Christians in the United States have a significant opportunity to reach young men, because American society has marginalized them. In school, many young men are prescribed major narcotics like Ritalin to pacify them, even though the side effects of this drug are pretty serious. As they grow up, they often turn to pornography instead of serious relationships, because they’ve been to sexual harassment courses and know their lives could be over if they even look at a woman the wrong way. In time, they engage in one-night stands, because they’re easier than marriage and children. Besides, with divorce so common, there’s always a fear of having to financially support a family you never see. It’s not like young men have the money for that anyway, because many of them work menial service jobs and have gigantic student loan debt. Ultimately, they turn to video games, drinking and drugs to fulfill their desire for purpose and dull their boredom.
Most young American males live empty lives. They’re looking for a mission to carry out, a leader to follow into battle. They’re ready to become soldiers of King Jesus. How do we reach them? So-called church growth experts have been pitching plenty of ideas over the past several years. Usually, their strategies focus on having more fun and acting like the world, but that’s not going to work. Young men can have much more fun in places beside church, and again, many of them are bored with what the world has to offer. They’re looking for something different. They’re seeking what early Christians enjoyed: complete focus on a mission greater than themselves, and authentic fellowship with brothers in arms. They want adventure, to encounter the unexpected, to rally around a life-or-death cause. Ultimately, they’re ready to heed the battle cry of Christ: “If anyone will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matthew 16:24).
For churches to be accommodating, the recipe is simple. Churches must embrace the traditional and the supernatural. For many people, these seem like opposites. To be sure, there are plenty of stale, religious churches that are consumed by endless rituals. On the flip side, there are lots of undiscerning churches that seek out unusual activity and engage in suspect, bizarre behaviors. These churches tend to repel people, because they’re focus isn’t on Jesus, but on something else. Importance isn’t placed on the mission of following Christ, preaching the Gospel to every creature and making disciples of all nations. The emphasis is on rituals which aren’t explained and ‘manifestations’ that may not even be from God.
Instead, communion, baptism, laying on of hands, anointing the sick, praying for one other, eating meals with each other, singing hymns, reading the Bible aloud and other traditions should be practiced and explained when necessary. At the same time, the Holy Spirit should be allowed to move freely. When young men read the Bible, the Book of Acts is always a favorite because it’s an action-packed book. There are signs and wonders, healings, riots, teleportation, angelic prison breaks and a whole lot of people being saved. That fun stuff wasn’t just for the first century.
Back in the day, Paul observed a church in Corinth having some wild services, saying “When you come together, every one of you has a psalm, a teaching, a tongue, a revelation, and an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification” (1 Corinthians 14:26). He gave them some guidelines for keeping things orderly, but he didn’t tell them to avoid the supernatural (1 Corinthians 14:40). We shouldn’t just accept every manifestation as being from God. We must test the spirits (1 John 4:1), but we should never quench the Holy Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19).
In conclusion, Christians have a tremendous opportunity to talk with young men about following Jesus. Usually, they’re interested in Jesus but not going to church. Hopefully this series has pointed out a few reasons why. Now, it would be great if churches were more accommodating for young guys, but many of them are unlikely to change. As a result, it may be time to start meeting from house to house like early Christians did, and inviting young men to join us.