The involvement of
men in ministries seen during the Manila Overture made me think about American
men's view of themselves and how that relates to men's roles in ministry. Maybe
it has some implications for how we do men's ministry. So Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit
linked to a Business
Insider article about "lumbersexuality." Apparently, it's enough
of a trend to challenge "metrosexuality' as a major men's movement. The
article made these key statements:
- "…these bearded, manly men even earned themselves a pithy nickname: the lumbersexuals."
- "What links the mythic lumberjack [Paul Bunyan] to his modern-day incarnations is a pervasive sense—in his time and ours—that masculinity is 'in crisis.'"
- "The economic downturn disproportionately affected men, and it is clearer than ever that the single-breadwinner family is finally dead."
- "…the men who sought these identities were searching for something authentic, something true. But that 'authenticity' often came at the exclusion of real working men and a romanticization of 'real' work."
- "Beards and plaid may well just look good, and I hardly think that the man wearing both while coding on a MacBook Air in a coffee shop is really attempting to sell anyone on the idea that he’s an authentic ‘jack."
The article about
lumbersexuality made me think about my experience with men's ministries and
what real ministry to men could be. Ranging from Promise Keepers to local
churches, I experienced men's ministries as being a youth group for older guys.
Worship times, retreats, and Bible studies were the standard fare and
emphasized personal holiness and accountability to each other. What never
really came to the fore was men and their work.
The lumbersexuality
article tried to portray adoption of that style of appearance as a response to
the economic and legal emasculation of men. The recession destroyed
industries like construction that primarily employed men and vaporized jobs
that will never return. Men, assuming they could spend their lives in such
jobs that required lower levels of knowledge-based skills, were cast adrift and
have
likely left the workforce. Dr. Helen Smith(Glenn Reynolds' wife) added her
observations about other demographic developments like men's lack of desire to
marry, arguing that men not marrying is a rational response to what they see is
a legal deck stacked against them through family law. These trends, according
to the lumbersexuality article, have caused men to look for a way to express
their frustrations. The larger issue, then, is men's search for meaning, place,
and identity in the this new media and knowledge-driven world.
Enter theology of
work, not something I've heard preached in churches and certainly not in men's
ministry events. At least, not much more than acknowledging one should see work
as a good thing ordained by God. Theology of work goes farther and can address
men's concerns by elaborating on the details of how men can make their work
count. Such ministries have a role in pushing men to buckle down to preparing
themselves for this new world.
I visited The Master's Mission in Robbinsville,
North Carolina, a missionary training center, and saw immediately how their
formula could put specific action to theology of work and men's ministry. An
eleven month course, The Master's Mission not only provides theological
training to missionary candidates, the center also provides skill-based
training to the candidates. Making them live in cabins without electricity and
raise and gather their food, the candidates receive training on the essentials
for living in austere places like first aid, construction, small engine repair,
husbandry, and home economics. The center even puts them through a physical
fitness program. Why? The center's staff analyzed environments in developing
countries and created a curriculum designed to prepare the candidates to thrive
in those environments.
Men's ministries can
harness theology of work concepts and the handiness training like that at the
Master's Mission to rescue men from the
supposed neurasthenia of the modern male that shows up in phenomena like
lumbersexuality. Here are some steps:
- Communicate that men's ministry programs are practical and serious in nature, not overgrown youth groups. One related effort is F3, a men's workout movement that blends faith, fitness, and fellowship.
- Build on the theology of work foundation to establish the sacredness of work.
- Demand that men continually develop themselves.
- Provide the means for development by assessing what men need to be able to do in the modern world and providing that training as well as pushing men to get the training outside the scope of men's ministry programs. For example, men's ministry programs can provide key life skills training like communication and can push men to improve themselves in professional areas.
Taking the extra
step can make men's ministries more powerful because those ministries will have
a role in helping men develop in more dimensions.
