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
What’s today’s most popular news story on the BBC website? That David Cameron’s daughter, Nancy, was accidently left behind in a pub after a family lunch.
It turns out that David went home in one car, with his bodyguards, while Samantha was in another with the other children. Dave thought their daughter was with Sam. Sam thought she was with Dave.
The mistake was discovered when they got home, at which point a quick phone call established that Nancy was still at the pub, and Dad dashed back to collect her. The readers’ comments left on the website are a mix of “it could happen to anyone – no harm done” and “this is totally shocking – how dare the Prime Minister lecture us about family values when he loses his own daughter”.... 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
Then the king called together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. He went up to the temple of the Lord with the men of Judah, the people of Jerusalem, the priests and the prophets—all the people from the least to the greatest. He read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant, which had been found in the temple of the Lord. The king stood by the pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the Lord—to follow the Lord and keep his commands, regulations and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, thus confirming the words of the covenant written in this book. Then all the people pledged themselves to the covenant.
2 Kings 23 v 1–3
So how familiar are you with the people of the Bible? Do you think you could name all of the people who are mentioned 14 times or more? And do so in 20 minutes? Well, why not give it a go? Just follow this link and see how you do.
One little hint - you might like to revise the Kings of Israel before you start!
