“…think ‘Braveheart’”

Frederica Mathewes-Green, a former public radio personality and convert to Orthodoxy from the Epsicopal church, wrote an article for Beliefnet.com on what it is about Orthodoxy that is particularly attractive to men. The men she polled for her article used words like “discipline,” “challenge,” “objectivity,” “stability,” and “warfare” to describe the traits that attracted them to the Orthodox Church.

I had to laugh the first time I read this article, because I realized that there is nothing whatsoever unique about my journey; only the names and faces are different:

In a time when churches of every description are faced with Vanishing Male syndrome, men are showing up at Eastern Orthodox churches in numbers that, if not numerically impressive, are proportionately intriguing. This may be the only church which attracts and holds men in numbers equal to women. As Leon Podles wrote in his 1999 book, "The Church Impotent: The Feminization of Christianity," "The Orthodox are the only Christians who write basso profundo church music, or need to."

Rather than guess why this is, I emailed a hundred Orthodox men, most of whom joined the Church as adults. What do they think makes this church particularly attractive to men? Their responses, below, may spark some ideas for leaders in other churches, who are looking for ways to keep guys in the pews.

Read the rest of the article here: “Why Orthodox Men Love Church”

When you’re done reading, listen to this excellent talk by Frederica Mathewes-Green on the above article (in fact, even if you choose not to read the article, I recommend that you listen to this lecture): Men and Orthodoxy