OK, look, I was brought up Southern Baptist. Sunday School, “Training Union,” “WMU” (that’s the Women’s Missionary Union” for the uninitialized). Royal Ambassadors for the boys, Girls in Action and The granddaddy of them all– The Brotherhood. The MEN of the church. They had work days once every couple of years when the maintenance of the church building got to be so much that they didn’t want to pay a contractor. And then there was the quarterly Prayer Breakfast (evidently the earlier you get up and the runnier the eggs the more seriously God takes you). That’s pretty much it work and eat but not very often. On the subject I’ve overheard ministers say they just don’t get a good response from men. They don’t show up with any regularity. Typically they show up to set up tables and chairs and then grab a coffee and talk while the women prepare for the Wednesday night pot luck. The men show up because the women need things off the high shelves. Why?
I am at the very beginning of my journey into a ministry specific to men. I want to get away from the attitudes of duty and dogma I’ve grown up with. Why did I– Why have men disconnected from God. What can be done to engage them in service and ministry? What is the role of today’s man in the church? Believing that men were created as men for a reason how do we invite and unleash that purpose? I’ll have some ideas as I research and talk to other men but where do you think it should start?