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BY MARVIN R. WAMBLE

Every man who consistently attends church on Sunday morning has to suffer from the Maytag repairman syndrome. They may not be lonely in terms of the number of people in the church, but they certainly have 'that lonely feeling' when it comes to being with other men during the service.

A recent Gallup poll shows that of 83 million Americans who go to church weekly, only 35 million are men (43 percent). It?s even worse in The United Methodist Church, where only three out of every 10 adult attendees at a Sunday morning service are men.

There is little wonder that most United Methodist Men?s organizations in the Baltimore-Washington Conference and across the country are struggling. The pool of men is so small it is extremely difficult to build any type of organization.

In addition, most UMM groups have difficulty recruiting the few men in the church to join, and reaching beyond the walls to find men has been a foreign concept. Why is convincing men that coming to church and getting involved is important? The aforementioned Gallup poll gave a few clues:

? More than 90 percent of American men believe in God, and five out of six call themselves Christians. But only two out of six attend church on a given Sunday.

? The average man accepts the reality of Jesus Christ, but fails to see any value in going to church.

? A significant number of churchgoing men attend out of habit, unaffected by what they hear.

? Quite a few men go to church simply to keep their wives/mothers/girlfriends happy.

Those are sobering numbers, but they represent the realities of what the leaders of men?s church organizations face on a daily basis.

But wait, there?s more. According to the poll, many men feel alienated in the church because, in reality, after trustees, ushers and men?s chorus, in most small churches there isn?t much for men to do that plays into their skills.

In addition, it?s intimidating for a man to hold hands in a circle, to cry in public, or to imagine falling deeply in love with another man (even if his name is Jesus).

Indeed, this creates an uphill battle for the leaders of United Methodist Men and all men?s Christian organizations.

The men of the Baltimore-Washington Conference believe they are up to the challenge. Here are some of the ideas the men developed during their recent annual meeting as they attempted to tackle the problem of the lack of men in the church:

? Pray to receive bold and courageous outreach ideas from God;

? Reach out to younger people, particularly boys, with programs that include scouting, sporting events and video games;

? Bring in younger men to serve as outreach and program advisors;

? Go out and meet men where they are instead of waiting for them to come into the church;

? Make sure that the walk of the UMM matches their talk of service in Jesus Christ;

? Find the interest of the men who aren?t coming to church and develop programs, projects and ministries around those interests;

? Develop men?s fellowship groups that may not meet at the church but discuss the issues that men are facing every day and solutions found in the Bible;

? Develop a clear Bible-based vision for the UMM in the church and utilize the passions of men to develop effective ministries around the vision.

Here are a few other suggestions that might help bolster men?s involvement in churches:

? Don?t worry about the numbers, whoever shows up is meant to be there.

? When you get men in church, make sure you have something for them to do.

? This is about God?s work, which is bringing in disciples ? use every tactic at your disposal to accomplish your task.

? Don?t be discouraged when the out-of-the-box ideas receive negative responses from members of the church. Always remember Acts 5:37-39: 'Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.'

Marvin R. Wamble is the district lay leader for the Washington East District.