The goal
The goal in men’s team ministry is to practice the love of Christ as it applies to people with long term needs in our churches – such as their widowed and single parents – so that our churches can say, “There is not a needy person among us.”
We’ve defined the practice of the love of Christ as identifying with our care receivers so that they feel their needs are understood, committing to our care receivers so that they know their church won’t abandon them, and sacrificing for our care receivers so that they are assured their pressing needs will be met.
Three questions to ask your care receivers
So the first thing to do as you evaluate your men’s team ministry is to simply ask your care receivers these three questions:
- Has your service team come to know you well and understand your problems?
- Has your service team demonstrated commitment to you by faithfully and consistently serving you?
- Has your service team helped you meet all outstanding pressing needs you may have?
Are all your potential care receivers being served?
Another question to ask when you evaluate your men’s team ministry is if all of the potential care receivers in your church have a team. Of course, this will be an ongoing issue. There will be times when all potential care receivers have a team and then, suddenly, another need arises in the church. My church has gone from zero to two or three or more people on the wait list more than once.
Are there any broader pressing needs in the church going unmet?
Other issues relate to the broader pressing needs of the church. Is your church successfully addressing the emergency pressing needs and the catastrophic long term needs I discussed in the initial training. Is your church distinguishing between true emergency pressing needs and non-pressing needs? Does your church have a plan for meeting these types of emergency situations? And is your church spiritually prepared when a genuine catastrophic long term need besets someone in your congregation?
Conclusion: If your church is serving all of its potential care receivers, and if those care receivers answer yes to all three of the questions above (And I have never met a care receiver who didn’t.), and if your church is also addressing its emergency and catastrophic needs well, then I believe your church can say, “There is no needy person among us.” A tall order? Absolutely. A lot of work? You bet. But then good works are, after all, work. And what an amazing achievement for any church’s men’s ministry!
This post first appeared in NewCommandment.org.
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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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