Is Your Church A Feminine Church?
‘The church is too feminine’ is a statement that seems to raise its head every now and then. I think it goes around in circles and is then revisited in the hope that someone will find a solution as to how to go about increasing attendance by men in church.
During my pondering of the statement, I came across a post by Kate Wallace in Junia Project, They Say The Church Is “Too Feminine”.
Kate put many of my thoughts and responsive feelings into words.
I share Kate’s perspective with you here :
Kate gives two reasons why she finds this statement offensive.
First - She expresses that it would be better to simply say, 'There aren't enough men in church.' This would shift the blame from there being too many women in church.
Second - It sends the message that anything feminine is a problem for the church.
The church being too feminine goes against the majority of her experiences in many churches.
Here are some examples:
The elder board and serving pastors are men.
As I walk into church I am welcomed by a man.
I worship by a band of mostly men.
We sing songs that are mostly written by men.
I take communion from men.
A man stands up and asks me give money.
I listen to a man preach a sermon and give illustrations from a male life.
He reads from a Bible whose translation speaks primarily to men through masculine pronouns.
I go out into the courtyard and drink coffee made by woman.
Women may indeed make up the majority of people in the pews, but they do not make up even half of the people who make decisions about church services.
If men really aren't going to church, it doesn't seem to be the fault of the women.
Yes we need men in our pews.
We also need women in our pulpits, on our elder boards, at communion tables, on worship teams, and in our denominational leadership.
I don’t have the answer either as to how to attract more men to church but please let’s not offend one gender to elevate another.
Kate has made some good points.
What do you think, is your church a feminine church?