Men’s ministry is an integral part of any church congregation. There seems to be an alarming gap in the ages of men in the church pews today. At least this is the case at my church. We need to fill this gap and create relationships with eachother. It seems like my generation goes to church and pushes the “Cruise Control” button on the pew in front of them and then checks the time to see how much is left in the service. I want to try and find out why this happens. We need men to be on fire for God and leading our families and our churches.
It seems like God has put men’s ministry on my heart. I started a “Young Men’s Bible Study” last winter at my house. I tried to keep it focused on leadership at church, our jobs, and at home with our families. I am no pro at leadership at all. We all learned together. Each time we met, something was accomplished that wasn’t even intended for the night’s topic. Some of the men came with issues and went home with an answer or a comfort. It was awesome! We took the summer off due to busy schedules and time conflicts. God has totally been working on my heart and making me long for men’s ministry in the church.
I picked up a book called Why Men Hate Going to Church that I have heard good things about. I guess I am looking for ideas from all the men out there that are reading this blog. Women can have their say as well. Becky is always trying to help me out with ideas and she listens to me rant about my ideas. You know what they say…”Behind every good man is a better woman.”
What do you all think? What have you done in men’s ministry? What did you like to do/want to do? Feel free to leave a comment on this very subject. I want to make this blog entry a resource for other men who want to start a men’s ministry program at their church. I will joing into the replies. Men that are on fire for God are so important in our churches! It fires up our families and friends and coworkers for God! Let’s light that one match together to start a blaze of men on fire for God!
I think one of the most important parts of a men’s ministry is to have accountability in our walk with God with other men. It’s good to follow a pattern of bible study, but I think more important is to follow a path of accountability. Men have a hard time going to the doctor. Men have a hard time confessing their sins. Men have a hard time looking in the mirror and saying, my walk does not resemble Jesus.
When you develop the relationships, then you can say, Hey Brother, you don’t look well. You look depressed. You look like your struggling, let’s stop and pray. As strong of a Christian as I might be, it is horribly tough to walk into a room and say, you know, I struggle with pornography. I need help because I am constantly yelling at my wife. We smile and say “I’m fine”, how are you?
That is my vision for a men’s group. I’m not there yet. Heck, I’m not even to the point where I say, that the group is more important, than a football game. *sigh*, But by God’s grace……
I totally agree with you!!! Bible studies give men the opportunity to walk those paths to accountability by spending time with each other in the Word.
The group should come over to enjoy the game and have good fellowship. Spending time with each other helps build accountability. What fellowship ideas do you have or enjoy?
Saturday clean ups at the church have supprising spiritual attributes. Our church does a men’s breakfast one saturday each month. I think some of the buisness minded do a lunch a month, but lunch and breakfast enviroments don’t lead to much sharing. They mostly are a few good laughs.
I haven’t found the format that always works, but i think like bible study at night, either at the church or someone’s home is probably the best.
Sounds just like my church. I enjoy bible studies.
Risk. Adventure. Purpose. Challenge.
Guys need to be shown these things and how their lives can impact others simply by understanding “who” they are and “whose” they are.
It is a call to men to suit up and show up FOR OTHERS. To have that “band of brothers” that will have your back. To have a “fireteam” that will develop a close knit spiritual fathering and mentoring.
We are not perfect, but we are finding that our men are responding to aggressive leadership when they see that the greatest risk is to not respond to the Holy Spirit and the call each man has.
Peace my brothers
http://www.bandofbrothersomaha.com
I think that the single greatest failure of contemporary Christianity is our failure to make the faith relevent to the needs of men in today’s culture…We are failing them, and they are failing us…I salute you for your courage to try to reach out to those in your world. May your tribe (in Judah, as they say) increase a hundredfold! Surely our Savior — a MAN — will reward you, and all like you, who labor thus for Him…
Hi
We have a real need for men to have faith and to be able to come to a place to get the support that we need as men.
On the other hand i have been working with the men in the church i am in and have been asking them for ideas to have men come to the mens fellowship and the they say wate on the Lord and they will come.
Yes we need to wate for the Lord timeing on the other hand we as men need to get out into the community and get involed and let men know that we are here.
So do you have any ideas to get men in a church to be in the commuity? and yes i have the book why men do go to church, very good book.
thank you for your ideas God bless
Chase,
We do a big “Wild Game Feed” each fall. It is free to everybody. We have door prizes and all sorts of good food to eat. Nothing speaks louder to men then free food!
We have a cool speaker come….etc.
We have anywhere from 175-250 men come.
Anywho… Get the men together to help rake leaves for older folks…even shovel snow(if you have it). Men bond with each other when they work together.
Men’s fellowship is a growing ministry within many churches. The concept of relationship with God and with each other should be taken very seriously and nutured. The very fact that a man would be willing to be accountable to another man is a huge step toward understanding relationship. Men need other men in their lives to give them confirmation and a basis for all they are.
I too am in charge of getting a Men’s ministry off the ground at our church and have spent the first year just trying to get ideas. We have a strong local group called the Bluegrass Men’s Fellowship that is made up of men from several Christian churches in the area. They have been very influential in church planting. But they are primarily made up of older men. We have started with the prayer breakfasts but my challenge has been trying to get the younger men involved.
We have done a couple of community projects that we call Touch of Grace projects where we went and served Christmas supper to the Womens Hope Center and did a spring cleanup at an old folks home, these seem to help draw out some younger guys that like to be more active in their service than just sitting and eating pot luck and listening to a speaker.
But I agree with some others in that you have to find ways to build the comaraderie first before you can get too active in bigger projects. I need more ideas on doing this. I appreciate your blog, it’s the first thing I came across when I googled and I’m glad it was.
I am also the president of my mens fellowship and boy, do I need help. I cannot seem to find a copy of ‘Why Men Hate Going to Church’, so please if any body has a spare, im begging. Thanks in advance. you can send it to Jermaine Walters
Duanvale p.o.
Trelawny
Jamaica W.I.
Jermaine, Here is a link to the book on Amazon. It is called Why Men Hate Going to Church