One of the most important things you need to do when starting your men’s team ministry is promote your orientation well. Creating and capturing interest, enthusiasm, and momentum will ensure a great start. Here are some suggestions on how to go about doing that.
Promote your men’s team ministry with an “elevator speech”
Start by writing a few brief sentences that express exactly what you want to communicate. Sometimes this is called an “elevator speech,” what you would say to someone in an elevator when they ask you what men’s team ministry is. Here’s an example:
“We’re starting a new men’s ministry here at church, it’s called (name of the ministry). Scripture commands us to “serve one another in love.” We’re going to do that by forming men into teams and assign them to widows, widowers and single parents in our congregation. One Saturday morning a month all of the teams will meet at church for an hour of prayer and Bible study. Then the teams will split up and work in the home of their care receiver for two hours. Each month the teams will return to their same care receiver. We’re going to have an orientation meeting on (day and date) at (time) in (room). This is an opportunity for you to learn about the ministry and decide whether you want to be a part of it. There’s a sign up table in the foyer so you can let us know if you’re coming.”
Some things to remember during your promotion
Once you’ve written down your own version, keep a few things in mind. First, don’t read your statement verbatim in front of the congregation. Know it well enough so that you can talk about it naturally both in public and one on one.
Second, remember that you’re recruiting care givers, not care receivers. You can’t recruit care receivers now because you don’t know how many teams you will have. You’ll have to wait until after your orientation meeting to do that.
Third, avoid condescending language when talking about their widowed and single parents in your church. Bad: “Our widows and single moms are in dire circumstances and they desperately need our help.” Good: “We want to show the love of Christ to some very special people in our congregation – our widows and single moms.”
And fourth, you are inviting your men to an orientation meeting. That is, the orientation is an informational meeting where they will learn about the men’s team ministry and then be given a chance to decide if they want to be a part of your men’s team ministry. Simply attending the meeting doesn’t mean have decided beforehand that they are joining the ministry.
Be sure and allow plenty of time for your promotion. Multiple exposure over time produces the best impression and enables your men to think it over and talk about it with other men in the church and with their wife.
Churches have different ways of promoting their ministries
The size of your church dramatically affects how you promote your men’s team ministry. Small churches will almost always make an announcement from the pulpit during the worship service. A pulpit announcement will happen less frequently in midsize churches and almost never in mega churches. The same is true for which staff member takes the lead in promoting the ministry. In small churches, the pastor most likely will. In midsize and mega churches, another staff member probably will. Regardless of the size of your church, utilize its normal promotional system.
That promotional system may include some or all of the following:
- Announcements at existing Men’s ministry meetings and on the men’s ministry webpage
- Email announcements
- Bulletin announcements
- Banners and posters
- Pulpit announcements
- Pastoral letter
- Manned sign-up table in a prominent place
- Last minute email reminders
With proper promotion, it’s normal for churches to see 10% to 30% of all the men in their congregation get involved in their men’s team ministry. Your church may have additional ways to promote meetings and events. Whatever the case, be sure to utilize all of them. This is not a time for timidity.
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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