AU

Men's ministry: making a start

 
Tim Thornborough | 15 Jun 2012

The key is to think small, but to keep the objectives and end goals in view. Can you identify some like-minded men, with whom you could share the idea of developing a men’s ministry? The first step would be to meet with them and talk about the possibilities, and pray. There is nothing wrong with dreaming big dreams at this stage, but starting small and working up will always be easier and less prone to collapsing through fatigue or indifference.

The recipe for success is always to plan the content thoroughly—what you are going to study, and the subjects for the men’s meetings. Give the meetings enthusiastic notices during the Sunday services, and print some attractive cards. It is worth working at getting snappy (not cheesy!) titles. Some ideas for start off "entry points" for men’s ministry in a local church - with the agreement of your leadership team:

  1. Gather a group of men to a "Christian book group" studying a chapter a month of this book for example.
  2. Start a prayer triplet for yourself. After six months or so, split up and each of you form another prayer triplet.
  3. Hold a one-off brainstorming evening for men in which you will seek to come to a common mind about what you need to do to help men grow in Christ and equip them for evangelism.
  4. Run an evaluation on what is going on among the men in the church by way of discipling and evangelism. Mission Minded is a great tool to help you think through how your church is doing, and where the gaps might be.
  5. Pray that you might lead this work with passion, integrity and wisdom.

Tim Thornborough

Tim Thornborough is the founder and Publishing Director of The Good Book Company. He is series editor of Explore Bible-reading notes, the author of The Very Best Bible Stories series, and has contributed to many books published by The Good Book Company and others. Tim is married to Kathy and has three adult daughters.