Reaching Men

Paul Levy

Recently a student worker came to see me, (admittedly that is surprising as what I know about university work you could write on the back of your hand). Anyway, she said she'd noticed that there weren't enough male leaders in Christian Unions, particularly in London, and that those who were in leadership were often stepping back because the girls on committee were so confident and boisterous (that's probably the polite way of putting it).

 I asked her, 'Who's your boss?'  'A woman.'  'And who's the regional team leader?'  'A woman.' 

At that point I said she should give up trying to reach guys in the Christian Union and just focus on the girls - women training women to lead women.

You don't need to be a rocket scientist to see that to reach male students you've got to get guys in leadership. The feminisation of conservative evangelicalism continues apace. I can imagine that some will respond to this post with the get out clause - 'a Christian Union isn't a church and so headship issues don't come into play so much'.  I would want to affirm that CUs aren't churches.  They are the equivalent of a work prayer group or a Christian's arts and crafts club.  But that doesn't change the reality.  If you want to reach guys, you've got to get guys leading.