This post is part of a series of posts that have been incorporated into Part 1 of my online article, “A Comprehensive Church-Based Ministry to Men.”
My pastoral role for twenty years naturally led to tunnel vision: my focus was constantly on my individual congregation.
But transitioning to a national men’s ministry for the last nineteen years has meant exposure to hundreds of churches all over North America and around the world, resulting in the opportunity to observe and study their congregational lives. Some of these churches are effectively reaching and utilizing their men. Others are not. The ones that do share several men-reaching and men-utilizing qualities.
But before I discuss what these qualities are, I’m going to explain what it means to reach men and utilize men. And finally, what it means to reach and utilize all of the men in your church.
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What it means to reach men in your church.
God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:6
Every Christian who reads 2 Corinthians 4:6 knows exactly what the Apostle Paul is talking about: that aha moment when God reached down and turned the light switch on in our souls; when we suddenly realized that God does indeed objectively exist, that he is personal and holy, that we have been trying to ignore him and even actively opposing him and disobeying him, and that we are sinners in need of salvation from His holy wrath.
And then, just as suddenly, the radiant face of Jesus Christ came into view. We recognized Jesus as God’s Son, that He died for us on the cross because of our sin and for our sin, and that now he lives in glory at God’s right hand.
And so we looked to Jesus Christ in faith, confessing that we are sinners in need of forgiveness, and trusting in him to provide that forgiveness.
We didn’t know all the implications of what this experience meant at the time of our salvation. But we did know that everything had changed. Our entire world had been turned upside down and our lives would never be the same.
This salvation experience, the moment when God “caused his light to shine in our hearts,” is what I mean by “reaching” men. Reaching men is helping men come into a right relationship with the living and true God through faith in his Son, and then helping them live out all of the implications of their faith.
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What it means to utilize men in your church.
We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10
By “utilizing” men in your church, I mean helping your men discover the good works that God saved your men to do.
The topic of good works is often ignored in men’s ministry. But the biblical commands to do good works are numerous, explicit, and well distributed throughout the New Testament. To help us get a grasp of the emphasis in the Bible on good works, below are eleven essential verses on this topic.
1. The foundational passage for good works in the New Testament is found in the Old Testament.
Isaiah 1:17 – Learn to do right (lit. “Learn to do good”); seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.
2. Jesus commanded us to do good works in public.
Matthew 5:16 –In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
3. Salvation is apart from good works.
Ephesians 2:8-9 – It is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; not by works, so that no one can boast.
4. But good works are the goal of salvation.
Ephesians 2:10 – For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
5. Good works are also a goal of Christian fellowship.
Hebrews 10:24, 25 – Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
6. Good works are something to be passionate about.
Titus 2:14 – Who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.
7. Good works bring glory to God in a pagan world.
1 Peter 2:12 – Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
8. We are to be rich in good works.
1 Timothy 6:18 – Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.
9. We are to be an example of good works.
Titus 2:7 – In everything set them an example by doing what is good.
10. One purpose of good works is to provide for urgent (pressing) needs.
Titus 3:14 – Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order to provide for urgent needs and not live unproductive lives.
11. Our good works determine how we as believers will spend eternity in heaven.
1 Corinthians 3:11-15 – No one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved even though only as one escaping through the flames.
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What it means to reach and utilize all of the men in your church.
Every pastor knows that just because men attend their church on a regular basis doesn’t mean they are growing into mature Christians. It doesn’t even mean they are saved.
Thus, if we are to reach and utilize every man in our church, we must reach them as they truly are, that is, in their true spiritual state.
Therefore, reaching and utilizing all the men in your church means that you are communicating by the power of the Holy Spirit to all of the unsaved men in your church, to all of the immature Christian men in your church, to all of the growing Christian men in your church, and to all of the mature Christian men in your church the deep spiritual, emotional, intellectual, and practical truths about God and his Son, Jesus Christ, that we find in the Bible. And then showing your men how they can be saved and how to practice the implications of their salvation through good works in their church, home, and community.
Clearly, reaching and utilizing all the men in your church is a tall order. But it can be done, and it has been done by churches many times.
In my next post I will discuss thirteen common characteristics of churches that have done a good job in reaching and utilizing all of their men.
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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