Why Focus on Ministry to Men?
As we start a new church year, what will the focus of your local church be this year?  I suggest we focus on MEN. There are 108,000,000 men in America 15 years of age and older. How are they doing?  Take a look at some of the numbers I copied from an article a few years ago.  I forgot the source, but assume for a moment that these stats, if not fairly accurate, are close.

Men & Culture
·   Men will change jobs on an average of every 3.2 years and will have 14-16 jobs in their lifetime. Men, especially
    as fathers, are more than eight times more likely to be portrayed negatively on television than women.
·   Men are four times more likely to die from suicide than women with white males having the highest rate. Men
    make up 93% of the present prison population.
·   95% of Christian men, with the average age of 40, state that they do not have a best friend who is a male.
·   There are 68,000,000 pornographic search engine requests every day – a vast majority from men. Note: This
    makes up 25% of all search engine requests.

Men & Church
·   66,000,000 men in America make no profession of faith.
·   6,000,000 women in America come to church each week without their husband.
·   85% of lay leadership in American churches are women.
·   Young men who attend church will tend to disengage from church at nine years of age.
·   When the church reaches the man of the home, 93% of the time the entire family will follow. This compares with
    3.5% when reaching children/youth and 17% when reaching wiives/mothers.

Men & Family
·   40% of married men who attend church will get divorced.
·   Women initiate 66% of divorces after the age of 40.
·   The divorce rate for couples who pray together daily is 1 out of 1,152.
·   1,000,000 children in America each year will be affected by divorce.
·   33% of all children in America are born out of wedlock.
·   Men with children will talk with their child 11 days (accumulative hours) in a lifetime.
·   90% of men in the church will have children who will leave the church.

Most men's ministries in churches are a disconnected set of poorly attended activities.  We are content if we get men to attend something, anything... from pancake breakfasts, golfathons, or Habitat for Humanity work days.  Our men's  ministries  activities are often like a bunch of hot air balloons drifting along with the cultural winds, launching as many as possible, frantically trying to keep them aloft.  Are we entertaining men or are we equipping them? 

If we are not entertaining men we are using them.  We think since men are doers, let's give them something to do.  This will make them feel needed, wanted and connected.  This strategy will activate some men, but eventually this too will fail as men see the church as a place that only wants their service and their money...not a whole lot different from the other community service groups to which they belong.   Are we using men or equipping them?

If the above stats are even close to accurate, then we need to seriously figure out how to equip men to lead in their personal, family, business, and church life.  We need to develop leaders rather than just hope they survive.  We need to equip them to walk with God in an unfriendly if not brutal world. 

Is this perception valid?  How is your church equipping men to walk with a real God in a real world?