SLUGS & SNAILS & PUPPY DOGS’ TAILS
Helping boys connect with God
By Carolyn Edwards. IVP. 192 pages. £8.99
ISBN 978 1 844 745 234
One of the really important questions facing the church in our generation is ‘Where are the men?’ Why is it that in almost every age group in most local churches, the women outnumber the men?
Carolyn Edwards, an experienced church children’s worker and lecturer in children and family work, has noted that this happens even in youth work: boys either present ‘a problem’ by their attendance, or are turned off, perhaps never to return. She wonders whether this could be because church and Christian children’s meetings have tended to present as somewhat pink and girlie. In particular, she questions whether standard activities at such gatherings unconsciously, and for all sorts of reasons, lean towards the kind of things which appeal to girls. Colouring, for example, is a quiet activity requiring little in the way of space, manpower or resources. But, as a mother of three boys, I myself recall how the lads felt about that. And talking of manpower — too often it is womanpower. There are, says Mrs. Edwards, too few males involved in children’s work. That absence carries a message.
