Often when I speak and write about the responsibility churches have toward people in their congregations with pressing needs, I get responses like the one I received a few days ago: Herb, don’t forget that many small churches have difficulty keeping the doors open and the pastor fed. Without wisdom […]
Men’s Team Ministry
196 posts
I’ve been saying for many years that America’s churches have abdicated to the federal government their responsibility to provide for the needs of their widows, widowers, and others. Biblically speaking, the church has the responsibility to guarantee the well-being of those in its midst with long term pressing needs. (See, […]
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature […]
Twenty-five years ago, when I was a pastor in Illinois experimenting with men’s team ministry to their widowed and single parents in my church, I realized we were on to something when one of our four teams decided to build their care receiver a Habitat for Humanity home. They got […]
Sometimes, when I approach someone about starting a men’s team ministry to their widowed and single parents in their church, I get the following response: “Oh, my church already has a Stephen Ministry.” Stephen Ministry, for those who haven’t heard of it, is an excellent non-denominational ministry that trains lay […]
Recently I’ve had different men contact me to tell me they are promoting men’s team ministries in multiple churches in their communities. One individual in New Zealand wrote the following: The last weekend in July we are having a breakfast for about 30 Christian guys from 5 churches in the […]
In my last post I wrote about how 3 Christian men in a very small church can have a huge impact on the lives of 161 hypothetical people by “guaranteeing their well-being.” I arrived at the figure of 161 people by making very conservative estimates of the sizes of their […]
I know. It sounds rather “ambitious” to guarantee the well-being of 161 people. How can anyone guarantee the well-being of 161 people? What does it mean to guarantee the well-being of anyone? And what’s with “161 people”? And why “3 Christian men”? It all sounds oddly too specific and waaaaay […]
I have two questions for you. First, what percent of all the adult men in your church are involved in your church’s men’s ministry? Second, what percent of all the adult men in a typical church does it take to provide every widow, widower and single parent in its congregation […]
I like simple things. Maybe it’s because I’m a simple person. Or maybe it’s because I don’t like unnecessary work. Dr. Howard Hendricks, my professor at Dallas Seminary, had a mantra he repeated often, “Don’t work harder. Work smarter.” And my childhood pastor, Dr. J. Vernon McGee, had a more […]