Is the Church Producing Weak Men?

I was recently asked, "Is the church producing weak men?"

My answer:

The church is failing to make strong disciples of either gender. It's not a question of whether men are being made strong in their faith, it's a question of whether any Christian is being made strong in their faith. A better question is, "Is the church equipping the saints for the work of the ministry?" and "Is the church making strong disciples who are grounded in doctrine?"

Asking whether the church is producing weak men is ignoring at least half the people there. No church leadership should be asking this question. I believe it's part of the problem. If we focus on one gender and attempt to produce strength in only one gender, we are weakening the entire church.

In Ephesians 4:11-13, it says, "And he gave some, apostles, some, prophets, some, evangelists and some, pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect (mature) person, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ."

In these verses, there is no gender specification. While some might want to apply it in a gender specific way, it simply is not written in a gender specific way. Such an application would be amiss.

Now, to go back to the initial question of whether the church is producing strong disciples. There are weaknesses in the making of disciples in the church and that weakness is rooted in Secular Humanism, which is the primary thing being taught in a good number of evangelical churches. Secular Humanism comes wrapped in patriarchy and has been devastating to our churches as well as our sons and daughters.

My husband and I didn't raise our kids in a gender-specific way. By this I mean we didn't have different rules for the boys or the girls. Everyone had to live by the same rules in our house. There was no idea that "boys will be boys," meaning they got away with certain actions just because they were boys. Our girls got in as much trouble as our boys. Our girls got as dirty as our boys. Neither gender got special treatment. Everyone had to be kind, thoughtful, obedient, compassionate, and humble. And "Even Steven" has never been welcome at our house.

Many Christian people actually encourage men and boys to define themselves through strength, aggression and competitiveness. This hides the real character of Jesus Christ and leaves our men and boys feeling like they don't have a model of masculinity that allows for fear or grief or tenderness or the occasional sadness that can overwhelm any of us at times. To teach men and boys to define themselves through strength, aggression and competitiveness is faulty because Jesus says his strength is made perfect in weakness and we are to treat others as more important than ourselves. So, to define a "man" as one who shows strength, aggression and competitiveness is to misrepresent all men as ones who cannot identify with Christ at all.

If you want to save our children - save our sons - save our daughters, give them Jesus and realize their gender means nothing in light of the gospel. Kids don't need special treatment based on gender. Kids need Jesus and the life-changing power and news of the gospel of God.

Stop the influx of Secular Humanism into our pulpits and preach Jesus and this will make strong disciples of each gender....and you won't care what gender anyone is!

~Tricia