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wings
We must reach more men but not at the expense of women
As I prepared for a recent gathering with our United Methodist Men in Morristown, I came across some statistics from my Southern Bible College days that really hit me in the face.
Did you know that the church loses one out of every four females and three out of every four males after they reach the age of 17? Just look around your congregation next Sunday and see how many males are present compared with females. This same research showed that when a married man with children is led to commit himself to discipleship that the likelihood of winning the entire family increases almost fifty percent - over the likelihood that the family will be won after a married woman becomes a disciple.
I have some anxiety about even approaching this subject concerning our inability to attract and maintain males in the church. The anxiety comes because of our dismal record in the way we have treated women in the church. Despite the fact that women have been in the majority, our leadership in the past has marginalized women, denied them leadership opportunities, tried to keep our pulpits closed to women preachers, systematically shut women out of Boards of Trustees - and the litany continues. So I hesitate to bring up these statistics because I don't want anyone to misuse them as reasons to turn back the hands of time. In recent history, women have made some tremendous strides within the church. This in no way means that the struggle for equal inclusion of women is over. There are still Staff/Pastor Parish Relations Committees that live in fear that a woman will be sent to be their pastor. Even when the SPPR Committee is open to welcoming a female pastor, there are congregations with pockets of power that can and do make ministry difficult for women pastors. Yes, I celebrate the strides we have made - but the struggle continues.
So I hope you can understand why I hesitate to bring up the reality that we are not reaching men for Christ. But, somehow the church must be big enough and brave enough to deal with both of these issues without minimizing either. I was encouraged by the United Methodist Men's "Day with the Bishop" at First Morristown Church on the last Saturday in February. This was a good beginning that provides us with an opportunity to strategize together on how we can begin to win men to Christ.
On March 7, I will be with the clergywomen of Holston at First White Pine UMC. It will be a time to celebrate the 50 years that clergywomen have been, by God's grace, providing ministerial leadership to our churches. I approach this meeting with an interest in hearing the stories of the women clergy who serve Holston and finding ways we can continue to "Lift High the Cross."
In both cases I believe that the Holy Spirit is looking for faithfulness to our mission of "making disciples of Jesus Christ" and for us to do so with honesty and integrity. I believe we can continue to break down barriers to women in ministry and at the same time empower our churches to reach their communities for Christ - even those hard-to-win men. I believe that the people of the Holston Conference are up to the task and know that the Holy Spirit will be with us.
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Bishop James Swanson
Resident Bishop
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