“God give us men. A time like demands Strong minds, hearts, true faith, and ready hands; Men whom the lust of office does not kill; Men whom the spoils of office cannont buy; Men who possess opions and a will; Men who love honor; men who will not lie.”
Josiah G Holland (1819-1881)
The foundation of a good men’s ministry is to bring men to Christ and then help them by showing, not teaching how to better become like Christ. We need to encourage each other to break down the barriers we have surrounded ourselves in and begin to re- build trusting relationships with other men non-forcibly for support and accountability in order to stop “going it alone” in today’s society. The CEO men?s ministry is committed to a Christ-centered approach to solving our common problems, and we believe that the Gospel message along with Biblical principles have great power, and value in spiritual growth. Men who attend our workshops can feel safe, and will be able to sincerely work on, and experience spiritual progress, and maturity.
Implementing vs. Involvement
To implement an effective disciple-making ministry requires both the support and involvement of the entire church leadership body. At first, support and involvement may seem like synonyms. They are not. Support can be offered from a distance. Involvement requires up close and personal. Mark 3:13-15 says, Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. He appointed twelve-designating them apostles-that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons.
Key idea: Jesus was “with” his disciples. That’s more than support; that’s involvement. So how did it work out? After Jesus returned to heaven, Acts 4:13 tells us how religious leaders responded to the courage of Peter and John: When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. The biblical model for men is to be with them, not merely support an effort to disciple them.
Reflection Questions: Are we making the difference by supporting, and involvement in our ministries?
Incremental Change vs. Quantum Leaps
Singer Jewel spent 15 years on the road, often living in her car, to be discovered overnight. Google, arguably the greatest product launch in history, took four years to go live online. It is a roll of the dice to plan and wait for quantum leaps because they are so unpredictable. Steady plodding, though, always adds up to something after a while.
Reflection Questions: Does your men’s ministry model depend on big hits? What do your answers suggest about your model?
Reflection Questions: What is your church doing to create momentum among men? What is your church doing to capture and sustain that momentum?
Evangelism or Discipleship?
The great evangelist Dwight L. Moody once said, “I would rather wake a slumbering church than a slumbering world.” To help a Christian understand how to walk in the Spirit than help lead a non-Christian to faith. Of course, it’s not either/or. However, when we think of the billions of dollars we spend to get people to “join” our organization (Christianity), let’s balance that out by spending time on what it takes to fully equip them to be good members.
Reflection Questions: Would you rather evangelize a man or disciple a man? What does that tell you about you? What does that tell you about the other kinds of leaders you need on your team?
Pushing Men until they Drop Out
Men often drop out without explanation. One reason is that they feel the pressure to perform because we ask too much of them too soon. Most men feel intimidated by the church and God?s Word. I know growing up as a teenager I used to feel as though there was no way I could ever attain what my pastor was preaching. There was so much law, I tuned out of the rest of the sermon and rarely heard the Gospel message. I praise God for the leadership at St Paul?s Lutheran church in Muskego, WI for knowing how to better balance the law Gospel message and more clearly communicating God?s Word to me.
Evangelism is simply taking a man as far as he wants to go with Jesus. Never push. Take men as far as they want to go instead of as far as they need to go. Discipleship should be like orthodontic braces - a little pressure consistently applied over a long time will eventually change the location of your teeth. In the same way, a man’s habits, and beliefs.
Which brings me to another story of mismanaging God?s Word. We were recently on vacation in Colorado. We met up with a man we while at a breakfast caf?. (Great Pancakes) We started talking and learned that he was married, owned a business and was a Christian. However, he and his wife were un-churched. They had been members for years, and were involved in addition to attending weekly worship services.
The leadership approached this couple and asked them to increase their giving. What they earned as income didn?t match the 10% tithing requirement. This request became a demand. Angry, hurt, and confused this couple left the church, and hasn?t been back since. Even though this man gave away over $100,000.00 in services to the community or people who couldn?t afford to pay their bills. The leadership at the church wasn?t satisfied with his generosity to others, they wanted there fair share.
Reflection Questions: Does your church adjust to where your members are, or do you ask your members to adjust to where the church thinks it is?
While it would take incredible people skill to get an honest answer, consider contacting a man who dropped out without after being hurt by someone from church.
My encouragement is not to give up. Trust has been broken, and needs to re-established. This will take time, and most likely not come overnight. God?s grace, love and mercy will help heal the wounds.
Support and involvement are two important keys to the success of spreading the Gospel. Pastors can not do all the work. Leading the flock and then Holy Spirit empowers them to go out! I was always afraid of mis-handling the Word of God. I have recently learned in a book titled ?God so loved the World? by Lyle Lange how important the balance of Law and Gospel is when delivering a message, and how powerful the ?Means of Grace? is to the strengthen, and preserving our faith in the Triune God. It?s where we can come and taste and see that the Lord is good no matter what our past sins, He loves, forgives, and still welcomes us even when we fall. How sweet is that!
Lets learn together, forgive, build, love, and encourage one another, through God?s Word and Sacraments. Lay-lead ministry a means of an explosive ministry, all you have to is build it.
For assistance in building a lay-lead ministry contact us at Brianandtracey@tds.net
God Bless
Brian Arthur Lampe