High achievers, alpha males, risk takers, and visionaries are in short supply. Fun-lovers and adventurers are also underrepresented in church…
Today’s church does not mesmerize men; it repels them. Just 35 percent of the men in the United States say they attend church weekly. In Europe, male participation rates are much worse, in the neighborhood of 5 percent. This hardly sounds like a male-dominated, patriarchal institution to me…
Fortunately, pioneering churches and parachurch organizations are enjoying remarkable success in reaching men for Christ. New forms of worship and ministry tailored to the needs of men are springing up in the unlikeliest places. Some of the fastest-growing churches in America are also those most successful in reaching men.
[David Murrow, Why Men Hate Going to Church (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2005), 5-8]
Taken from Building a Ministry of Spiritual Mentors, by Jim Grassi