In this final part of this series (if you missed them, here are part 1 and part 2) I'll offer some tips for engaging men in educational settings, in a quick list form. As with any ministry, there is no one approach or ministry that will work in every setting or with all men. This list hopefully will get you thinking about your own educational ministries—both what you're already doing and what you could easily add.

• Use physical educational methods. Give men opportunities to be active.
• Don’t call your Sunday morning learning opportunities “Sunday school.”
• If something is going to be longer than 60 minutes, consider adding an “intermission” in the middle. Likewise, remember that men tend to have shorter attention spans than women.
• Don’t be afraid of competition.
• Encourage mentoring relationships with youth, young adults, and new Christians.
• Emphasize projects more than programs.

In the first part of this series, I provided some discouraging statistics about the gap in presence and participation between women and men, and I encouraged you to begin thinking about your own Christian education ministries and who you most reach. This week, I'll touch on the theological concepts that might undergird your men's ministries. Obviously this space is limited, so I encourage you to do further reading on your own in the recommended books listed below.

There are not a lot of Christian education books that adequately address gender differences between men and women and how to effectively minister equally to both groups. Those who go looking for information on male spirituality will undoubtedly quickly come across David Murrow's Why Men Hate Going to Church, a book with some interesting and useful research and ideas but a rather simplistic theology about gender. Murrow contends that the decline in men in the church is because the church has been "feminized" and that the best way to get men involved in the church again is to emphasize risk, reward, accomplishment, heroic sacrifice, action, and adventure in its programming (which of course derive from his simplistic understanding of Jesus' life.)

One of the defining characteristics of progressive Christianity is its inclusiveness. Following Jesus’ example, we attempt to remember that God’s love is extended to everyone, regardless of gender, race, age, political affiliation, economic status, sexual orientation, intellectual ability or any other classification that we, as humans, use to describe ourselves. All means all. Finding resources that reinforce this message can sometimes be challenging. (See Questions to ask your curriculum to evaluate how your current curriculum measures up.) Today and tomorrow I will be sharing two excellent resources that are available for use by congregations and Sunday School teachers to encourage acceptance of persons with special needs.

Like many children, I grew up with a masculine image of God. For the first twenty years of my life, I only heard God referred to as Father or He. It is true that God is like a loving and forgiving father. The image of God as a father figure allows us to understand a part of God. Yet God is so much more! God is an incomprehensible mystery; no image can adequately describe all the characteristics of God.

Sunday School is now underway. The flurry of activity to find enough teachers, rooms, curriculum and supplies has calmed down at least a little bit. As Christian educators, it may be tempting to settle back and let the Sunday School teachers take it from here. Of course, you will continue to be available if they come to you with a question, but unless you hear from them, your work here is done…

Yes, it’s tempting, and in the short-term it may be a viable approach. Long-term, however, your job will be much easier if you continue to check in on Sunday School teachers.

One look at the statistics is likely all you'll need to realize we have a significant problem in the church today: there are a lot of absent and disengaged men. According to a study of churchgoers by Gallup, 28% of women are fully engaged in church life, vs. 21% of men. 24% of men are actively disengaged, while just 16% of women are. Andanother study found that 65% of the people in church on Catholic churches are women; 64% in mainline protestant churches; 61% in conservative protestant churches. As one author has noted, men are more often absent from Christian churches than is the case in all of the other major world religions.

In coming weeks, I'll be sharing some other research and a few resources available for engaging men in Christian education, and some ideas that have worked in other congregations. However, this is a topic where there are not a great deal of good resources for spiritually progressive congregations. So, I'd like to invite you to be part of the dialogue and give your feedback on the reasons men are absent or disengaged from churches today, and your experience of what has or has not worked in your own congregation.

Dear Sunday School teachers,

We appreciate the time you take each week to prepare a lesson for our class. Hopefully, some of the things you teach us about God and Jesus and the Bible will stick with us as we grow. What we will definitely remember is having you as our teacher.

We appreciate the “little things” that adults do to make us feel special, such as:

I am a list maker. I make to-do lists, planning lists and check lists. Simply making the list makes me feel productive! And truthfully, lists do help me remember things and keep me on task. At the beginning of a Sunday School year, I wondered what type of checklist would be helpful for Sunday School teachers. I came up with two lists. The first list is probably the one most Sunday School teachers use, either written or mentally. The second list may be even more important.

A recent study on online education found that students do better, on average, when they learn online instead of in face-to-face situations. So does that mean you should ditch your classrooms, small groups, and youth group and just do all of your education online?

Of course not. We all know that there are many, many benefits to face-to-face learning, such as...

• Developing emotional intelligence. We need to physically be with people to better grow in our skills of empathy, listening, and compassionate caring.
• Healthy touch. In our germ-phobic, safety-obsessed, fingertip-friendly world, we simply don't come into physical contact with others very frequently. Our education settings can be places where persons can receive healthy touches.
• A more green setting. Computers, like it or not, are the cause of a LOT ofgreenhouse gasses, environmental destruction, and even war. A church classroom can provide a more environmentally friendly learning experience.
• Being together as the body of Christ. Online, it's easy to associate with only your close friends or those with similar interests and to "see" you only as a person with a profile. In person, we have the opportunity to get to know one another as whole persons of God. 
• Mentorship. While there are many things I can certainly learn online, often I can learn them much faster when someone is there beside me to give feedback, demonstrate techniques, and assist me.
• Spiritual practices. The corporate nature of worship, service, prayer, and other disciplines is hard to replicate online effectively.

Parents in progressive congregations often wonder how (and even whether) to talk about scripture to their children. Some of them may have moved away from the literalistic views they heard or learned in their previous congregations but don't feel confident speaking in a "different voice" yet. Others may wonder about ways to talk about the Bible that are appropriate for children.

Here is a list of talk points I gave to a parenting class once to help us engage in a conversation about reading the Bible at home with children. Feel free to adapt and expand them - turn them into a handout, print them in a newsletter, provide them to teachers, and so on. (Crediting DifferentVoice.com is always appreciated!)