If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:14 (KJV)
Those of us in Men’s Ministry have come to an important conclusion over the past couple years. That conclusion is the fact that we have strayed away from the important things in Men’s Ministry in favor of a program-based ministry. I am not talking about just ABMen NYS but Men’s Ministry in general, regardless of denomination. Recent studies (and some plain old common sense) tells us that men do not follow programs – they follow men. Let me share with you an article that I read recently from Man in the Mirror Ministries:
THE CENTRALITY OF CHRIST Our most important question is not, "How do we do the ministry?" but "Who does the ministry?" (Dick Kaufman's). Christ does the ministry. Christ ministers the gospel through us, Christ overcomes the obstacles, Christ raises the money, Christ sets the agenda, Christ changes life, Christ seeks men's souls, Christ transforms the heart, Christ uses events to reach men, Christ helps men use resources and books, Christ starts the small groups, Christ develops the leaders, Christ builds the team, and Christ builds the church. The direction, agenda, and results of the ministry belong to Christ. Our job is not to produce a particular outcome. Our job is to be faithful-to execute the plan Christ revealed to us. And our plan must be the person of Jesus Christ. We have no other plan. He is our agenda. He is our message.
I think that they hit the nail on the head – I think that we may have forgotten “Who does the ministry?” ABMen National is on the right track with their “Back to Basics” theme for 2006-2007. We need to step back and re-evaluate the way we have been doing the ministry. It is no secret that our churches have a profound lack of men and young men in the pews. It is no secret that the American family is in a disturbing rate of decline. We live in a culture where men don’t know how to be Godly men and boys have no male role model so they grow up not even knowing what it means to be a Godly man.
So what is the answer?
Abmen NYS has started re-evaluating ourselves to react to this trend. A few of the changes that we have started are listed below:
1. We will stop trying to drop programs onto the churches and hope that men’s groups will sprout. From now on we will come alongside the Pastors and help them get their men’s groups growing. We will not be telling them how to organize their men’s group because the pastor has a better idea of his congregations need than we do. We will ask the pastor to select a someone that he thinks has the potential to be a men’s leader – then we will provide that person with resources and training. Developing good leaders is critical to Men’s Ministry.
2. We will become more training oriented. ABMen Board Members will have training in their job function. We will also supply leadership training for the men’s leaders in the churches. The annual men’s gathering will be loaded with educational and relevant workshops so that the men can take something back to their local churches.
3. We need to plant the seeds of manhood for our young men. To this end we will be putting a strong emphasis on bringing young men to the Men’s Gathering. Our young men need time with Godly Men, we need to influence them and mentor them when ever possible.
4. We are starting a new cooperative relationship with Outdoor Ministries. Except for a few examples, men have pretty much deserted our camps. Our camps need our help and it is one more way for us to touch the youth in the name of Christ. We can work with the camps on things such as clean-up, opening, closing, and just being there for the campers. We plan to have Men’s retreats at the camps. These retreats would combine working on the camp grounds with a leadership training conducted by Outdoor Ministries.
5. Communications – We are in the process of updating our contact database. Communications is not a problem that affects just ABMen NYS but it seems as though everyone complains about the lack of good communications. Our hope is that the new database will strengthen our response to disasters and will help us be more efficient when disseminating information.
Please keep ABMen NYS in your prayers as we attempt to make our organization more Christ centered and more relevant to men so that as we train leaders in the churches they will turn around and create new leaders. The paragraph below (again borrowed from Man in the Mirror Ministries) talks about this need to develop leaders:
THE CENTRALITY OF LEADERSHIP
How many leaders do you have in your church? How many do you need? Can you think of any better way to raise them up than discipling men?
Everything boils down to leadership. There is a leadership deficit in the church. Men are not stepping up, they are not motivated, and they don't know how to live for and serve God. Often they have not encountered a faith for which they would be willing to forsake the world. As someone has said, "Until you find a cause worth dying for you will not have a cause worth living for."
Church consultant Carl George explains that every trained group leader results in ten new people in the church. This alone is ample reason to develop a relationship-based ministry to men.
Blessings,
Joe Folckemer
