Customer Reviews

WHY MEN HATE GOING TO CHURCH

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is outstanding. The authors observations on Church life & Male/Female character & needs are simple, but at the same time incisive. At last a book that gathers up all the stuff I have read from John Eldredge & others & connects it to my experiences. This is where the rubber hits the road. This is without doubt one of the best books I have read, and I sense it will sharpen me up & give me new vigour & direction, having first comforted me & helped me see why I find Church so frustrating at times. A must read.

This is an excellent book. It's a plea for men to get involved in their churches, and for churches to welcome a distinctively male approach to church life.

This book explains why many men are repelled by church from effeminate ministry, to flower and creche rotas. Men need clear niches and roles within the church, and not to feel that they have to hide their masculinity away when they get to church. When they have to do this they would sooner be anywhere else.

This is a well written, well observed book that describes well the problems many men have with many churches. Some of the criticism are sharp, but the message from this book is necessary and timely.

I highly recommend this book to those who run churches. I recommend it to men who want to understand their reaction to church more fully. It may not be your fault that you don't feel at home in church.

Brilliant book! Full of Americanisms, but if you can cope with those it's chock-full of ways to make church more man-friendly, and win back all those husbands and sons who can't see what Christian faith might hold for them.

This is not a reactionary book, nor is it a simplistic one. David Murrow is an active member of a church in the far north of America but anyone in this country can see why he is concerned. Apart from cutting the grass and sitting on the Fabric, Finance and Fixtures committee, what is there for the average man in a congregation? Mr. Murrow has heard many neighbours and colleagues say that "the church is full of hypocrites" but believes that they could live with that if there were compensations. So the author goes looking for ways to "adjust the thermostat", as he puts it, so that the atmosphere causes both women and men to be comfortable and productive.

I have been struggling for several years to understand why I was having trouble with going to Church. Like David there was a time when my faith was finely poised. I had worked out my problem was with Church not my faith, and I had read may books in order to understand what the problem was. But now I do and so many things that have happened to me and to other men suddenly make so much sense. The relief is tempered with growing understanding of how big the problem is. As David said we must be careful to stress that it's not a question of being anti feminist, but seeking to end the suppression of male spirituality and wanting to restore a healthy balance of male and female spirituality in the Church. To realise that Jesus is a courageous leader who challenged cultural norms on one hand and confronted the Pharisees on the other. Everyone Christian who is interested in a healthy Church must read this for the insight they will gain into the problems of the Church.

The title catches the eye, but the book grabs the heart! I was a non-Christian for forty years - largely because of the church. This book rings so many bells. Read it - and then act!!!

As a lifelong church member, and lifelong man, I found this book extremely challenging for the whole church. This is not a book about men for men, or about men for women. This is for the whole church, about transforming their church. Even as I read it, I began to understand better some of my frustrations and struggles with the church, even though I was looking "from within".

Some of the examples, and obviously much of the experience, is from the point of view of the American church, and there are some generalisations. However, the book was much more 'palatable' to my European background than I had expected, and the generalisations are only there because they are, in general, true.

One of the most life- and church-changing books that I have read in a number of years.

I hadn't heard of this book until it was recommended to me. I have to say I really like the fact that I am not the only person on the planet to notice that church seems to offer little that appeals to a 'mans man'.
This is not a book on how to make a mens ministry, nor is it a fascist female-hating monologue. What it is, however, is a wake up call to the church, to adjust the way it does things, so that BOTH men AND women have their needs catered for, and their unique qualities and characters can be used for the kingdom.

Of course the author's description of masculinity doesn't appeal to everyone. Yes it's a bit of a stereotype and may seem outdated to men who are better connected to their feminine side. However, the problem Murrow highlights is a very real one. The church has a soft feminine centre that many men simply cannot engage with. You may not like Murrow's manly attitude but he's brought into the open a problem that the church has to face up to or die.

This is a must read for ALL church pastors, elders, ministers and leaders. The observations and conclusions are damning of the mindset in today's church, with its over emphasis on the relational at the expense of risk taking and adventure. We must connect with real men, instead of preaching a be-kind to Grandma and the cat Christianity! We need a generation of believing men who do exploits for God and fear no-one save God Himself!