One way the early church grew was by serving its widows
A primary method for spreading the Gospel in the early church was the way it ministered to widows and others with needs, especially the needs of those within the church. Luke ends his report in Acts 2 of how the early church met the needs of its own by stating this result: “The Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.”
After appointing seven deacons to deal with the gentile widow crisis in Acts 6, Luke makes a similar summary statement: “The word of God kept on spreading; and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith.”
Again, in Titus 3:14, Paul connects ministry to those in need with evangelism: “Let our people learn to engage in good deeds, to meet pressing needs, that they may not be unfruitful.”
It would seem, then, that men’s team ministry to the widowed and single parents would be a natural vehicle for the gospel, and that is in fact what I have observed. One pastor told me that, because of the testimony of one of his teams, a single parent was able to lead her entire family to Christ and they now fill two rows of pews in his church. A layman said his men’s team ministry had led six people to Christ.
Here are five ways to use men’s team ministry as a platform for the gospel.
1. Men’s team ministry tries to model the way God loves us through His Son, Jesus Christ.
Teams of men are permanently assigned to their care receiver. They show up every month for as long as they are needed. Often this lasts for years. They do this because they want to model the love of Christ. So they identify with, commit to and sacrifice for their care receiver the way God, in Christ, has identified with us, committed to us, and sacrificed for us in the Incarnation and redemption. “God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
2. Men’s team ministry is one way to show how we need to be saved from our selfish and sinful ways so that we can serve others.
Everyone has sinned and is in need of forgiveness and salvation from the wrath of God. We are innately selfish and self centered. When we come to Christ, we are saved from the wrath of God and free ourselves from slavery to sin to serve others. “[He] gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.” (Titus 2:14)
3. Men’s team ministry is a free gift.
Widows and single parents do not earn the right to a team, pay their team for their time and labor, or go into debt because of their team. The ministry is completely free for them. In the same way, salvation is a free gift. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is a gift from God; not of works, lest anyone should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8, 9)
4. To have a team of men serve him or her, all a care receiver has to do is accept the offer of a team.
No church ever forces a team on a care receiver if he or she doesn’t want one. Rather, the care receiver has to personally accept the offer. Acceptance is the only requirement for the ministry to begin. In the same way, we have to personally receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our savior by placing our faith and trust in Him. “To the one who does not work, but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned to him as righteousness.” (Romans 4:5)
5. Men’s team ministry is a relational ministry, not just a project ministry.
A care receiver’s team doesn’t just show up to do projects and then leave. Instead, the team seeks to demonstrate the practical reality of what it means to be part of “the family of God.” In the same way, God seeks to establish a personal relationship with us on a day to day basis. “In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.” (Ephesians 1:5, 6)
I pray over and over again that God will spread men’s team ministry throughout the country, that thousands of widowed and single parents will be ministered to, and that there will be incredible beauty in the church. But I also pray that hundreds of thousands, and even millions, of people will come to faith in Christ through the testimony of godly men serving their care receivers.
And by the way, have you personally placed your faith in Christ to save you? You can do that right now.
Have you had an opportunity to share the gospel through your men’s team ministry?
This post originally 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 online training site called “Meeting to Meet Needs.”
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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