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The key is to think small, but to keep the objectives and end goals in view. Can you identify some like-minded men, with whom you could share the idea of developing a men’s ministry? The first step would be to meet with them and talk about the possibilities, and pray. There is nothing wrong with dreaming big dreams at this stage, but starting small and working up will always be easier and less prone to collapsing through fatigue or indifference.... continue reading
Jon is a young married man with two children who holds down a demanding job while also serving as an elder and youth leader in his local church. On getting promotion a couple of years ago he took the conscious decision to seek to adapt and put in place a model of accountability and mentoring that he had come across in business. It involves meeting with three people, one older, one younger and one contemporary in order to be helped and help others maintain their Christian focus. This is how it works:... continue reading
1. Church leaders need to own the vision and demonstrate enthusiasm and the importance of a ministry to men and work with key men to bring the ministry about. Men will respond to creative leadership.
2. Appoint a key man as leader with a good team committed to the ministry.
3. Some structure must exist that promotes the importance of men engaging in relationships that build Christian growth and spawn gospel outreach to other men based on relational priorities.
4. Make sure that those involved share the objectives (see below). You can ruin the future of a work at the very beginning by involving enthusiastic gifted people who may not share the fundamental aims of what you are trying to do in the ministry.
5. The whole church must recognise the importance of men’s ministry for the well being of the church, the home and the nation. Christian men need to be motivated and equipped for godliness.... continue reading
Three case studies: men's ministry in action
1. A regular evening meeting
"We used to have a men’s breakfast that was set up by a few keen guys in the congregation. It did a bit of supporting and evangelism, and trundled along for a while, but it didn’t really stimulate men into discipleship," said Henry. "But after going to a men's convention, we were stimulated to think afresh about how did it. A few months later we set up a bi-monthly men's meeting in the evening with simple food laid on. We tackled subjects that we thought would engage with where people are at: Work; Personal holiness; War, etc. We made sure that the Bible was opened at each meeting and was the basis for the discussion. It was encouraging to get 40-50 at each, including lots of fringe people and non-Christian men," he said.... continue reading
Men’s ministry, as with any ministry, is about providing the environment in which Christians will grow. Central to this is understanding the Bible and applying its truth by the Holy Spirit to our everyday choices and thinking. The catalyst for change is the gospel taught and applied and there are no short cuts in this process.... continue reading
One London church now runs 3-4 evangelistic dinners for 60 people each year at a local pub. Organiser Ben explains how it started: "We tried an event for a mission at a local pub which had a separate restaurant that we could hire. It went so well that we decided to try and repeat it on a regular basis...... continue reading
In the last post we thought about some of the inadequate reasons for developing men-specific ministries in the local church. We suggested that it should be the Gospel that is the driving force for men's ministry - that it should be Christ centred, not man centred.
That means that the primary goal of men’s ministry should be to understand the gospel of Christ before understanding our own masculinity! Our aim will be to explore what it means that Jesus is Christ our Lord in all areas of our lives as men, before exploring what it means to be male! Our purpose is primarily understanding Jesus as our saving ruler—not understanding the complexities of the Y chromosome.... continue reading
This week on The Good Book Blog we're going to be thinking about Men's Ministry. But first it's worth stopping and thinking: do we actually need specific ministries for men?
The whole trend of western society over the last 50 years has been towards integration of the sexes in every other area of life. We now routinely have co-educational schools, work in companies where men and women work together at all levels, and even the traditional divisions of family life are a matter of negotiation. Shouldn't we view separate ministries for men and women in the same way? A dinosaur relating to an age when social expectations were run on different lines, where women stayed home, and men were the main breadwinner?... continue reading
