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hard work of ministry

The Heavy Lifting of Ministry

Orginally published on Wednesday, February 23, 2005 at 11:31 AM
by Todd Rhoades

Kenny Luck has an interesting article featured at Pastors.com titled "Developing Men Who Take on the Heavy Lifting of the Ministry."  Kenny writes…

The reason men present such a challenge to the church is not because they are unmotivated or unchallenged or lacking opportunities to connect. To use a baseball (U.S.) anaology, the church is simply not throwing most men ?pitches? they can hit.

It's not as easy as it looks to get a mass of men to 'the plate' -- where they can then begin to run the purpose-driven bases. Even if you are successful at getting them to participate in a spiritual growth campaign, it?s another challenge to move them around the bases in a way that resonates deeply with their manhood.

In order to feel confident about the spiritual process and pathway ahead,  there are some definite dos and don?ts when it comes to getting large numbers of men into the discipleship experience. This should be mission-critical in your journey toward health as a church. If you want more competent and reliable leaders who take over the heavy lifting of the ministry, here are some ideas to explore.

Fast Balls of Super High Commitment. We have lost so many opportunities to reach men in the last decade because we have set the bar too high and they give up before they even start. If the only option for a man to connect with other men in the church is a one-year spiritual discipleship program or to go ?on mission,? you?ve lost him. Your average man will say to himself: ?I am not there yet.? Typically, if a man has sin or character issues that he deems incongruent with the ?high commitment? profile, he will stay away.

Curve Balls of Heavy Theology. There is theology -- and then there is theology that ?plays.? Men fear what they don?t know and are constantly measuring their ability to connect to people or situations based on their level of knowledge. If the ?feel? or offerings of your men?s culture are overly theological, most men will assess their Bible knowledge and self-select out of the program. On the other hand, we should take our cue from Luther, who said, ?My temptations are my masters of divinity.?

Off-Speed Emotional Pitches.  Can you name three things which cause emotional discomfort in the average unchurched man? Try these on: singing, socializing, and sharing. Ironically, most men?s events, programs, retreats, or small groups place a high premium on all of these. Men treat emotions like smelly socks: They put them in the back of the drawer or in the hamper. They are not something they cozy up to! So when you seek to build a men?s culture that is attractive, you have to balance the fact that most men are in emotional kindergarten and that their DNA is built to avoid these exercises.

You can read the whole article here at Pastors.com.

What do you think?  How is your church doing in discipleshiping men to do the 'heavy lifting?'  I'd love to hear your comments


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