Yesterday at our church we had a men's breakfast, the first of a series of occasions for men of the church. I had the task of bringing the "talk". I spoke on "Why men hate church". Some months ago a man from my previous church came up to me and said why can't we have songs with words that men can sing! David Murrow, author of Why Men Hate Going to Church complains that church has been feminised and that the Christian message has been changed from "Follow me" to "Have a relationship with me".
In other words, the challenge of the Christian life to follow Christ wherever he may lead has been watered down. Of course, we do need to cultivate our relationship with Christ, but we must not forget the challenges to follow him. Remember when he challenged those fishermen to follow him and he would make them "fishers of men"? They rose to the challenge and left the security of home and a job to follow after Christ. We have demoted that song to a children's song sung in Sunday School, "I will make you fishers of men if you follow me". What's even worse, we've even changed the words! Jesus didn't say "If you follow me" as a kind of polite suggestion, he gave them a command, "Follow me!" And they did! Illustrating that men do respond to a challenge!
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