{"id":53,"date":"2009-08-14T10:00:20","date_gmt":"2009-08-14T09:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cvmen.org.uk\/blog\/?p=53"},"modified":"2009-08-14T10:00:20","modified_gmt":"2009-08-14T09:00:20","slug":"real-men-dont-do-church-part-four","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/carls-thoughts\/real-men-dont-do-church-part-four\/","title":{"rendered":"Real Men Don&#039;t Do Church &#8211; Part Four"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Getting men into the Kingdom is a topic in itself.\u00a0 But for now here are a few things we believe as a ministry are crucial if we are to win men for Jesus.\u00a0 Make sure your church:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>has a long term strategy to reach the men outside the church.<\/li>\n<li>recognises that in the UK today it takes a man on average five years to come to Christ (three for women).<\/li>\n<li>realises that men today are miles from the Kingdom and need to hear the Gospel at least 30 times before making a commitment to follow Jesus.<\/li>\n<li>understands that 80% people who come to Christ are brought by a friend.<\/li>\n<li>realises that many men struggle with small talk but will open up in the context of activity.<\/li>\n<li>sets in place a programme to deal with these realities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Perhaps the biggest lessons I have learned about reaching men have been whilst riding my bicycle.\u00a0 A couple of years ago, in an effort to transform my life from being an overweight unfit pastor, I took up cycling.\u00a0 Always being one to go the extra mile I decided to respond to the challenge to cycle from Lands End to John O\u2019 Groats in under 9 days.<\/p>\n<p>After a bit of training, I along with 6 others guys (half of whom weren\u2019t believers) did it.\u00a0 All the guys who weren\u2019t believers ended up in a weekly bible study. The following year we did the same with 16 guys but this time from Calais to Nice over the Alps. The same positive spiritual outcome took place.\u00a0 Some of my most effective conversations about Jesus have taken place while side by side with other men in the context of cycling.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, sometimes the most intimate and personal things have been shared.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because we are side by side, exerting ourselves, struggling though the pain barrier together with all the guards and defences torn down.\u00a0 We also used the cycle ride to raise money for a worthy cause thereby igniting men\u2019s hearts with the chance to do something positive for those less fortunate than themselves (in this case, a work in Africa).\u00a0 The efforts that some went to in order to raise money was extremely humbling.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m not suggesting we all go out and cycle crazy distances but perhaps if we in some way made a small effort to walk and journey with men, rather than expect them to come into our world, we may see some startling breakthroughs.<\/p>\n<p>So in conclusion let\u2019s unashamedly gear some ministry towards the men.<\/p>\n<h2>Some things to consider:<\/h2>\n<h3>For believing men:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Prayer triplets \u2013 weekly if possible; 45 minutes will do; accountability among members<\/li>\n<li>Termly breakfasts \u2013 give them some fellowship time, saturated fat, and teach them some relevant Biblical truth<\/li>\n<li>One on One mentoring by mature men for younger men<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>For Not Yet Believers:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Well organised social\/sports events with no overt Christian content<\/li>\n<li>A termly breakfast with a good speaker who gives his testimony and a clear Christian statement.<\/li>\n<li>\u201cEnquirers\u2019\u2019 courses such as Alpha but occasionally run for men only.\u00a0 We need to understand that as Jesus shines his light into a man\u2019s heart, the issues that he will be struggling with (perhaps gambling, pornography or hidden stress) won\u2019t be discussed in front of Jane but will be talked about with John and Steve.\u00a0 Especially if he has been doing some stuff shoulder to shoulder with them.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>For Both groups:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>How about a semi      retired\/retired man being released to serve as an encourager and pastoral      worker amongst men, carrying out work visits and giving wise counsel.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>That\u2019s far from all and as I have previously said, we have painted broad brush strokes and made inevitable sweeping statements and generalisations.\u00a0 Hopefully however there are some useful thoughts in the above to get us all thinking and see some more men introduced to Jesus.\u00a0 There\u2019s a big job to do and a bit of up hill boulder pushing to engage in but when you consider that according to \u201cevangelicals now\u201d in 2003 that when you lead a man to Jesus, 93% of his family follow to Jesus (as opposed to 3.5% for children or 17% for women) we need to get serious about the way we reach out and minister to men.<\/p>\n<div class=\"linkwithin_hook\" id=\"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/carls-thoughts\/real-men-dont-do-church-part-four\/\"><\/div><script>\n<!-- \/\/LinkWithinCodeStart\nvar linkwithin_site_id = 897245;\nvar linkwithin_div_class = \"linkwithin_hook\";\n\/\/LinkWithinCodeEnd -->\n<\/script>\n<script src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/widget.js\"><\/script>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/\"><img src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.linkwithin.com\/pixel.png?w=750\" alt=\"Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...\" style=\"border: 0\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Getting men into the Kingdom is a topic in itself.\u00a0 But for now here are a few things we believe as a ministry are crucial if we are to win men for Jesus.\u00a0 Make sure your church: has a long term strategy to reach the men outside the church. recognises that in the UK today [&hellip;]<\/p>\n<script>\n<!-- \/\/LinkWithinCodeStart\nvar linkwithin_site_id = 897245;\nvar linkwithin_div_class = \"linkwithin_hook\";\n\/\/LinkWithinCodeEnd -->\n<\/script>\n<script src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/widget.js\"><\/script>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/pixel.png\" alt=\"Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...\" style=\"border: 0\" \/><\/a>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[39,125,182],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7PoLK-R","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9791,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/50plus\/kingdom-man\/","url_meta":{"origin":53,"position":0},"title":"Kingdom Man","date":"8 March 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The kingdom I\u2019m referring to is the Kingdom of God both here on earth and in the heavens above. The Kingdom being God\u2019s domain upheld by Jesus Christ through his church. God\u2019s kingdom also refers to God\u2019s reign on earth and through Jesus, in our hearts. This includes our acceptance\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;50 Plus&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/kingdomBLOG.jpg?fit=610%2C291&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1838,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/carls-thoughts\/93\/","url_meta":{"origin":53,"position":1},"title":"93%","date":"10 October 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"In 2003, Evangelicals Now published some research that suggested that in terms of seeing whole households come to faith, the following could be statistically proven. 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I am sure there will be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;News&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/international-mens-day.png?fit=927%2C839&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3508,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/demolition-squad\/the-historical-jesus\/","url_meta":{"origin":53,"position":3},"title":"The Historical Jesus","date":"14 December 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The great, British philosopher Bertrund Russell once said, \u201cHistorically it is quite doubtful whether Christ ever existed at all, and if He did we do now know anything about Him.\u201d Why I Am Not A Christian Jesus Christ is arguably the most influential man in the whole of human history.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Demolition Squad&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/dem_squad_default_image.png?fit=256%2C256&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2387,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/thoughts-from-the-cvm-team\/amazing-grace\/","url_meta":{"origin":53,"position":4},"title":"Amazing Grace","date":"17 March 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"David Murrow (author of 'Why Men Hate Going To Church') has discovered a church that has taken on the challenge of appealing to men with amazing results. 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