Hello from the Ocean State...
Bro Ken
I am the pastor of a new (two year old) church in the Ocean State, and
we are in the middle of developing a strong and healthy Men's
Ministry. Any advice on the Subject of Developing such a ministry
would be gratefully received, and well appreciated.
Also, please take the time to drop by our church's webpage and sign
our guestbook...
May God bless you richly today!
"Bro" Ken
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Rich Gerberding
Don't know how good of advice I can give, but I can let you know there are
others going through the same thing. I attend a church that's been around
for years, but we are just at the beginning of trying to get the men's
ministry jump started.
We're trying to look at it from 3 different levels. (of course, above and
around all of these must be a prayerful heart and the
knowledge/recognition/acknowledgement that all power and success comes from
above).
1. Outreach (men outside the church)
On a roughly monthly basis we want to have an event of some sort to get
the guys together which will also be an easy time to mention to friends from
work/wherever "Hey, our church is doing this, why don't you stop by/come
along". This will be ball games, fishing trips, campouts, who knows what
else.
One of the reasons for this is the typical "Men's Prayer Breakfast" or
"Men's Bible Study" isn't likely to reach out to men and bring them into the
fold. Most people who would be initially attracted to those areas are
probably already in a church or are ready to switch, and in those cases
church growth would just be "sheep swapping" where you're taking on a person
already in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. In reality, we should be
looking to bring in new Christians, not just attracting people from the next
church down the road.
2. Fellowship (interpersonal relationships within the church)
From an event standpoint the same type events will hit both #1 and #2, but
since we anticipate most events will be primarily men from the church there
will likely be more bonding between the guys who are at most events than
with the visitors. What we want to do is get to know each other deeper than
what is possible from the time before/normal church services or than what is
possible from an occasional dinner out or evening with another family.
I am trying to avoid this "officially" developing into formal
"accountability groups" simply because I think that would cause some guys to
pull back due to not wanting to open up like that. I anticipate that
simply by getting to know others better there will be a natural transparency
that will develop and that groups will form that will take that direction
(I'm really praying about the PK event this year kicking this off) and that
people will form into groups somewhat on their own. I have a couple guys
I'm pretty open with but am not sure I would open up fully with a "OK guys,
we're going to have groups where you will be asked tough questions and open
up completely with the others. WE have ASSIGNED (drawn names, counted off,
etc) the following group to fill this role with you".
3. Spiritual Growth (internal growth of the individual)
This will be many of the typical "church Men's Group" activities, such as
prayer breakfasts, Bible studies, and occasional speakers. Ideally I'd
like to see people get involved in some of the other events, then gravitate
towards these. We also plan on having church/congregation/community
service projects that probably fit into #2 and #3 best.
My fear (perhaps too strong a word, me and a couple others have been praying
about this for a couple months before we're even starting things up with a
breakfast in about an hour - we know we can just pray, set things up, pray
some more, and let God's will move from there) is that all the activities
get segmented by guy's interests and that group A goes to the ball games,
group B goes to the Studies, etc. Before planning anything we sent around
a survey to see what areas of interest people had so we could be sure to
cover something everyone is interested in. Only one or two people mentioned
bowling, but we have a pretty good Christian Center in town that has bowling
/ pool / etc so we'll probably have a night out sometime to make sure people
understand their voice was heard and that they feel part of it. Once they
are involved with one area the fellowship will hopefully kick off some
interest to take part in other activities even if it is not their number one
interest on their own.
The other advice I would give is to make sure that the Men's Ministry does
not become a drain on the guy's time from their families or even worse, and
'escape' where people say "hey I get to go to a ball game and get away here
and even call it spiritual". Before ball games we plan on cooking out or
eating at a restaurant somewhere and have a few devotionals so that the
"reason" we're getting together isn't lost. Also, nothing can be more
beneficial than the wives' strong support. The women in our church (in the
24-40 age group at least) have been getting pretty close with their own
groups over the last year or so and they are our biggest supporters in
getting this started up - to the point of some of them telling their
husbands "you are going to do this" (not to the point of nagging I don't
think). If the group becomes an excuse to attend ball games and there is
no further development of the men as the leaders God wants them to be, I
think that support could wither quickly.
Sorry this is so long, but as I said at the beginning, this has been on my
heart for quite some time and our first event is in about an hour so the
last few days I've really had this on my mind. I hope you get a lot of
responses - I posted a similar question a month or so back and received very
limited feedback so I didn't hold back much here.
I'll be praying for you and your church, and may God bless you ministries
(Men's and otherwise!)
Rich
ps. Let me know your webpage and I'd love to check it out - our church is
discussing a web page of our own and are interested in seeing what others
have done.
Bro Ken <amk...@msn.com> wrote in message
news:u3cd8rg...@corp.supernews.com...
Gene
I came to this ng to check it out and I have read only a
few threads but they are of sincere, thoughtfulness. It is
very encouraging to read posts like these. One thread I
read was about having "Biblical ubity" as an objective of
Promise Keepers. This is what the Lord Jesus wants. The
quandry, in my opinion, for unity is there are tens of
thousands of different beliefs, all of which claim the Truth.
This then really is the cause of "Biblical disunity". There
can only be One Absolute Truth of the Lotd Jesus. If you
don't mind answering I would like to ask the following
questions:
1- Do you believe the Lord Jesus is the Son of God?
If Yes - then
2- Do you believe there can only be One Absolute Truth as taught by Him?
If Yes - Then
3- Do you also believe that the Lord Jesus established
'a church'?
If Yes - then
4- Do you believe the 'church', guided by The Holy Spirit, was to
'teach His Absolute Truth', throughout the world, as He taught
the Apostles?
If Yes - then
5- Do you believe the Lord Jesus would have protected the One Absolute
Truth He taught the Apostles from being lost?
If Yes - Then
6- Where is that One Absolute Truth, taught from the time of the
Lord Jesus and protected by Him, being taught today?
Only if you answered No to any of the above, What and/or who failed?)
Thanking you in advance for your sincere, honest answers
Gene
Me
Yes, we are all followers of Christ....we accept the authority of the Bible,
we accept that Christ established a church of believers, the Holy Spirit,
etc.
That's enough to unite ME with other believers!
But as you go down the road a few steps more and you'll find more
disunity...tongues, immersion, Virgin Mary, etc.
It all depends where you draw the acceptable line. How far you go down the
list and find it acceptable to fellowship and worship with someone who might
differ. After all, even within your own church you have disagreements about
the faith with the guy sitting next to you.
Some will draw the after the six topics you mentioned below...some will draw
the line of dilineation after Tongues...some after immersion, some after
their denomination....some will only accept unity with those who attend the
same church building and same pastor.
Some will never accept that people have different traditions and worship
styles. And some will never accept that others read the same passage and
come to differing conclusions. These are facts of life...
Many pastors feel threatened by the whole thought of unity. After all they
have a vested interest in keeping the walls up! IMHO, quite often, it's
been the pastors that have spread malicious information about other
denominations (much of it wrong)...including PromiseKeepers.
Many pastors are threatened by the whole idea of the PK movement.
Just my $.02
Me
"Gene" <bt09...@bestnetpc.com> wrote in message
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