Questions
Is the Church’s Problem Too Little Masculinity, or Too Little Discipleship?
Summary: The common diagnosis that churches have become “feminized” and need re-masculinizing misreads the problem; men are not leaving churches because churches lack machismo but because churches have failed to cultivate a cruciform vision of discipleship in which faithfulness to Christ outweighs personal preference.
The diagnosis offered by many who are concerned about men and the church is that churches have become feminized. They are too soft, too emotional, and too passive. As such, some Christians believe men need to be called back to a robust masculinity so that they can re-masculinize the church. The prescribed solution is, accordingly, more masculine content, more masculine environments, more emphasis on traits culturally coded as manly. Perhaps the church has changed. If so, the answer is not to change it into something else as if discipleship doesn’t matter, but to transform it through discipleship.
The data suggest that men actually are underrepresented in American churches, but men who leave churches because the decor does not suit them, or because the worship style is outside their vocal range, are not exhibiting strength. They are exhibiting a preference for their own comfort over their commitment to Christ and his body. Masculinity demands change, discipleship issues forth in uncompromising faith that refuses to abandon Christ regardless of the consequences.
Because the solution follows from the diagnosis, we need to get the diagnosis right. However, even if the problem is a feminized church, the remedy may not be a more masculine church. Undiscipled men, who are shaped more by cultural scripts than by Christ, cannot influence the church so that it moves in the right direction. Pursuing masculinity, even masculinity described with Christian language and supported by biblical passages or personas, is not the answer because conceptions of masculinity subtly diminish the authority of Christ.
Men are not leaving churches because churches lack machismo. They are leaving because they don’t understand what it means to commit to Christ. They are leaving because churches have been unsuccessful in cultivating within men a vision of Christian living in which power is found in our unwillingness to be unfaithful regardless of the consequences faithfulness may bring. That self-giving is, at its core, what Christ models and what discipleship requires. That vision is not masculine or feminine, but cruciform.
Key Takeaways: Diagnosis vs. Remedy
- The Wrong Diagnosis: The “feminization of the church” thesis mistakes a discipleship failure for a masculinity deficit.
- The Cruciform Alternative: Christian power is found in the refusal to be unfaithful, not in cultural markers of toughness or dominance.
- Why Re-Masculinizing Fails: Undiscipled men formed by cultural scripts cannot redirect the church toward Christ—they can only reinforce the rival order already shaping them.
- The “So What”: Leaving a church over decor or worship style is not strength; it is preference disguised as conviction.
About the Author — James Spencer, PhD, is a theologian, author, and host of the Thinking Christian podcast, where he writes and speaks on Christian formation, political theology, and technology. He holds a PhD in Theological Studies from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and completed the Institute for Educational Management at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He serves as President of the D.L. Moody Center in Northfield, Massachusetts, as adjunct faculty in Wheaton College’s MA in Leadership program, and as an Associate Research Fellow at the Kirby Laing Centre for Public Theology. His writing has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Times, Christianity.com, and Sojourners; he has been quoted in The Telegraph; and he is a regular guest on Stand in the Gap Today with the American Pastors Network. His forthcoming book is Digital Discernment (InterVarsity Press, Fall 2026). Learn more at jamesgspencer.com.