This wasn't your Daddy's religious revival! So exclaims Newsweek of a conference sponsored by Godmen, an organization that is attempting to help men follow Jesus without denying their manhood. On a visit to Chicago, I spoke with one of my former seminary profs, Dr. Bing Hunter, at Harvest Bible Chapel. He recounted that the vision of this remarkable church is centered on reaching men, a vision which even translated into its architecture - no lace, no quilted banners, no fresh flowers on the podium.The first blip on the radar was the remarkable success of John Eldredge's Wild at Heart. Now I am seeing "spirituality with antlers" all over the place.
What's going on here? There is no doubt about the gender gap in the church. According to David Murrow's book, Why Men Hate Going to Church, there are 13 million more women than men in the pews on any given Sunday. The Barna Group reports that women are much more likely to attend Sunday School, read the Bible, and pray. So is the godmen movement a mere reaction to the fact that men are missing in action at church? I contend there is MUCH MORE to it. There is a high-stakes spiritual battle raging. Let's put on some camo and face grease, belly crawl through the underbrush, and see if we can't penetrate the fog of war to put a laser on the real target. (Sounds like a very manly undertaking, eh what?)
In the last few decades, the feminist movement has achieved some success, including the reshaping of the public mind on the nature of manhood. I remember seeing this bumper sticker: "My husband is not a pig. Pigs are loving, sensitive creatures." The feminist line is that manhood is a liability, something that must be exorcized out of the man. To be a man is to be cursed with insensitivity, boorishness, and an insatiable drive to dominate. The best hope for a man is to suppress his manhood and develop the strengths of a woman, to learn how to communicate, to get in touch with his inner feelings. If he can tap into his softer, gentler side, he just might become someone who is an asset to have around.
Many deceptions get traction because there is some truth hanging around them. The truth to the feminist lie is that raw manhood, when united to a sinful nature, will produce all manner of masculine excess. We must not deny the loathsome evidence and ugly realities of this fact. But this sober principle is not uniquely relevant to men. Women whose sinful nature is driving their actions will produce nothing less despicable than their male counterparts, even though it will reflect the propensities of their gender. In the case of BOTH men and women, we need redemption. We need to see women who display the best of what it means to be a woman because their thoughts, words, and deeds are propelled by the Spirit of God. We need to see men who, as men, are an asset to all they are associated with because their manhood has been captured by God and is an instrument for doing what pleases Him. So what, exactly, does this look like?
So... do you think this trend holds at CBC? I haven't ever really noticed a lack of men or male participation or especially male leadership, but maybe its just the circles I was connected in that are that way. But assuming for a minute my observations are correct and CBC doesn't really follow that trend, why might that be?
Posted by: Alex Marshall | January 18, 2008 at 02:38 PM
I do not see as much evidence of this trend at CBC, and I have a thought about why. Maybe I will run it up the flag pole in the next post.
Posted by: Jim Fleming | January 18, 2008 at 04:12 PM