If you ever skim through a Christian magazine, you’re likely to find a church ad that’s targeting men and asking them to come visit. A lot of these ads promote hunting trips, barbecue cook offs or other venues of interest. It might seem strange at first to try and target men specifically, but promoting activities that they could get excited about can actually be a great way to get them into church.
Sure, women need their own activities and it’s always important to reach out to them, but these male bonding events can really make men feel like they are part of the church and the community. If you can get the man of the household excited about church, he is more likely to bring the rest of the family along. That’s not to say that women won’t be great promoters of church involvement, but finding exciting new ways to entice the men in your community can help your outreach efforts.
In an article from The Christian Century, it talks about a drop in church attendance by women in the last 20 years. The article states, “Since 1991, the percentage of women attending church during a typical week has decreased by 11 percentage points to 44 percent, the Barna Group reported Monday (Aug. 1).” This is a worrisome statistic… so a new focus on bringing in more men could mean a new rise in attendance for men and women.
What do you think?