I’ve been thinking about this off and on for awhile since I read Wild at Heart, but haven’t really come to a conclusion.  Whatever you may think of Wild at Heart, I think it does do one thing.  It brings to our attention a problem.  Guys in general don’t really like church.  Now that wouldn’t be a problem, except that generally church is the way we get to God.  Somehow I don’t believe that God loves women more than men.  Nor do I believe that the gospel is supposed to appeal to women more than men.

There are always exceptions to the rule, but generally from what I’ve observed, the more “spiritual” people are women.  If a guy is regarded as spiritual, he’s all of a sudden held up as the next pastor or something like that because spiritual men are so rare.

According to the Barna Group, “Churches have particularly alienated men. 55 percent of the un-churched are men. And only 38 percent of Americans who consider themselves “born again” are men.”

“The un-churched are also younger, at 38, than the median age of Americans, 43. Combining the information on age and gender, church demographics are seriously lacking in young and middle-aged men. The face of the American church in 2004 is the elderly woman. ”

Isn’t that interesting?  Young and middle aged men don’t like church, at least in America.  As a young man I find this really disturbing.  I think this is the issue Wild At Heart was supposed to address.  Does it have to do with the image of church as a safe place?  What can we do to change this?  How can we attract young men?