I used to say that, as a card-carrying introvert, if I were ever convicted of a crime and sentenced to solitary confinement, they would be doing me a favor. “Finally, time to think!” I’d joke.
But no more. After almost three weeks of practicing strict “social distancing,” due to the fact that my 89 year old mother-in-law lives with us and is in a high risk coronavirus category, isolation is rapidly growing old.
No more having our adult children and their loved ones over for a family meal. (Instead, we will celebrate a birthday tomorrow online using Zoom.) No more visiting in our neighbors’ homes. No more going to church and Sunday School for worship and fellowship with friends we dearly love. And no more men’s ministry at our church, since all small group meetings at church have been canceled.
Like so many other aspects of American life, the coronavirus has brought men’s ministry to a screeching halt. I’ve already written about how it has severely impacted Iron Sharpens Iron men’s conferences nationwide. Now I’m also seeing churches across the country cancelling their church-based men’s meetings just like mine has.
The caronavirus is definitely impacting parachurch men’s ministries like New Commandment Men’s Ministries. Thankfully, our dedicated and generous donors are still giving. But New Commandment helps churches start new men’s ministries, and few churches are going to start anything new at this point in time. For example, I promote the ministry on Google, and searches on terms like “men’s ministry” and “men’s ministry ideas” are down by at least 60%.
What to do? My church’s men’s ministry is doing two things in response to this crisis.
First, to keep our men connected, it’s starting an online men’s ministry newsletter. This helps keep the men’s ministry front and center in the minds of our men and gives them an outlet.
And second, it’s asking men to volunteer to deliver groceries to the front steps of our seniors who shouldn’t be out and about.
Another possibility is using group meeting software like Zoom for online men’s small groups. My wife’s Bible Study Fellowship small group uses this and it’s working great.
And here’s a suggestion of my own: men, once a day, pick up your cellphone, call someone, and just talk. I know I’m going to do it.
I promise.
This post first appeared in NewCommandment.org.
Since 2003 New Commandment Men’s Ministries has helped hundreds of churches throughout North American and around the world recruit teams of men who permanently adopt their widowed and single parents in their congregations for the purpose of donating two hours of service to them one Saturday morning each month. We accomplish this with a free training site called New Commandment Men’s Ministry
Learn how to mobilize 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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