Can a man love God but hate churchgoing?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"More than half of the committed Christian men I talk to, when asked, will tell me they do not like going to church.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/2013\/07\/can-a-man-love-god-but-hate-churchgoing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Can a man love God but hate churchgoing?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"More than half of the committed Christian men I talk to, when asked, will tell me they do not like going to church.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/2013\/07\/can-a-man-love-god-but-hate-churchgoing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"A Few Grown Men\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-07-03T06:35:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-07-03T06:38:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/219\/2013\/07\/GregAsleep.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David Murrow\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"David Murrow\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/2013\/07\/can-a-man-love-god-but-hate-churchgoing\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/2013\/07\/can-a-man-love-god-but-hate-churchgoing\/\",\"name\":\"Can a man love God but hate churchgoing?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-07-03T06:35:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-07-03T06:38:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/#\/schema\/person\/d4a629374fb8f5e9d38dd50d50b37b71\"},\"description\":\"More than half of the committed Christian men I talk to, when asked, will tell me they do not like going to church.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/2013\/07\/can-a-man-love-god-but-hate-churchgoing\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/2013\/07\/can-a-man-love-god-but-hate-churchgoing\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/2013\/07\/can-a-man-love-god-but-hate-churchgoing\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Can a man love God but hate churchgoing?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/\",\"name\":\"A Few Grown Men\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/#\/schema\/person\/d4a629374fb8f5e9d38dd50d50b37b71\",\"name\":\"David Murrow\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ccb808b418f3d4fc36a2c44272e67a47?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ccb808b418f3d4fc36a2c44272e67a47?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"David Murrow\"},\"description\":\"David Murrow is not a pastor, professor or theologian. 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{"id":1703,"date":"2013-07-03T00:35:10","date_gmt":"2013-07-03T06:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/?p=1703"},"modified":"2013-07-03T00:38:01","modified_gmt":"2013-07-03T06:38:01","slug":"can-a-man-love-god-but-hate-churchgoing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/afewgrownmen\/2013\/07\/can-a-man-love-god-but-hate-churchgoing\/","title":{"rendered":"Can a man love God but hate churchgoing?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I\u2019m noticing a growing trend \u2013 Christian men quietly admitting they do not like going to church.<\/p>\n

More than half of the committed Christian men I talk to, when asked, will tell me they do not like churchgoing.<\/p>\n

They come to me after I speak. They admit their dissatisfaction in hushed tones. They love God \u2013 but hate going to church.<\/p>\n

These are not malcontents who\u2019d rather be golfing on Sunday. These are the good guys. Guys who\u2019ve left much behind to follow Jesus. Guys who love their wives and kids. Many are deacons and elders. Some teach Sunday school. Some are even pastors.\u00a0Some are nationally known Christian leaders<\/a>. If I shared their names you\u2019d be shocked.<\/p>\n

Most of these men are faithful churchgoers \u2013 yet they freely admit they don\u2019t get much from it.<\/p>\n

Most are longtime churchgoers who are simply tired of the routine. The act of churchgoing \u2013 going to a building, singing songs, hearing a sermon, eating the cracker and drinking the juice, dropping the check into the plate, socializing and heading back to the car \u2013 is leaving them particularly dry. They see church as ineffective, focused on the wrong things, or hypocritical.<\/p>\n

Sometimes quality is the issue \u2013 but not always. Many of these restless men attend dynamic churches with fantastic preaching and music. They have good friends in the church. In fact one man said, \u201cI absolutely love my church. I just don\u2019t like going to it. I get a quick jolt of inspiration, but the glory quickly fades.\u201d<\/p>\n

Furthermore, these men sense that God has more for them \u2013 but they can\u2019t seem to find what they\u2019re looking for within the existing structures of church.\u00a0\u201cI\u2019ve been going to church for 31 years,\u201d Roger says. \u201cI like it well enough, but I can\u2019t help but think there is something more out there. There\u2019s gotta be a more effective way of organizing people for mission.\u201d<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s going on here? Is this a trend, or am I just hearing these complaints because I wrote a book titled, \u201cWhy Men Hate Going to Church?\u201d<\/p>\n

And how about you? Are you a person who loves God but hates going to church? Would you like an alternative to the Sunday morning \u201cGod show?\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve posted a poll on the\u00a0 Church for Men Facebook page.<\/a>\u00a0Please vote. And leave your comments below.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"