The global church faces a huge problem: a lack of men.
According to pastors and church leaders in African countries like Zambia and Tanzania, the church is made up of 20-25% men. In India, the number of men is about 15-20%. In Japan, according to missionaries, it is 10%; in Thailand, a shocking 3%. Can you even picture that―100 people in your church, and only three of them are men?
We say that the Bible teaches that men are to be the leaders in the home and church. We know that in the culture, community, church and home, men have a strong influence and impact. We believe that the church needs men to not only lead as elders and pastors but to balance out the gifts and spur on the calling and mission of the church.
HOW ARE YOUR MEN DOING?
10-25% OF CHURCH CONGREGATIONS
IN MUCH OF THE WORLD.
But what MOV has discovered in place after place around the world is that dedicated outreach to and discipleship of men is not being done.
This matters. Men are essential, not just to the church’s ability to do well, but its ability to survive. When men don’t receive biblical training, when they don’t attend church―the institution established by God to teach His precepts and righteous living―then they don’t hear the truth that saves and transforms them. Then elders are not raised up, pastors are not ordained, and churches are without a shepherd.
In many countries around the world, we see the damage from that in homes and communities. Men either don’t see the importance they have or choose violent or abusive behavior. Many think they have no purpose. Feeling hopeless, they seek to drown their problems in alcohol and drugs. Families fall apart. Uninvolved, uncaring men father children without purpose or meaning. Churches shrink. Communities decay.
And this applies even beyond the current generation.
Kids follow Dad. Statistics confirm that when Dad leads and engages spiritually, children stay in the church. When Dad abdicates his role as spiritual leader, his kids bail, too. Tragically, this is not just from church, but from their walk with the Lord. “If it doesn’t matter to Dad, why should it matter to me?”
I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
The stakes are too high for the Church to continue business as usual.
The Church can raise men who are excited about their purpose, their calling, and God’s mission. But it doesn’t just happen. We must be intentional in teaching and modeling biblical manhood. Strong, godly men bring blessing to their wives, their families, their communities, and the church.
The Lord has made it clear in His Word how very important MEN are. Men have a high calling to leadership and Service. They have a crucial role and they have an enormous impact on the family, in the church, and in the society.
Men of Valor strives to refocus the church, to help men understand their God-given mission and role in His Kingdom, and to reach and build men. Through conferences, retreats, discipleship materials, and strategy sessions, this biblical teaching jumpstarts discipleship and the development of home, church, and men of valor.
A study in Europe found that, “Where the father is uninterested or absent from church – then children see that church is a ‘women and children’ thing, children will stop going to church or at least go much less. Even adult women start to think that if Dad does not think that church is important, then it is not really a grown-up activity. Mother’s choices have much less effect upon children than their father’s choices.”
A study from Hartford Seminary found that the presence of involved men was statistically correlated with church growth, health, and harmony. Meanwhile, a lack of male participation is strongly associated with congregational decline. “…a higher proportion of women in the congregation is associated with decline rather than growth. …the congregation that is able to attract larger proportions of men… is more likely to grow.”
