Today’s evangelical church has discarded the discipleship model in favor of an academic model. Instead of discipling people, we teach them. We put people in classrooms and present them with Bible knowledge. We offer a weekly lecture (sermon) from an educated person with a seminary degree. As for laymen, the more you know, the more accurate your doctrine, the more God is pleased. Christianity is something that happens inside your mind.
Why is this academic approach to faith so discouraging to men? Simple. Men are less comfortable in a classroom.
We cannot expect men to come to maturity in Christ in a classroom environment. Although reading, study, sermons, and classes can help, these academic exercises cannot penetrate to the hidden places in a man’s heart. But discipleship can, because it’s teaching by example. Christ didn’t hand out a study guide; He demonstrated a life pleasing to God. His example, even more than His words, produced eleven men who shook the world. That is why a man who has sat in church for thirty years without much life change will be suddenly transformed after going on a mission trip. Men are changed by what they experience, not necessarily by what they are told.
Excerpt from David Murrow’s WHY MEN HATE GOING TO CHURCH.
Jojo Agot 