I admit for years I was a church shopper. Hitting the latest and greatest of modern evangelical attempts to build something called Church and attract us and get us engaged in service and worship. In my mind it has been a major failure. Men by and large dread going to church and many have simply dropped out. Oh sure they may be a physical presence in the pew, but their hearts and minds are elsewhere.
Yesterday on the way to work, I heard a quick news report on the local Christian Radio station. It was a research report asking the question why men don’t sing at church. Their conclusion seemed to be because we don’t know the words. Huh! After the news report someone called the station and told her story. Her husband had dropped off the church scene years ago, but she was so proud of the fact the her 12 year old son was in church that last Sunday and actually sang along with the congregation. She was so proud of that boy of hers.
I nearly ran my truck off the road as I voiced my concern to the dashboard radio.
The reason men don’t go to church, or aren’t engaged fully in the act of worship is not because we don’t know the words, or because we don’t desire to know God. It’s because deep inside us we are aware that Jesus has called us to follow him, not worship him. Our worship is important, but it is not the only thing. It is not the only measurement of one’s faith or desires. We have made church an event and to be honest one which makes most of my brothers a bit uncomfortable. Richard Rohr talks about how we have made our worship services soft and tidy, feminine if you wish, and that just is not what men want and need.
Notice in the gospels when Jesus is gathering his church, calling his disciples, he is not asking them to grab a guitar and let’s sing some songs and pray. No he says drop what you are doing and come follow me. He calls the men to action. To do something. To be part of a movement, and action oriented, thrill seeking , dangerous movement . And with those words “follow Me” he changed the world.
Not sure what that would look like in your typical mega church environment, but the world needs more men of action, more men who are willing to step out of their comfort zone and do something courageous and daring. It may be going to overseas to assist in prison ministries in Central America. Or building shelters for orphans in Swaziland. Or mentoring fatherless inner city boys in our cities in America. And that is not going to happen simply by singing one more refrain of the latest worship song.
The world and the church needs to see more men of action, men who passionately love their families, their communities and their world, and men who show it not by songs, or soulless worship, but by living out their faith in word and deed. It’s time. So come on men, let’s drop what we are doing and begin to follow the one who called us.
