In December of 2024, the New York Post published an article titled, “Young men leaving traditional churches for ‘masculine’ Orthodox Christianity in droves.” The headline alone tells a story, but the deeper issue it exposes is far more serious than a shift in denominational preference.
Young men are leaving soft, emotional, entertainment-driven churches.
But here is the hard truth: many are not finding the answer, they are simply trading one imbalance for another. They are leaving lifeless, effeminate worship for lifeless, masculine ritual. Masculinity, in and of itself, is not the answer.
The Gospel is.
Yet this trend is revealing something that cannot be ignored: there is a real and growing rejection of what can only be described as effeminate worship. While a woman would be expected to interact with preaching, singing, and prayer as a woman, a man should not have those same expectations.
For decades, men in the United States have been steadily emasculated, culturally, socially, and spiritually. Strength has been reframed as toxicity. Leadership has been softened into passivity. Conviction has been replaced with constant emotional validation. And when men walk into many churches today, they are not encountering a refuge from that pressure, they are encountering more of it.
They don’t want more of it. And they shouldn’t have to endure it.
There was a time when the church sang and worshipped with clarity and conviction that could be described as the victorious music of the Philadelphian church. It was Christ-centered. It was bold. It lifted the eyes upward. It declared truth, victory, and authority.
That has largely been replaced.
In its place, much of modern worship resembles the spirit of Laodicea, self-focused, self-deprecating, and often pitiful. The language turns inward. The emphasis shifts from who Christ is to how we feel. Instead of declaring victory, it dwells on weakness without resolution. Instead of exalting the Savior, it circles endlessly around the condition of the broken. Where is the spirit of the overcomer?
Men are not satisfied by this.
And they shouldn’t be.
This is not merely about music style. But make no mistake, music is potentially the clearest indicator of what a church believes about worship. What is sung reveals what is valued. And much of what is sung today reveals a troubling shift.
This worship is, plainly put, emotion driven. This is how the heretical movements of Bethel and Hillsong have come to find a foothold within Bible believing churches that would have never excepted their doctrine on its face.
It prioritizes feeling over truth. It elevates performance over reverence. It chooses comfort over conviction. It asks nothing. It demands nothing. It costs nothing.
And men instinctively reject that.
Because men are not built for passive observation. They are built to engage, to stand, to take responsibility, and to be called upward, not coddled downward.
Biblical worship produces men who fear God instead of man. Men who stand firm instead of folding. Men who lead instead of drift. It builds backbone because it confronts reality, Christ is worthy. He is worthy of our praise, not our self-pity.
Effeminate emotional worship does not appeal to strong men.
And so men leave.
Some drift into traditions that offer structure and seriousness. Others leave church altogether. But the root problem remains the same: what they encountered did not properly reflect Christ.
Now let this be said clearly, this is not a call to chase masculinity as an aesthetic. It is not a call to replace one extreme with another. Dead ritual is no better than emotional excess. Cold formality cannot replace living truth.
The answer is worship that is alive, biblical, Christ-centered. Worship that lifts the eyes off of self and fixes them firmly on the risen Christ. Worship that declares truth without apology. Music that admonishes and teaches fellow believers.
Paul told us of the purposes of our music, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”
Essentially, our music is for the edification of the church, doctrinal teaching, and the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. If that moves us emotionally, then so be it, but emotional manipulation is not the reason a song should take center stage within the church.
About The Author
I agree that the current symptom of the effeminate church is contemporary, man-centered, Jesus-is-my-boyfriend style of music. But this was preceded by the previous century of departing from the King James Bible for modern, doctrinally weak Bible versions. The slope is indeed slippery. Thanks for the article!
Absolutely!
Amen
Thank you
A preacher once commented that the spirit of the Antichrist is a feminine spirit (Jezebel – Rev. 2:3).
Interestingly enough, every saved, born again woman has a “masculine” Spirit residing in them. That’s why Bible believing females have more boldness and character than modern day feminists do.
Thank you for the article!