The blog world is a fascinating place to explore. It’s amazing the useful information that you can find out there. It’s also a great way to learn from people who have similar passions and thoughts. One such person is a gal by the name of Bridget. I don’t know who she is or even where she is, but I know where she stands. I ran across an article posted on her blog . The article is from worldnetdaily and addresses a subject we have been talking about for a couple of years now. Here are some of the key thoughts:

How the church has emasculated men

Posted: January 31, 2008
1:00 a.m. Eastern
Ever wonder why Christian men are so emasculated? Or why most normal red-blooded men find it absolutely impossible to relate to today’s clergy?You’re not alone. I use to think the problem was me, that I was old fashioned - at least that’s what I was told.But then I had an epiphany.God didn’t send girly-men to preach the Gospel, build churches and reform society back in the days of the early church. And He certainly won’t do that today either.J. Grant Dys argues on his blog that the spinoff effects of this reality can be seen in our families (or at least what’s left of them), our schools, our clubs and in the prisons of our society. And ironically, with the death of genuine masculinity, an increasing number of young men are seeking to reclaim their manhood in homosexuality.

On a cultural level, we all know that the idea of a “real man” has almost been beaten out of our social consciousness.

Men are objects of scorn and vilification. Watch any TV commercial or sitcom and you’ll witness a barrage of attacks, all designed to assault the dignity of real masculinity and the historic male role model as provider and protector.

I’m not saying anything new here. Many have already made this point, some much better than I. But what concerns me isn’t that broader culture has rejected masculinity, it is that the church has aided and abetted this concept of manhood as a pariah. And it’s not just the liberal churches that are guilty on this score.

All too often the pastoral “role model” in evangelical circles mirrors that “Simpson’s” character, the Rev. Love Joy. Our pastors are either quaint, odd, harmless pushovers, or they are slick metrosexual types who can cry at the drop of a dime - literally - but have absolutely no courage to stand up against real evil or teach the unequivocal truth with authority.

They’ve suppressed godly male assertiveness, opting instead to “be nice.” They have abdicated their calling to “speak the truth” in the interest of political correctness. And they have decided that manipulating people with emotional self-help books and anecdotal sermonizing is better for the bottom line than training and teaching the men in their congregations to be leaders and warriors for Christ. And as a result, the evangelical church is suffering from a dearth of real men.

Is feminism to blame?

No doubt feminism is a force of evil in North American society. It is evil not because it has tried to establish equality. Rather it is precisely because it hasn’t established equality that it is guilty of perpetrating a fraud. What feminism has succeeded in doing is to convince both sexes that the only masculine identity that is valuable is an effeminate male. That in fact, the only way for equality to exist is for men to be like women, or simply not to exist.

Now, we can blame the feminist movement all we want - but it won’t change a thing because in the end, men have embraced their own feminization. As Dys points out, men have done this to themselves because they have become soft and lazy.

Men are far more interested in accommodating the women’s movement than in asserting their masculinity. And whether that’s because we want to be “popular with the girls,” because we are too insecure and unsure about leading, or if it comes out of sheer exasperation - “You want to take over the leadership? Go ahead, I just don’t want to argue anymore” - we’ve conceded our role in family, church and the state.

But let’s be clear about one thing: We had no right to abdicate that responsibility. (Emphasis mine)

The solution is very simple: Men need to be men again. They need to take up their responsibility the way God intended them to behave. And the church needs to re-learn how to help them do that again.

Since The Grove began, we’ve had a particular desire to reach out and connect men and their faith. To build them up to take their biblical role of leadership in the home and in the church. Surprisingly, we haven’t caught a lot of flack for that yet, but I sense that the prevailing view of the culture is going to start nipping at our heels this year.

This has not been an easy task to figure out. Men have been beaten up so badly in the culture and in most churches that they have lost their way. We certainly haven’t figured out the button to push to turn this problem around yet, but we’re trying.

I would love to hear some thoughts from the rest of you:

  • Grovers - I would love any comments from you on the article itself
  • Church Leaders - If there are any church leaders out there reading this, is your church working on anything in particular to reach men? Have you had any successes to share?
  • Non-Church Leaders - Have you had frustrations with men and the church? Either as a man or as a woman who would like to see men rise up into biblical manhood?
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