50 Ways to Make Church Appealing for Men

Our churches can create a “male-friendly” atmosphere that will reach men for Christ. Here are a number of suggestions to draw them in!

Front door experience:

• Maintain your buildings and grounds

• Put men in the parking lot

• One layer of greeters (don’t be too friendly)

• Lots of signs so men don’t have to ask directions

Worship service:

• Keep the focus on God – not the family

• Minimize dead time between elements

• Do something unexpected

• Add humor or something fun

• Good lighting and sound so people can easily see and hear

Décor:

• Remove the “old lady” stuff: quilts, felt banners, needlepoint, etc.

• Remove lace and flowers from communion table.

• Remove bulletin boards and “kindergarten classroom” collages from interior walls

• Decide if religious symbols in the sanctuary help or hinder

• Colors: choose earth tones and colors of the field.

Give men space:

• Do not ask the congregation to hold hands

• Do not ask everyone to hug everyone else

• Discourage “prayer mushrooms”

Prayer:

• Keep pastoral prayers short

• Avoid showy “prayer-speak” when praying in church

• Avoid “vain repetitions” in public prayers

• Offer prayer after the service instead of prayer-and-share

Music:

• Quality is vital. Don’t attempt more than your musicians can deliver.

• Choose songs that convey respect to God

• Avoid wimpy “love songs to Jesus”

• Avoid more than 3 repeats of any chorus

• Select a key the baritones can sing

• Help the worship leader “man-up”

A pastor who relates well to men will:

• Talk like a regular guy (avoid “preacher-speak”)

• Do man stuff and talk about it during the message

• Choose metaphors and stories men can relate to

• Be firm but gracious on theology and moral issues

• Be judicious about emotive displays

Teaching:

• Shorter is almost always better. Say it and be done.

• Share personal stories of your struggles as a man

• Avoid feminine metaphors (such as “fall in love with Jesus”)

• Avoid “preacher-speak”

• Build sermon around great illustrations

• Use visual aids

• Use video clips to illustrate

• Use an object lesson to illustrate

• Call men forward for a 3-minute “men’s huddle” at the end of the service

Honor men’s time:

• Start and end the service on time

• If something goes long, cut something else on the fly

• For services more than 90 minutes, offer an intermission or an opportunity to “get-up-and-go” so men don’t feel trapped

  
  

Sunday school:

• Bury the name “Sunday school”

• Abandon the classroom method in favor of a more kinetic one

• Place boys with male teachers

• Don’t ask boys to read aloud

• Use a boy-friendly curriculum with hands-on learning

• Use professionally produced videos to help teach spiritual truths