The Man Church Discipleship Strategy
Does this sound familiar? Your church has thriving children’s, youth ministry, and women’s ministry. But for some reason, the men’s ministry just doesn’t seem to stick. You do a couple of events a year or an event every couple of years. And you don’t know why men don’t show up.
IF THIS HITS CLOSE TO HOME, YOU’RE NOT ALONE.
Many men’s ministries have struggled over the years to gain traction and sustain growth. It’s not that men don’t mean well. It’s that men don’t have a strategy. That’s where The Man Church comes in.
The Man Church Discipleship Strategy is a plan that has been implemented in countless churches with the same results: men have awakened to the calling God has put on their lives. And for maybe the first time, churches have experienced men’s ministry that thrives.
What is The Man Church Discipleship Strategy, and how does it work?
The Man Church Discipleship Strategy is designed to launch men into a recurring discipleship loop. This is accomplished by utilizing quarterly large group gatherings as a funnel for small group Bible study.
Quarterly Large Group Gatherings
When the Lord renewed His covenant with Israel in Exodus 34, He commanded the men of Israel to gather together periodically throughout the year (Ex. 34:23). God knew what we know: to lead, men need to periodically get together for a time of high challenge and high equipping. The Man Church Discipleship Strategy focuses on this same concept.
Churches that utilize the Man Church strategy gather together as a body three to four times a year. These are what you might see as traditional worship services. These gatherings feature corporate worship and a speaker who will challenge men from the Word of God. Up to this point, this may sound familiar to you. Here’s where The Man Church Discipleship Strategy really starts working.
The power of this plan is that your Large Group Gatherings serve as the front door for Small Group Discipleship. In this way, men are plugged into a process that facilitates discipleship year-round.
Small Group Bible Study
In every Man Church large group gathering, an intentional focus is put on the upcoming small group Bible studies. The idea is that the quarterly event becomes the front door for small group discipleship. There is a time set aside in every Man Church gathering where the list of small group Bible studies are pointed out, including when they start and where they will be meeting.
The beauty of The Man Church Discipleship Strategy is that it’s up to you exactly how you structure the small group Bible study that occurs in between your quarterly large group gatherings. But at The Man Church, we have created a variety of curriculum that works specifically for The Man Church Discipleship Strategy.
In our store you’ll find a variety of resources designed specifically for your Men’s Ministry:
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- The Pursuit: A 40-week, video driven Discipleship Curriculum for Men. This curriculum includes 40, 13-15 minute teaching videos with Rick Burgess and a small group Bible study for each. This is the core material for your Man Church Discipleship Strategy.
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- Short Studies. These are the 8, five-week short studies that make up the 40-week curriculum. These can be purchased individually and feature the videos and the leader’s guides.
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- The best-selling How To Be A Man 40-day devotionals. These 40-day devotionals feature daily devotions for men plus the How To Be A Man Challenge, an optional and free interactive small group leader guide that accompanies the devotional experience.
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- We’ve hand selected additional proven men’s ministry and faith-based books and devotions and made them available in our store to make getting all you need simple.
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Man Church Kick-Off Gathering
You pick four quarterly dates for your Large Group Gatherings. These events feature praise and worship music, updates on what is going on with the men’s ministry, and any needs and roles that the men need to fill. You will then have a speaker who will give a challenge message to the men of your church or group. These speakers can come from within the church or invited in from the outside. Additionally, The Man Church can provide you with approved speakers at a fraction of the cost it would require to bring them in on your own.
The first Large Group Gathering of the year should be your kick-off, getting men fired up for starting a new season of discipleship.
In between: Small Group Bible Studies
At the close of each Man Church Large Group Gathering, there is intentional, strategic focus put on signing up for a small group Bible study. This is the heart of The Man Church Discipleship Strategy. Events are important, but discipleship doesn’t happen most effectively in large gatherings. It happens in small group Bible Study.
One of the keys to success for small group Bible studies is to vary your offerings.
For example:
- One study may be offered at 6 pm on Wednesday Nights.
- Another study may be offered on a weekday breakfast before work
- Yet another group may meet at lunchtime on a weekday, etc.
The goal is to offer a variety of times so that a man’s calendar isn’t the excuse for him not participating.
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