I can't make up stuff like this: a church in Illinois claims is the country's first "man church." Grove Community Church in Peoria calls themselves "America's First Church for Men and Those Who Love Them." Grove City sets-up their sanctuary look like a hunting lodge, refers to their senior pastor as a "head coach" and are in the midst of offering a NASCAR ticket give-away promotion.
Now I'm all for reaching out to men; churches in the past twenty years have done a lot of emasculating, so there's plenty of damage to make up for, but trying to make your church a Sunday morning version of The Man Show [sans the alcohol and trampoline girls, I can only assume] is . . . well, a bit tacky. Is it possible to reach men for Jesus without making your church look like a Bass-Pro Shop? I think so. I think you can make the Christian faith "manly" without resorting to gimmickry. So my call is: good motive, bad form.
If nothing else, the man church reminded me of a song they always play on the Bob and Tom Radio show. So for all you testosterone bearers out there, here's The Man Song.
Now I'm all for reaching out to men; churches in the past twenty years have done a lot of emasculating, so there's plenty of damage to make up for, but trying to make your church a Sunday morning version of The Man Show [sans the alcohol and trampoline girls, I can only assume] is . . . well, a bit tacky. Is it possible to reach men for Jesus without making your church look like a Bass-Pro Shop? I think so. I think you can make the Christian faith "manly" without resorting to gimmickry. So my call is: good motive, bad form.
If nothing else, the man church reminded me of a song they always play on the Bob and Tom Radio show. So for all you testosterone bearers out there, here's The Man Song.