Getting men to go to church

Where have all the good men gone?

Not to church, apparently.

"It is a problem," said the Rev. Steve Goodier of Salt Lake's Christ United Methodist Church. "We've been trying to get ahold of it."

"We have a lot more ladies than men," said pastor Aaron Hamilton of Hope Lutheran Church in West Jordan.

Women do attend church services more than men, but not by much in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said church spokesman Dale Bills.

"Our experience shows that women lead men in church attendance but not by a wide margin," he said. "The difference is not substantial."

Local ministers agree the shortage of males in church is a longtime problem with no easy solution.

With so many sporting events each Sunday, plus yard work and grueling weekday work schedules, many men have found different activities for the Sabbath than churchgoing. Even though men still dominate the clergy in most churches, they aren't the predominant gender in most congregations.

The explanation may be as simple and as complicated as the differences between men and women.

Women tend to come to church for the friendship and social aspects of the church, while men have different motivations, the Rev. Goodier said. Men respond best to workday kind of activities in the church, and they tend to be more involved in ministries, he said.

A man's spirituality is very different from a woman's, said the Rev. Neal Humphrey of Fruit Heights' Westminster Presbyterian Church.

"Woman are there (at church) for a relationship. Men are more there for the performance," he said.

The Rev. Humphrey acknowledges that Christianity in the Western world has been feminized and that the problem is less a factor in the Eastern world of Christianity.

"A typical church serves women more," he said.

Bishop George H. Niederauer of the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City says waning male church attendance probably reflects today's culture.

Some local clergy, however, don't notice a gender imbalance.

The Rev. Mike Gray, senior pastor of Southeast Baptist Church in Salt Lake, for instance. If there's any secret to reaching out to men, he feels it might be this:

"Most churches don't challenge men," the Rev. Gray said. "We try to challenge men to step up."

Without challenges, the Rev. Gray doesn't believe men will be involved in a church.

The Rev. Tom Goldsmith of the First Unitarian Church of Salt Lake City said the ratio of women to men in his congregation is proportionate.

"There are a few more women but not much," he said. "This is not a problem that has plagued us. We've escaped that."

Several factors might explain that, the Rev. Goldsmith said.