I recently read an article by Robin Russell called Are Churches 'Too Feminized' for Men? It was rather intriguing and made some amazingly excellent points.
To summarize the article...churches are so feminized that men no longer feel comfortable in churches. Here are some of the statistics found within the article:
5 out of 6 men consider themselves Christian but only 2 out of six attend church.
Church attendance is roughly 1/3 men and 2/3 women.
Nearly 1/4 of married women attend church alone while their husbands play golf, sleep in, or mow the lawn.
I could go on listing the statistics of men and church attendance, but I think the stats above paint a clear enough picture. Authior David Murrow says that other religions have little trouble attracting men. His theory is that Judaism, Buddhism, and Islam offer more "uniquely masculine" experiences for men. However, in Christianity, faith is painted as an unconditional love relationship with Jesus. This may be true to a certain extent but this presentation of the gospel will attract more women then men...and it has.
Just think of the terminology that we use to describe our faith. We refer to ourselves as the "Bride of Christ" and speak of God's unconditional love and the commandment to love one another. This sort of language appeals to women (stereotypically) and not as much to men (again...stereotypically).
The way we do church...its structure, organization, presentation, decoration, and its teaching...is geared toward women. I know, I know. As we continue in the push to be gender nutural in our language and in our actions...we leave men behind. As we attempt to avoid sexism against women...we commit sexism against men.
I know, I know. Someone is thinking that I am a sexist pig right now...but allow me to put it this way. Imagine you are driving your car down a snow covered road. The snow is packed down pretty good so it is a little slick. Suddenly, you lose control. You begin to "fish-tail". What do you do? Well...if you have ever lived in these conditions...you simply make a correction by keeping the tires pointed in the direction that you want to go. But...if you steer too far in one direction...you have overcorrected and you will continue to fish-tail.
This is what we tend to do in the church...on many issues. We fish-tail. I am all for women in the ministry and making things more equal. The problem is that, sometimes, we overcorrect and when we do that it sends us into a fish-tail that excludes someone else...in this case...men.
No doubt many of you have heard of people referring to God as "Sophia". This is overcorrection at its finest. Imagine how a man feels when the God that he has known as Father his whole life is now called "Sophia" and referred to as his mother. Of course...I know many women who would struggle with this too.
So, anyway...at some point we must learn how to correct this vehicle we call church the right amount. Overcorrecting has never solved problems...it has only replaced one problem with another.
I am still processing this information and I encourage you to do the same. This article can be found on the following website...
http://www.goodnewsmag.org/magazine/SeptemberOctober/so06feminized.htm
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4 comments:
As a self-proclaimed feminist I'm reacticing negatively to the ideas in your post. So instead of just a knee-jerk reaction (as usual) i'm going to try to read that article and then comment. We'll see how that goes.
Ok, I just finished to post and I can't begin to describe how angry I am. If it wasn't 2:00 in the morning I think I would be a lot more irritated.
I intend no offense to you even though we're bound to disagree, but I think that article is crap.
I think that the statistics don't necessarily support the conclusions and I think that it is not that the church is becoming too feminized but that men (especially christian men like Eldridge) are buying into a sociological conception of masculinity that is not explicitly biblical.
I don't want to blog in your comments section so I'm not going to say much more. But I do think that article is buying into a false concept of what it means to be a man and imposing that on the church.
I guess...then...the question that begs to be asked is...are we imposing a false conception of what it means to be a woman on the church?
I hope I did not sound as though I was coming down on being more inclusive according to genders because that is not what I was trying to do.
However, I think that we have to step back and make sure that we don't go too far. Even you...Ben...I would imagine...would not say that calling God by the name Sophia is a good thing.
To borrow your term...we are in danger of making a "knee-jerk" reaction to the status of women in the church.
Sure, standing up for something like women's rights is a good thing and it sure looks good for someone in the ministry to take that stance...but we have to ask ourselves what the implications are.
To ensure that we do not leave anyone behind we must be sure to design ministries that appeal to various types of people...whether the distinction is made by gender or by age...it is important.
I no way am I saying that we abandon our course to include women. I am simply saying that we should widen that path to include men as well. I am sure that does not set well with feminists...I mean...heaven help us if we focus on saving the souls of men.
By the way...does the church you attend allow women in the ministry?
True, we do need to be very careful to not overreact.
And not create a false conception of what it means to be female.
And Yes I am not a big fan of calling God sophia, but to recognize that God has characteristics that we refer to as traditionally feminine as well as those that we conceive of a traditionally masculine is important.
I see your points and I think i agree with most of it, but it still seems to me like the article was grasping for masculinity as it is defined culturally and thus imposing traditional gender stereotypes on how the church should act.
Oh and I do appreciate the remark about the church I go to. Truly funny. Except that they do encourage women in ministry.
See you neglected to specify ordained ministry. Women serve and are encouraged to serve. In fact a women is the chief amongst saints.
See ya in a week or so.
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