[Roundtable] Where are the Men in the Church?

[Jefferis Peterson]

I received this email today and thought it worthy to pass on. I remember
reading a book called Wild at Heart that a friend recommended, and this one
has a similar tone. I also have encountered a similar problem with one of my
sons in elementary school where the teacher's greatest goal was to try and
make my son into a good little girl: quiet and invisible.  Needless to say,
that was a bad year for my son.

Jeff
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jefferis Peterson, Pres.
Web Design and Marketing
http://www.PetersonSales.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Where Are the Men
by Andy Zoppelt 

I have often wondered--where are the real men in Christianity? Somehow you
can find them in the world, but where are they in the church? Someone once
responded to the question of where are the men by saying, "We have asked
them to become women."

While working in a steel mill back in Pennsylvania, men were challenged and
were competitive. We did things together. We worked together, drank
together, fought together and played together. There was a sense of
competition, adventure and camaraderie.

When I was drafted into the military, I signed up for airborne trainingŠ.
for the extra drinking money. Yes, when you jump out of planes in the
military they pay you a little more money. I was a scrapper, a drinker and a
womanizer, and that all cost money. But there was adventure and a sense of
being important. 

I heard a man once say, the military can take a young rebellious man for
four years and give him a career, stability, and a place in society; the
church has a man for twenty years and he is no more than a pew warmer. He is
touchy, indifferent and alone. He just believes what he is told and sits
quietly in the pew only to drop a portion of his hard earned pay in the
basket in hopes of heaven at the end of the trail.

In the military we developed meaningful relationships. Men could be men. You
were proud to be a paratrooper, you put up with the hard training because
you were made to feel like a man. Dangers and challenge drew us together.
The fight to be better and to achieve was a motivating force. When there was
a fight, we stood with our buddies. We didn't rat on one another and turn
one another in. There was an unwritten moral code of conduct. If you
violated it, you were forced out and marked by others.

When I gave my life to Jesus, my expectations were high. I read of love,
fellowship, function and a purpose for my life. I read about fighting the
good fight of faith. I read of men laying down their lives for one another.
I read of community and power. I read of participation in a body and a place
which God purposed for me to fit. The more I read His word, the greater the
distinction I saw between the church today and the Bible I embraced. Who was
wrong? Or did God change His plan? Was the Bible just a reference book to
review doctrine and provide material for Sunday messages by professional
orators? Rather than experiencing church life and biblical relationship
which were meant for iron to sharpen iron, we experience idealistic messages
having nothing to do with being a part of a functioning group of brothers.
We settle for information rather than transformation.

As a man, what was meant for transformation became frustration reduced to
information coming from only one sourceŠ the pulpit. I learned quickly I was
too dumb and not articulate enough to participate in this highly qualified
field and trade of professional. As a man, the church presented no
challenge, no fight, no purpose, no function and no sense of belonging.

The terrorist attack on 9-11 brought forth the need for men. The world
looked on and watched the fireman, the policeman and the soldier. The world
saw men in action, teaming together, experienced, trained and it became
important for them to see men in men's positions. The switch quickly turned
away from the rich and famous to the soldier and fire fighter. We became
proud of our fireman and soldiers.

The world is looking for real men, men built together like a team and that
team joined throughout the city and nation. Not men marked by the division
of denominational labels, but the unity found in Jesus only. Our lethargy
and division has completely turned off the real men in search for meaning.
While the church is becoming more irrelevant and audience driven, there is a
call for men to leave the institutional and traditional way of doing church
and come together to return to the biblical standard of being church that
God intended. It will take real men with a real burden. It will take a heart
completely given to the Lord and a desire to see His will in the body of
Christ. I can hear the call from the Lord today, "let my men go."

Men tell me of their wonderful men's meetings in their denominational
division, but we are not changing, growing and demonstrating His unity, His
faith, and His love in our cities. We have our little men's retreats around
small talk led by "lay" leaders in search of their own significance. I want
something more than that; I want to pray all night with a group of hungry
brothers in Christ. I want to be one with a group of loyal and committed
brothers. I want to get away from the professional entertainment of Sunday
with its false hand shakes and phony hugs and I-love-you-brother rhetoric. I
want something with depth, sacrifice and a bold commitment.

I am tired of seeing names plastered on church billboards with slick
slogans. I don't want to be a part of a group where the greatest challenge
is waking up for the morning Sunday services. I am tired of programs that
center on man's self-centered needs. I want to become a manŠ a fighting man,
a man of adventure, a pathfinderŠ. A man conformed to His image.

Church, let the men go. Pastors today are the main problem; they refuse to
let their men go, they need the Sunday show to keep their careers afloat,
and the large audiences to maintain their identity and significanceŠ not to
say anything of their salaries. The building must be paid for; we must build
bigger building with the people¹s money. The business must go on. We have
relegated all ministry to a well organized impersonal machine to spread the
gospel through slick professionals who are trained to look good and not make
any mistakes. We are bound to organizational professionals to make sure
everything is done correctly. Oh God, I cry for Him to send someone to set
us free from the bondage of this institution created by the traditions of
men. 

In the church, I have been ratted on, betrayed, exposed, cheated, marked,
kicked out and unforgiven. My desire for challenge and adventure has been
persecuted and renounced. My desire to be built with other men has been
scandalized and ignored. We have become so dysfunctional in Christianity
that we don't know what it means to function as a body. We are killing our
wounded and often get shot in the back by our comrades in arms.

In becoming a Christian I have lost my masculinity. I have become suspicious
and expect relationships not to work. I have quickly learned we can only
function as a crowd or a group in a sterile Bible study where we brag about
the depth of the study and brilliance of the teacher. Where are the prayer
warriors? Where are the men who encourage one another and stand by one
another and do things together?

Though the world has taught me how to be a man and stand by others on the
job and military, the church has failed to teach me how to be a man. I feel
like a paraplegic who has no use for my arms and legs, and atrophy has set
in through the lack of use. I want to heal the sick, cast out demons,
prophesy, challenge the world, see sinners "repent," not just "repeat" some
unbiblical sterile sinners prayerŠ I want to truly know Jesus! I want to
give Him all of my heart and all of my soul; I don't want to be forced into
a pew-sitting career, a tithing number, a source for the benefit of the
church staff and building. I don't want to be good or righteous without His
power and His presence. I want to know Him!!!! My spirit wants to soar to
greater heights in Him. I want to be with men that will stand in the battle
and not leave and go AWOL at the first disagreement or challenge. I want to
be with committed men who believe our relationship can turn the world upside
down again. Let us pray till the power comes down. Let us seek Him until He
restores His body without spot and wrinkle. Nothing in this world is worth
living without His kingdom and His will. Hell is more than eternal
banishment from the presence of God-- its flames are being felt today in a
disjointed, divided and dysfunctional body.

I am tired of being with emasculated males acting like frail women. Excuse
me ladies, this is not a statement against you, we just need men to be men
again. 

Many men today are unfulfilled, frustrated, depressed and angry. The church
today doesn't know how to handle real men. It throws them a little bone now
and then in a men's Bible study or retreat. Most Christian men are about as
interesting as the fat man in some poster eating ice cream. Am I angry? Yes!
I have been cheated and I want my calling back. I want to see Jesus back in
the lives of real men. The church today in America has lost the battle for
the hearts of men, and I want to see it back. I want discipleship and
respect brought back to men. I want brotherhood and fatherhood back. I want
to see men in the prayer trenches together again, men in the upper room
waiting for the return of the power, and men in the streets together again.
I want to see men with power and prestige.

Oh, to see women deeply appreciative of how well their men have loved them,
and children modeling the example of God's power and presence they see in
their dad. Our options are limited. We can either become a pastor or have a
part in the church band. We have fed the ego of the few at the cost of
demoralizing and demobilizing the rest. Statistics have shown that men are
leaving the church in the droves. You would think this is some kind of a new
move of God. Men have left the church right and left seeking something to
fulfill them. They have gone back to their friends or have found some
fulfillment on their jobs. Many have become badly wounded by the impersonal
institutional system.

Our children are time bombs, waiting for the real shock of graduating from
Sunday School coloring books and entertaining youth meetings, to face
boredom in the church service in the main auditorium. They too have left and
gone to the more exciting things the world has offered. We have tried to
entertain our kids to keep them in "church," only to discover we have
institutionalized them from the reality of "being" church. We have destroyed
them with form without power. The military has taken our rebellious
teenagers, got them to make their beds, show up on time, learn a trade, fit
into society, have someone scream in their face and take it, and yet feel a
sense of belonging and pride. The church has offered little or nothing to
our young. Role models, older brothers, family and father figures are as
rare as the humpback whale. Teenagers today can't wait to become old enough
to leave the church in search of something more engaging. Twenty years in
church makes for little change and adaptability. I know there are the
exceptions, but the exception is not the rule.

The world has been lost in this battle also. They have been taken captive in
addiction, divorce, the occult, pornography and the entertainment craze. We
have replaced the power of the church with para-church institutions and self
help programs; all of which have left the seekers without the reality of
Jesus and the church.

So what are we to do? There is only one thing to doŠ. "become" the church
and stop "going" to church. We must get out of this system which is designed
for division, lethargy, and passivity. We must be brave enough to find the
faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. As long as we stay and
support a derailed system, we will never find the truth. We need some brave
and bold men to call a spade a spade and come together to seek out His
pleasure.

Men of truth today are a rare commodity and are often looked down upon. They
are usually men who have refused to compromise and have often been
persecuted by institutional thinkers. Their quest is often met with
frustration and failure, a search today of which there is neither model nor
path. 

I pray that men will become men again.

www.TheRealChurch.com <http://www.therealchurch.com/>