{"id":10646,"date":"2013-10-16T23:19:29","date_gmt":"2013-10-17T06:19:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sharefaithblog.wpengine.com\/?p=10646"},"modified":"2017-10-11T15:24:34","modified_gmt":"2017-10-11T22:24:34","slug":"start-mens-ministry-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sharefaith.com\/blog\/2013\/10\/start-mens-ministry-church\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Start a Men&#8217;s Ministry in Your Church"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When I was a kid, I remember going to men\u2019s prayer breakfasts at my church. Often, my\u00a0dad would take me and my three brothers. I think these events started around 3am Saturdays. At least that\u2019s how 7am felt on a Saturday morning. We\u2019d all go into a\u00a0room, kneel, then men would start praying aloud.<\/p>\n<p>Even though I was dead-tired early in the morning, I remember being deeply encouraged by these times. Here we were, a group of men or boys &#8211;praying, interceding, pleading, and praising God. Each time I attended that hour of prayer on an early Saturday morning,\u00a0I was so glad that I had gone. Usually, the prayer time was followed by a huge breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, and pancakes.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The potential power of a men\u2019s prayer breakfast is incredible. The same can be said for most men\u2019s ministries. As men meet for accountability, mentorship, prayer, encouragement, and fellowship, lives are changed for the better. Marriages are saved.\u00a0Addictions are shattered. Friendships are forged. Faith is strengthened. Leadership is developed. A force for change in your church, in your community and in the world at large is developed by means of a men\u2019s ministry.<\/p>\n<p>But how do you start? Where do you begin? If your church doesn\u2019t yet have one, here is some advice for launching a men\u2019s ministry.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>1. Start with the right philosophy.<\/strong><br \/>\nEven good endeavors will perish on the platform of good intentions. Before you even print the first flyer or prepare your first barbecue, determine why you want to start a men\u2019s ministry and what you want to accomplish. Only the compass of a solid philosophy will start you off on the right direction. Here are four questions to ask and answer as you consider a men\u2019s ministry.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Why do we want a men\u2019s ministry?<\/li>\n<li>What needs are we trying to meet?<\/li>\n<li>What goals are we trying to accomplish?<\/li>\n<li>What outcomes do we want to see?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This first step \u2014 philosophy \u2014 may sound unnecessary. I mean, come on, let\u2019s buy some bratwursts and get the party started, right? Let\u2019s book the paintball place or purchase some flag football equipment!<\/p>\n<p>These are all great things, but true ministry is founded upon greater things than merely excitement, trends, or good desires. Plan your path with a philosophy, then you will be ready to roll.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>2. Recruit the right volunteers.<\/strong><br \/>\nThe most important move you\u2019ll make after deciding to start a men\u2019s ministry is figuring out who\u2019s going to help with it. Here are three tips:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Choose someone to run it entirely. This article is not the place to discuss the details\u00a0of volunteer team management, or the pros and cons of recruiting volunteer help.\u00a0Instead, the important thing is to appoint someone besides a pastor who can manage the whole program. Oversight by a church staff member is important, but keep the pastor\u2019s involvement confined to oversight, not complete management.\u00a0Shift the whole program to a team of volunteers.<\/li>\n<li>Spread the responsibility widely. Obviously, no single person is going to manage\u00a0the men\u2019s ministry by himself. The more people you have involved in leadership, coordinating, planning, and preparing, the better. The point of recruiting volunteers isn\u2019t just efficiency, excellence, and pulling off a great program. The point of recruiting volunteers is also the impact that the work has upon those volunteers as individuals. When you ask Martin to help you drive to the picnic shelter and fire up the grills, you gain a chance to get to know Martin and to encourage him. You may find out Martin has been wanting to get involved in the ministry in some way, but he didn\u2019t know how. Martin is encouraged now that he is able to minister in some small way. By involving more people in the ministry, you not only achieve efficiency, but you also gain a tool for edification.<\/li>\n<li>Recruit growing Christians, not perfect Christians. As you consider who to choose\u00a0for your men\u2019s ministry leadership, the names of several men will come to mind.\u00a0Likely, these are men who are capable, outspoken, outgoing, and have great leadership abilities. You will want to put them to work in some volunteer ministry capacity, of course. At the same time, choose men who may not have polished leadership skills, or who aren\u2019t as adept at hiding their faults. In other words, they don\u2019t have to have it all together in order to be involved in ministry.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Someone just needs to be growing in Christ. Maybe a guy is struggling with addiction, a difficult marriage, or a rebellious child. This doesn\u2019t disqualify him from helping in ministry. In fact, being part of the ministry and leadership can dramatically change a man for the better.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>3. Do the right stuff.<\/strong><br \/>\nWhen most people think of men\u2019s ministry, their minds immediately go to the stuff \u2014 all the things that a men\u2019s ministry supposedly does. Typically, this revolves around activities that we\u2019re culturally conditioned to think of as \u201cmanly\u201d \u2014 barbecuing, hunting, paintball, flag football, softball, basketball, four-wheeling, hiking, etc. .<\/p>\n<p>Most likely, the issue of what to do is a central feature of planning a men\u2019s ministry. After all, it\u2019s not exactly a men\u2019s ministry unless you\u2019re doing something, right?<\/p>\n<p>So, what are you going to do? This is where your philosophy comes into play. Remember, we asked at the beginning what goals you are trying to accomplish? What need are you trying to meet?<\/p>\n<p>Answering these questions gets you halfway to answering the \u201cWhat do we do?\u201d issue. So, for example, maybe you jotted down notes similar to these while you were thinking about philosophy:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Our goal is to encourage men to become better dads.<\/li>\n<li>Our goal is to teach men to become loving husbands.<\/li>\n<li>Our goal is to challenge men to witness in their workplace.<\/li>\n<li>Our goal is to edify men through regular fellowship.<\/li>\n<li>Our goal is to teach men to be faithful in prayer.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Now that you know what you\u2019re trying to accomplish, you\u2019re well on your way to choosing activities that will facilitate those goals. Don\u2019t simply pull random activities from the bag of things-that-men-typically-do-for-a-men\u2019s-ministry activity. Choose with discretion.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s say your goal is to teach men to be faithful in prayer. Based on this goal, you decide<br \/>\nTo do the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Kick off your men\u2019s ministry with a prayer breakfast.<\/li>\n<li>Coordinate groups of 2-3 men to meet for prayer each week.<\/li>\n<li>Start a small group men\u2019s Bible study on prayer.<\/li>\n<li>Have a men\u2019s camping trip in which you take special time for prayer.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>See how it works? Come up with your goals, and then figure out what to do based on those goals. First things first.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s nothing at all wrong with having men get together for good food and fellowship, paintball included. This kind of fellowship can be encouraging, edifying, and sustaining for the men in your church. Whether or not you have a formal men\u2019s ministry, by all means, just do something with the guys. Keep in mind, however, that the more strategic you are about what you do, the better you will be able to achieve your goals.<\/p>\n<p><strong>4. Maintain a Godward vision.<\/strong><br \/>\nThis final point sounds like jargony Christian-speak. Yeah, yeah, keep a \u201cGodward vision,\u201d &#8211;of course. But what does this actually mean? Let me explain.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s like this with any ministry, you start to focus more on the ministry than you do on the person and goal for which you started the ministry. There are administrative details to tend to, a budget to worry about, an interpersonal relationship strain on the staff, an illness, a crisis, or a major activity to plan. All this ministry stuff, whether mundane or major, can distract us from the main point of the ministry. What are we actually trying to do? Why?<\/p>\n<p>Every once in a while, it helps to step back and realize that it\u2019s all about God. This whole complex, unwieldy, distressing-yet-rewarding ministry is for God\u2019s glory. Nothing brings clarity to a task like a Godward vision. As you plan the camping trip, think \u201cthis is for God\u2019s glory\u201d. As you book the picnic pavilion, think \u201cwe\u2019re doing this because of God.\u201d As you sip coffee at Panera Bread for your accountability meeting, think \u201cOur goal is to magnify God\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>You will find that your men\u2019s ministry is a work in progress. It doesn\u2019t need to be anything fancy or cool, just focus on the basics \u2014 God-focused fellowship and edification. As you start with the right philosophy, recruit volunteers, plan the right stuff, and keep your eyes fixed on the God, you\u2019ll begin to see men grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Savior, Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10579\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sharefaith.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/divider-1.jpg\" alt=\"divider-1\" width=\"480\" height=\"1\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogrouting.sharefaith.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/divider-1.jpg 480w, https:\/\/blogrouting.sharefaith.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/divider-1-150x1.jpg 150w, https:\/\/blogrouting.sharefaith.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/divider-1-300x1.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogrouting.sharefaith.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/divider-1-80x1.jpg 80w, https:\/\/blogrouting.sharefaith.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/divider-1-360x1.jpg 360w, https:\/\/blogrouting.sharefaith.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/divider-1-400x1.jpg 400w, https:\/\/blogrouting.sharefaith.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/divider-1-125x1.jpg 125w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sharefaith.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/danielpic-1.jpg\" alt=\"danielpic-1\" width=\"140\" height=\"134\" \/><em><a href=\"https:\/\/plus.google.com\/101861712127866356231\/\">Daniel Threlfall<\/a>\u00a0has been writing church ministry articles for more ten years. With his background and training (M.A., M.Div.), Daniel is passionate about inspiring pastors and volunteers in their service to the King. Daniel is devoted to his family, nerdy about SEO, and drinks his coffee with no cream and no sugar. Learn more about Daniel at his\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.danielthrelfall.com\/\">blog<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/danielthrelfall\">twitter<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When I was a kid, I remember going to men\u2019s prayer breakfasts at my church. Often, my\u00a0dad would take me and my three brothers. I think these events started around 3am Saturdays. At least that\u2019s how 7am felt on a Saturday morning. We\u2019d all go into a\u00a0room, kneel, then men would start praying aloud. Even [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10647,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[4135,4141,4142],"tags":[1595,1503,1878,1299],"class_list":["post-10646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-church-leadership","category-church-ministry","category-outreach-ministry","tag-challenges-in-ministry","tag-christian-ministry-advice","tag-mens-ministry","tag-ministry-tips"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogrouting.sharefaith.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/MensMinistry_480.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v14.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How to Start a Men&#039;s Ministry in Your Church - Sharefaith Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sharefaithblog.wpengine.com\/2013\/10\/start-mens-ministry-church\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Start a Men&#039;s Ministry in Your Church - Sharefaith Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When I was a kid, I remember going to men\u2019s prayer breakfasts at my church. Often, my\u00a0dad would take me and my three brothers. I think these events started around 3am Saturdays. At least that\u2019s how 7am felt on a Saturday morning. We\u2019d all go into a\u00a0room, kneel, then men would start praying aloud. 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