My role has grown from facilitator to more of a leadership role for my church’s Men’s Ministry. It’s grown from averaging about ten 1.5 years ago, to now between 14 and 20. Believe it or not, one of the great promotions is the fact that we have a guy who loves to cook and often makes something delicious… Our format is simple:

8-8:20ish fellowship and eating
8:20 – 8:40 prayer, new business (discuss things like: habitat for humanity participation, etc..), and group discussion of meeting topic including scripture
8:40 – 9:15 break into groups of 3-4 to discuss questions
9:15 – 9:30 big group discussion, joys/concerns, any other suggestions, prayer

We’ll consider more outreach (we have 4-8 who attend a church in a bad section of Cincinnati once a month to prepare and serve breakfast to about 300-350 homeless), and other events to encourage bonding/greater participation. I have great support from our Pastor… Thanks again for all the ideas..

It was recommended at the top of this blog. Thanks!!
http://www.mightybuiltministries.com

I started a Men’s dinner group 3 years ago in my home church. I preached twice on men in the church to the congregation using various material mostly from “Why men hate going to church”. The biggest response was from the women who wanted their men involved and looked after. A core group of men were also keen to do something. I held meetings in my home with guys to discuss and bat ideas around. We had age 18 to 82 attend and decided to start slowly with a monthly mens dinner. It is hosted in a different home every month, the guy cooks – even if it is only baked beans and fried eggs on toast! I had to “encourage” the hosts wife to go out for the evening in some instances. Over the 3.5 years we miss only December and January – holiday time here. We have had some 50 men in the group with between 12 and 25 attending each month. We also had a smaller group meeting for informal discussion on knotty topics they suggested, this has fallen away. We do not do bible study as most men belong or can belong to some homegroup or other. We have a short devotion and prayer at the dinner but deliberately keep it as not too overtly “religious” We have some amazing evenings. I have encouraged men not to do testimonies as such, but to introduce themselves in a 5 minute “this is my life” focusing on their origins, their occupation/profession, thier hobbies etc. They will often mention their faith and how they became a christian but very casual. Then they take questions. They love it. We don’t do it every time to keep it fresh. Some nights I tell them nothing is organised – just ask what have they been up to. Men talk about what is on their minds from fast cars, things happening in the church or community, fishing etc – within minutes there is a constant buzz of conversation from naturally forming groups as guys move around talking with each other. We charge $10 a head for food which goes to the host to cover costs. IT is BYO for any drinks and most guys would bring a couple of beers or a bottle of wine which is mostly shared or left behind unfinished. One of the churchs fears was it would become a drinking group. It definitely has not. The guys pride themselves on being both trusted and responsible. We have done some fishing trips and also organized a Christmas Church Family Picnic. In our fourth year I am about to try taking it to the next level from a platform where the guys know each other better and have some basis for trust. Some guys have stopped coming as they see it as frivolous or lackiing in spiritual depth. They stick to their homegroups and bible study groups, or not. The dinner night is also where we get guests and friends of the men brought along. We see at as an entrance oppotunity to both church and faith. Hope this helps. Post your email if you would like to talk further. John