A lack of challenge and missing males

Here's a brief excerpt of what Tim Bayly at The Resurgence had to say on the topic of men missing from church:

Men want to be challenged. Don't sell them short or coddle them. I once had the privilege of spending an evening with a veteran pastor who had pastured five churches in his forty years of ministry, a man respected in his denomination who routinely took dying churches and turned them around.

We were discussing visitation and I was surprised to hear him describe his current visitation program: He was visiting six to ten homes a week--visits set up in advance for times when he could be sure the fathers would be there, as well as the mothers. During these visits he would ask such questions as: How often do you attend worship? How often do you lead your family in devotions? Do you yourself have a time of Bible reading and prayer each day?

Why was I surprised?

Because just the thought of doing something similar in my church caused my face to blush as I thought of the embarrassed responses I'd get from many of our members. "In fact," I told him, "if I pulled a stunt like that in my church I might not last much longer as their pastor."

"You know," he responded, "one thing I've learned over the years is that people do what you expect them to do."

When Willow Creek released a study earlier this year on Christians' thoughts on their churches, they reached a similar conclusion: that the most common reason given for leaving the church was a lack of challenge.