How Did We Get Here?

Stats from “Why Men Hate Going to Church” by David Murrow

• On any given Sunday there are 13 million more adult women than men in America’s churches.

• Today almost 25% of married, churchgoing women worshiped without their husbands.

• 90% of the boys who are being raised in church will abandon it by their 20th birthday. Many never return.

• More than 90% of American men believe in God, 5 out of 6 call themselves Christians, but only 2 out of 6 attend church on a given Sunday.

• The typical U.S. Congregation draws an adult crowd that’s 65% female, 35% male.

The first time I saw these stats my first questions was how did this happen? How Christianity, based on a man, spearheaded by 12 very masculine men end up like this?

I think the first place that you look is about 700 years ago with the deification of Mary. When this happened the men began to check out. They still would pay their indulgences, still show up but were not involved

To bring it closer to home, fast forward to 1800’s in America and men began to check out during the Industrial revolution. Our country was in the middle of a cosmic shift in how men provided for their families. America moved from agrarian society to what we now call The Industrial Revolution. Instead of working on the farm with the entire family, men were now away from home working in factories. Remember this was before 40 hour work week so 10-12 hour work days were common. There were a few lucky men who were able to come home at night, but many stayed away from home during the work week because they had to travel 20-30 miles to find work.

So not only were these men disconnected from home and family, they were also disconnected from the local church. That’s when in a leadership vacuum developed and the ladies stepped into fill the void. When they did, they began to do things in a way that reflected their God wiring pattern. That’s not a put down or negative, it’s just the way it is. The result is a system that in more heavily tilted toward the feminine. There is no balance, the pendulum is too far to one side. Whenever that happens, the results are unhealthy. A business guru once said: “Your system is perfectly designed to give you the results you’re getting.”

I’m not advocating swinging to the extreme masculine side, just more towards the middle.

As you research men’s participation you’ll discover that there is 1 exception, the 1950-60’s. That is the only time that the participation of men in local churches reflected the population. 50.8% female, 49.2% male. Why? World war II vets were builders. They invented this thing called subdivisions. Also this time frame saw more local churches construct building than anytime in history. 15-17 year span, that men participation in the local church mirror the demographic.

That’s how we got here but the now we’ve got to figure out how to get it back.