Where are all the men?
http://www.churchformen.com/allmen.php

You’re not just imagining it: Christianity is short on men. Here are the facts:


• The typical U.S. Congregation draws an adult crowd that’s 61% female, 39% male. This gender gap shows up in all age categories.

• On any given Sunday there are 13 million more adult women than men in America’s churches.

• This Sunday almost 25 percent of married, churchgoing women will worship without their husbands.

• Midweek activities often draw 70 to 80 percent female participants.

• The majority of church employees are women (except for ordained clergy, who are overwhelmingly male).

• As many as 90 percent of the boys who are being raised in church will abandon it by their 20th birthday. Many of these boys will never return.

• More than 90 percent of American men believe in God, and five out of six call themselves Christians. But only two out of six attend church on a given Sunday. The average man accepts the reality of Jesus Christ, but fails to see any value in going to church.

It’s not just a lack of presence; most of the men who do attend our worship services just aren’t “getting it.” Every week the gospel bounces off their souls like bullets off Superman’s chest. Here are the facts:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


• A significant number of churchgoing men attend out of habit, unaffected by what they hear.

• Quite a few men go to church simply to keep their wives/mothers/girlfriends happy.

• The majority of men who attend church do nothing during the week to grow their faith.

• Relatively few churches are able to establish or maintain a vibrant men’s ministry.

This gender gap is not just a U.S. phenomenon; churches around the world are short on men. No other major religion suffers such a large, chronic shortage of males. In the Islamic world men are publicly and unashamedly religious—often more so than women. Of the world’s great religions, only Christianity has a consistent, nagging shortage of male practitioners.

Jesus had no trouble captivating men. Fishermen dropped nets full of fish to follow Him, but today’s church can’t convince men to drop their TV remote controls for a couple of hours a week.

The big questions:
• What is it about modern Christianity that is driving men away?

• Jesus was a magnet to men, but our churches repel them. What’s changed?

• Why do rival faiths inspire male allegiance, while ours breeds male indifference?

• What can we do about it?