Earlier this week I was skimming back through William Farley’s book Gospel-Powered Parenting by (which I reviewed here) and happened across his discussion of “Gospel Fathers.” In this section he discusses the importance of godly, masculine men within a church body. He starts out by quoting a selection of lines from Why Men Hate Going to Church by David Murrow:
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You cannot have a thriving church without a core of men who are true followers of Christ. If men are dead, the church is dead…
If we want to change the world, we must focus on men…
When men are absent and anemic the body withers…
The church and the Titanic have something in common: It’s women and children first. The great majority of ministry in Protestant churches is focused on children, next on women…
Men don’t follow programs; they follow men. A woman may choose a church because of the programs it offers, but a man is looking for another man he can follow.
I think the core of what he says there is found in the final paragraph. Men don’t follow programs; they follow men. Farley wants to make sure that we understand what this does not mean. “We are not talking about ‘macho’ behavior. Machismo is a perversion of biblical masculinity. In fact, it usually occurs because men feel insecure about their masculinity.” The simple fact is that men want to follow men–real men, admirable men, men who are worth following.
The point of it all? If you want to have a solid church–a church that has strong, masculine men within it (which is the exception rather than the rule within the Evangelical church) you need to have strong, masculine, godly leadership. Without this kind of leadership a church will inevitably wither and fade.