Getting Men into
Church
"Guys will spend more time and money in a hair salon that looks like a locker room," author David Murrow says. "What's the lesson for the local church?"
Butch up the service, apparently.
Murrow, whose first book told us Why Men Hate Going to Church, has a new volume on the man/church conundrum. Men favor larger, multi-ethnic congregations with strong pastoral leadership and characteristic excellence.
And they don't like overly feminine worship services. He calls these men "praise skippers," the ones who intentionally arrive late and miss the music. Murrow advises:
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Get out the hymnal and sing "guy" songs: Rise Up O Men of God, Onward Christian Soldiers, and such—with the original, non-PC language.
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Choose "respect" songs about God over breathy "love" songs about "embracing."
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Lower the key. Guys can't reach the castrati heights of today's music, and don't want to
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Give men a goal in worship: "Today we're talking about the sin of pride," for example.
Churches all over the world are asking: Where are the men? Women comprise more than 60% of the adults in the typical worship service. Volunteer ranks are heavily female. It's often impossible to get churchgoing men to do anything other than attend services. No other religion suffers the enormous gender gaps that plague Christianity.
