The Rise Of Spiritually Hungry Men In A Fractured World
(OPINION) Like many, I sat in disbelief hearing the news of the vile acts committed over these last few weeks.
Many men feel a growing unease in the chaos stirring about — that the world is coming apart at its seams. They’re frustrated, trying to best discern how to navigate the world, for themselves and their families.
That was the common thread weaved throughout all the men who texted and called me last week. Yet here too is something important to note. These men also came to church on Sunday to process events and hear how they ought to talk with and lead their families through it.
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The reaction of grief experienced by Christian men further affirms the reports. Though it was once quiet, there is now a more thunderous revival taking place in the hearts of men across the nation.
According to latest Barna research, men have continued to outpace women in church attendance this year, a surprising trend which first emerged out of the pandemic. But, the data as to why men are walking through the doors of the church is not as clear.
For those in the trenches of ministry like me — especially in the realm of men’s discipleship within the local church — the growing influx of men and their reasons for walking through our doors on a given Sunday aren’t overly complicated.
God has been working, stirring a revival within many men by ushering them to a place of self-examination for their own greatest needs, desires and longings. They’re sitting in our seats and pews, wrestling through the questions of how they, as men, fundamentally matter and ultimately needed in their homes, churches and society at large.
During the pandemic, under the burdens of loneliness and isolation, unhealthy habits formed. Combined with job loss and pressures to provide, men were forced to confront their coping mechanisms and feelings of fear, anger and shame.
As a pastor, I heard this constantly. During that difficult season, many men began to acknowledge and accept that they can’t continue to walk through life alone.
The pandemic was a cultural condition that tore down the walls of self-dependency. And out of this came forth an existential angst, leading many to seek help from self-help/improvement authors, podcasts, and pastors who were speaking to the problems and tensions they were facing.
For some men, this meant walking into our churches, some for the first time and some returning home as prodigal sons. But here’s the thing — they came already recognizing their desperate need to belong, hoping to foster friendships, and desiring to be poured into as men, husbands, and fathers.
They entered our sanctuaries spiritually hungry and ready to be challenged. They know they have a lot to work on; and won’t pretend or lie that isn’t the case.
They want to experience who God is, as their Heavenly Father, learn to sit with Him in His Word, to be shepherded by Him, and live in alignment with His purpose. They want to be led to still waters by their Good Shepherd (Psalm 23).
For these men, the local church has become what it ought to be — a hospital and refuge —where they can meet the One who can heal their deepest wounds and spur them on toward becoming the man they were meant to be (Mark 2:17). It’s a place to sort through the tough issues and the loneliness that seeps in. It’s where they learn to fight the good fight (1 Tim. 6:12).
The rising attendance of men in church is a reflection that God is at work, turning up hardened hearts and stirring them to come alive. Though many churches stopped reaching out to men in the past, this data ought to raise questions for how churches will respond to the changing tide in their attendance.
Men want to understand the depths of Scripture and reconcile its implications for their worldview. They want to understand the story of the world and their place within it.
They are asking us, as pastors, to journey with them and point them in the direction of Jesus in each sphere of their lives as husbands, fathers, and leaders.
Most of all, they want help in surrendering all of themselves to Christ—their character, habits, and actions.
Men are searching for answers. They want authentic and vulnerable conversations on what it means to truly follow Jesus in our modern culture.
We need to meet them there.
This piece has been republished courtesy of Baptist Press.
John Simons is the author of “The Man You’re Meant to Be” and the men’s pastor of Rolling Hills Community Church.