Over at Christianity Today online, Brandon O'Brien (assistant editor for Leadership Magazine) has an article on the new men's ministries that are making the rounds in evangelical Christianity (read it here). The ministries were spawned in response to several books written about the dearth of men in churches. Most of the books seem to agree that men are not attracted to Jesus or the church because both have been overrun by feminine thinking. O'Brien is somewhat critical of the men's ministries because they separate men from women and they tend to be a little over the top. Here's my response.
These men's ministries (IMHO) make two mistakes. One is that they allow current sinful testosterone to take over. Instead of asking what God wants in a spiritual man, they tend to let go with how men are currently. Listening to some of the clips that introduce these ministries or churches will quickly educate you. A quick run through the Bible will indicate how God wants men to act as his children. Allowing male testosterone to be the guide is what got many men into trouble.
The second mistake is in not looking more carefully at the masculinity of Jesus. I don't see Jesus as a chest-thumping, loud, overly-aggressive, out-of-control male. Instead he delineates what a true man is all about by showing what true spirituality is all about.
David Murrow's book (Why Men Hate Going to Church ) seems to have launched much of the literature and ministries aimed at men. However, his book wasn't a call to separate men from women, to have separate ministries for men, nor to let male desires run wild. Instead he recommends that the church create ministries that allow men to work together to help others (e.g. Saturday morning auto repair for single moms, widows, and other ladies without men). Ministries that allow men to work together as a team keep the focus off of the men themselves and on others. Men as sons of God should be other-centered and not self-centered or male-centered.
Churches do need to rethink how to appeal to men in order to get men back in the body of Christ. But churches need to make sure that it is God who runs the show and not imperfect males.
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Bob's meandering about life and fun.
About Me
- Bob Bliss
- Mount Dora, Florida, United States
- I've been in full time ministry for over 30 years (one year of youth ministry and the rest in the pulpit) with four churches. I'm married since 1976 to Pat. I have three grown children and three grand sons.
Prayer List
- Janice Taylor
- Dennis Hall
- Jean Wright & family
- Cathy Brown
- Sonia Sides
- Dana & Craig
- Carter family
- Smith Family
- Godknecht family
Currently Listening To
- 1Kings (ESV)
- My iPod
- 105.9 (Corolla)
Currently Reading
- Theology for the Community of God by Stanley Grenz
- Biblical Theology: A Proposal by Brevard Childs
Favorite Quotes
- ***"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." (C. S. Lewis)
- ***"Our churches have turned into theaters and our preachers have turned into witty motivational speakers with high entertainment value," (Thomas G. Long)
- **Too often, Preachers think that they have to make the Gospel more interesting to the world instead of allowing an already interesting and powerful Gospel go about remaking the world. Can preaching once again be revived to its proper end? (William Willimon)
- **Habit is habit, and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs one step at a time. (Mark Twain)
- **The fundamental problem with most of us is not deficient self-esteem but inadequate divine-esteem. (Daniel Block)
- **If my sermon becomes another product that makes you feel a little less miserable this week, then that, it seems to me, is a little less than the gospel. (William Willimon)
Family Blogs
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Blogs I Read Regularly
- Ben Witherington
- Bible Software Review
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- Tim Archer
- Trey Morgan
- Uncommon Descent
- William Willimon
8 comments:
Bob,
Wonderful thoughts and post.
I totally agree.
Keep up the wonderful job you do on your blog brother.
It is my prayer that we bring men back to God through his gospel message and make commited disciples who strive to be like Jesus instead of the world. I pray that God will always be our standard. As we lead, we lead under the will of God. As we commit to the will of God, we will be truely blessed.
Again, wonderful thoughts.
Keep up the great work and hope you have a blessed week.
In Him,
Kinney Mabry
Do you remember the "male bonding" retreats of the late 80s, early 90s? Some churches even got in on it, with men going camping and dancing around campfires half-naked to the beat of the tom-tom.
Yeah, those were the days. Can't you picture Jesus and his disciples doing that?
Grace and peace,
Tim
Good thoughts, Bob. Sorry I missed seeing you on Tuesday. -bill
I agree that Jesus wasn't a "chest-thumping, loud, overly-aggressive, out-of-control male" and those kind of analogies of Jesus in sermons is over the top. Jesus wasn't ever out of control so neither was he this sweet feminine "I feel your pain" nurturer all the time either. I'm saying He wasn't female either.
The problem we have is not letting God define male and female. There is a reason God the SON came into this world and it had nothing to do(as some think) about the culture of that time.
"Instead he delineates what a true man is all about by showing what true spirituality is all about."
Again I agree with what most are saying BUT what does that mean. Just saying "be manly" in this totally feminized society we live in doesn't answer any questions or give any solutions.
I have seen on the blogosphere many of these "Jesus ain't Macho" posts and it is obvious that Leadership Magazine is big in the brotherhood. BUT please write Post #2. The "This is what a man in Christ is all about" post.
We have IMHO lost it completely. We have YOUTH GROUPS, we have OLD FOLKS eating ice cream and chili, we have WOMENS' CLASSES, WOMENS' DAYS, MOTHERS' DAY OUT,... I could go on but God forbid we ALLOW men "to have separate ministries for men".
Why is that wrong? Are we so testosterone laden that we can't be trusted to be alone together? That IS a very feminized attitude toward men as "dogs" who need to be controlled and can't trusted to be left to their own without feminine supervision. - i.e. the "Saturday morning auto repair for single moms, widows, and other ladies without men" is our best solution? Men need to be with women or they get themselves into trouble???
Or maybe I'm just being testosterone paranoid, overreacting and I need my wife to be around when I post and comment to control me and keep me more biblically manly. ;)
BTW: I can picture Jesus and His disciples (just men) meeting in a garden, two of them armed, readying themselves for the work ahead, preparing for a crazed mob ready to drag Jesus to the cross.
The new man in me (that one that has a woman sitting on my right shoulder) thinks sometimes that if one or two women had been invited to that garden He could have avoided that cross altogether. That a compromise could have been reached with the Sanhedrin. Salvation probably could have been more civil and without almost any violence had we not left those men alone in that garden. :o
You know the old "if women ruled the world we would not have war" garbage.
I do anxiously await the
"Women Can't Be Trusted To Be Left To Their Own Estrogen Soaked Ditsy Little Minds" blog. ;)
_______
I know you kinda touched on some answers but IMO it was sandwiched between toooooo much of the "chest thumping, drum beating" that I seriously doubt more than .0005% of the U.S. population has ever actually witnessed or been involved in.
The reason men can't go on Men's Ministries by themselves is that we need someone to make the food.
Only kidding …
Tom
Bob-
In class last week we are in the book of Deuteronomy. When we got to the "don't muzzle the ox" verse I told the brethren that was the #2 reason women can't preach.
Even Paul isn't going compare women to "oxen" ;)
Kinney, you must be a relative of Barnabas. Thanks for stopping by.
Tim, let's do some male bonding at the Spiritual Growth Workshop in July.
Bill, my Tuesday was incomplete.
Don, I am working on a post about how Jesus expressed true masculinity. This current post grew out of my dislike of church fads and this has fad written all over it.
Tom, actually you aren't too far off. I know some men's retreats where the women do the cooking (not Tabernacle or Mt. Dora). However, we men got to serve the ladies for their Ladies Day here in Mt. Dora. What a treat!
Don, can we get a Top Ten Reasons Why Women Can't Preach from you?
You raise good points here. There can be too much emphasis on "Mens'" and "Womens'" separate things and it over looks the fact that God made us to be together. Separateness in doing things can create a distance and overstate the difference between the two humans. As to Jesus, do you remember when He overturned the money-changers' tables? Not crude machismo, but real strength and assertion. Remember to, 'meek' means controlled, not weak.
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