A Manly Church?

I had a great conversation today with Larry Szyman, the lead pastor at Faith Community Church in Hudson, Wisconsin. Like us, they're also going through a process of trying to clarify their identity and purpose as a congregation. God bless your work, Larry.

Among other things, we talked about the strange but persistent perception that church is a place more for women than for men - and this in spite of the church's long legacy of predominantly male leadership. (Not that churchmen have always been the most masculine types, I suppose.)

It's lamentable that our churches have so often presented Christianity as a religion with little appeal to the typical masculine spirit. As David Murrow described in Why Men Hate Going to Church, we've unintetionality created a church culture where strength, risk, and adventure are marginalized and we talk a lot of relationships and intimacy. Of course, neither relationships nor intimacy are bad things for men or women, but I don't know a lot of guys who realize that they need relationships and intimacy. Most of us hear stuff like that and want to run in the opposite direction.

But the main reason I find this so frustrating is that the character and call of Jesus is 180 degrees away from the soft, passive religion that we have sometimes created around Him. I think it's high time that we start reflecting the spirit of Jesus better in our churches, but not just so that men will be less turned off by what they perceive to be a feminine culture. The last thing I'd want is to try to force Jesus into some gender stereotype, whether masculine or feminine. That would just be losing the battle in the opposite direction.

But the strength and conviction that Jesus demonstrated when he flew right into the teeth of those who opposed Him is a strength that we all need to see when His Gospel calls us to turn around (repent) and lead lives that will probably be opposed by forces in our own culture. And if the church is going to stand up and make a difference in Jesus' name in this world, then we're also going to have to depend on the leadership of people of both genders who are ready to take courageous risks for the Kingdom of God.