A timely and good article (the first sentence is especially troubling). I am blessed with multiple good friends and can attest to the truth of this article. If you are a man reading this and are lonely, it’s time for you to reconsider your thinking about male friendship. For those with ears to hear, listen and understand.

“No one really knows me.” Two-thirds of American men aged 18–23 agreed with this statement in a 2023 report titled “State of American Men.”

The male loneliness epidemic has been written about almost ad nauseam, and for good reason: “The mortality impact of being socially disconnected is similar to that caused by smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day,” wrote the U.S. surgeon general in 2023.

Is the church helping or hurting this trend? Samuel James recently observed that evangelical women’s groups tend to be described with words like “encouragement” and “fellowship” while men’s groups are often described with words like “accountability” and “sharpening.” The implicit assumption: Women need friends, but men need monitoring and correction. Sounds fun.

Is male connection only a means or an end? Is friendship for men merely instrumental? Or is it something good to be enjoyed in and of itself?

Read it all.