Basic Assumptions in Men’s Team Ministry to Widows and Single Moms

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If you’d like a quick picture of what New Commandment Men’s Ministries is all about, just take a look at our basic assumptions. Here they are in a nutshell.

• A primary goal of any men’s ministry should be to train men in the love of Christ. “The goal of our instruction is love” Paul states in 1 Timothy 1:5. And Jesus’ command to his disciples in John 13:34-35 was that they should “love each other as I have loved you.” Every men’s ministry should be producing men who have a deep spiritual, intellectual and experiential knowledge of the love of Christ that results in consistent application in every area of their life.
• The love of Christ has application beyond just marriage and family. Our society equates love with sex. If we Christians only apply the love of Christ to marriage and family, as the church so often does, it never really gets beyond that definition of love. But by showing men how to apply the love of Christ to the widowed and single moms, they learn that Christ’s love is much more than marriage, sex and procreation; that it means any woman – or man – of any age, status and appearance is worthy of being deeply and profoundly loved.
• The immediate beneficiaries of the love of Christ should be the neediest in our churches. The Bible insists over and over again that the love of Christ has to have practical application in the real world and that the primary people who should benefit from it are fellow believers who have great need. John states in 1 John 3:17, “But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love dwell in him.”
• When we show the love of Christ to the neediest in our churches the way we should, eventually these churches will be able to say, “There is not a needy person among us.” One of the first accomplishments of the early church was the eradication of need within its midst (Acts 4:34). And when it realized it was ignoring some of its own widows, it took immediate action to remedy the situation (Acts 6:1-7)
• Practicing the love of Christ in this way is one of the most effective testimonies any church can have in its community. In the two examples I just cited, the result was that the church expanded rapidly. This is how Luke describes it in Acts 6:7: “So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.” Conversely, Paul warns Titus in Titus 3:14, “Let our people learn to engage in good works, to meet pressing needs, that they may not be unfruitful” (i.e., If they don’t meet the pressing needs in their midst, they will lack new converts).

What is at stake is the efficacy of the love of Christ. Is it real? Is it possible? Does it matter? When God’s people take appropriate action to meet the pressing needs in their congregations, the answer to all three of these questions is a resounding “Yes.”

This post first appeared in NewCommandment.org.

Learn how to use your men’s ministry to meet every pressing need in your church here.

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Learn how to form teams of men for every widow, single mom

and fatherless child in your church at NewCommandment.org.

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