Men's ministry: what's the driving force?

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.

Of course it will always be helpful to have occasional speakers and studies to clarify the Bible’s understanding of what constitutes real manhood. It will always be important in our one-to-one discipling and our prayer triplets and Bible studies to examine the Bible’s teaching about masculinity, male ‘headship’ etc. But if our local church men’s ministry is dominated by masculinity rather than Christianity it will lack any power to save or to shape our lives in a truly godly way.

This doesn’t for one minute mean we have to be theoretical rather than practical; it does mean that we want to consider the practical implications of the gospel on our lives as men—and not merely the implications of being male. Such a ministry will still be different from normal church ministry, and will still be precious and special for men, because it will consider the impact of the gospel on the real-life issues of men’s lives – as sons, husbands, friends, fathers, at work and in unemployment, on the sports field, in the stands and in the bar.

But the content of our men’s ministry will be more concerned with who Jesus is and what he did than with what we are or do!

It’s common in a church ministry to men to organize a programme of breakfast or evening speakers to speak about their Christian life as a famous sportsman, a brave soldier, a pressured businessman or some other "manly" figurs. Of course it can be hugely helpful, and entertaining, to hear how the gospel that Jesus is Christ our Lord has affected a man’s working life. But too often the attention is drawn from Jesus himself to the men; from Jesus’ person and work to their personality and work of a man who has no power to save and no authority to shape our lives.

Don’t get me wrong: I would be the first to want to hear one of these guys witness to Christ’s impact on their lives. But let’s hear about the impact of the gospel of Christ and not only about winning medals.

The point is this: we need to make Jesus the hero of our ministry to men, and no one else!

Too often, men’s ministry can, in subtle ways, promote an ideal super-man rather than Christ. They promote the man who is successful in balancing the demands on his time – the man who is faithful to wife, children, colleagues, church and even Bible-reading and prayer, instead of Christ! We can become devoted to becoming like this admirable, moral, successful man rather than like our Lord and Saviour! And as soon as our ministry to men loses the gospel concerning Jesus Christ our Lord, it will lose its power for salvation and shaping our lives.

This post is adapted from part of Richard Coekin's chapter from Men of God.