Men
I was struck recently by something that the Rector of Buckingham (Rev Will Pearson-Gee) raised in written questions to the General Synod last week. In essence he was asking “Where are all the men in church?”. He referred to the need to attract men back into the pews, and that in some church services the congregation was “overflowing with widows”.
It has been established that around 65% of churchgoers are female and that since the Pandemic it is men more than woman who have not been returning in the expected numbers and it seems to be something unique to Christianity. In other faiths such as Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism it is men who outnumber the women usually by 70% to 30%. In the last British Social Attitudes Survey, it concluded that “at every age” men were less likely than women to say they had a faith, went to church or believed in God.
Why is this? One of the arguments put forward is that women are more attracted to the sentimental elements of our faith whilst in general men prefer the intellectual and rational aspects of the Christian story. Certainly, I find as a man that few of my sex/gender show interest in or are attracted to our faith compared to my female friends. I suspect part of it is that men, even in today’s society, find it harder to talk openly about their view of God, Jesus and faith in general, and would far rather talk about something else like football, beer or work. In a previous church I went to in Kent, wives were known to complain that the excuse their men gave them for missing church was that they watching the Sunday morning repeat of ‘Match of The Day’! Women on the other hand tend to talk more openly about their feelings from an earlier age than men and are happier to discuss their personal faith and their Christian journey, seeking out guidance and help. My experience is that quite often Men ‘suffer in silence’ reluctant to join Life Groups or talk to someone when they seek some spiritual guidance.
In a lot of ways little of this is new. In the 19th century people wrote that the Anglican church was being ‘femininised’ by the number of women in congregations and that church practices were changing to a less masculine way, and of course in some ways that is good.
Clearly as a Church we need to be inclusive and fewer men lead to other issues. In the most recent research over 90% of children follow their fathers into going to church compared to less than 20% of their mothers. Fewer men in church also reduce the chances of Christian women finding their husbands and having to look outside of their faith in their relationships.
Back to the Rector of Buckingham who has argued that the Church needs to develop its resources to practise evangelism among men. One thing he does at his church has been hosting BBQs with Harley-Davidson motorcycles driving in to create that engagement. It’s certainly unusual but with our emphasis on children and young peoples’ ministry there is a danger that we are overlooking the loss of our menfolk. As the Rev Pearson-Gee has noted “if you spent some of the money used to attract more children and young adults on men’s ministry, you’d get the children and young people thrown in”. It’s certainly food for thought….
Tags: Fulfillment, NewTestament, Rector of Buckingham, pandemic, Match of the day, kent