Number
85
The Battle for Men's Souls™
The New Mission of Man in the Mirror
by Patrick Morley
Every day at Man in the Mirror
we are engaged with men who are in a battle for their souls-a battle many
are increasingly aware of since 9-11-2001. They lost their souls by exchanging
the truth of God for a lie. The lie comes in many forms but at its core
is unbelief that says, "Jesus Christ alone is not enough to make
you happy. You need something else."
Undoubtedly, you are also surrounded
by these men. That's why we want to join with you in The Battle For Men's
Souls™, a campaign to engage every man in America with a credible
offer of Christ and the resources to grow. Someone has said, "I would
rather fail in a cause that will ultimately succeed than succeed in a
cause that will ultimately fail." The Battle for Men's Souls™ is just
such a cause. Let's do together what we cannot do alone.
THE NEED
A woman came to work with us
after college. She wanted to work in a ministry to men. Why? She said,
"When I was nine my mother and father separated. Over the next several
years I saw my father a few times. Then, when I was thirteen, they divorced.
After that I never saw my father again." We are in a life and death
battle for the souls of men….
There are 98,000,000 men in
America 18 years of age and older.
Evangelism: Regrettably, 63
million men make no profession of Christ.
Discipleship: Amazingly, 90
million men are not involved in any kind of discipleship. Only 8 million
men are involved in discipleship-only 1 out of every 12 men. Can you imagine
fielding a football team on which only "one" man knows how to
play the game?
Up to 70% of men seek out pornography.
Adultery is out of control.
As many Christians will divorce
as non-Christians (34%, Barna).
4 out of 5 students in evangelical
churches will drop out of church by their senior year in high school (Howard
Hendricks).
Men are addicted to everything
from money to secret thought lives to the comfortable secluded environments
they work so hard to create.
Most men will give the best
years of their lives to ideas that never had any possibility of making
them happy.
Most men have "success
sickness"-the disease of always wanting more, and never being happy
when they get it.
Most men only know enough about
God to be disappointed in Him.
They are tired, restless, confused,
lonely, and empty.
Is it any wonder why America is mired in the moral decay of divorce, adultery,
pornography, abortion, and 100 other problems?
The family is disintegrating.
We've become a nation of spiritual widows and practical orphans. Who will
turn the hearts of fathers toward their children? Who will teach men to
love and honor their wives? Who will awaken men to see that comfort is
not abundance-that bigger barns are not what we need in times like these?
Who will call men to a radical surrender to Christ?
THE OPPORTUNITY
I love the church, so it is
sad to see that the church has not been able to muster the ongoing will
or comprehensive strategy to disciple men. Discipling men is not a top
priority in any denomination based upon their actual allocations of financial
and intellectual resources.
Yet discipling men is our greatest
strategic ministry opportunity. It is an under-managed area that can offer
a greater return on labor and capital allocated to this priority.
Hugh O. MacClellan, one of
America's leading Christian philanthropists, said recently, "The
greatest need we have in America is to reach our men."
The church desperately needs
what discipled men have to offer. Men who love and follow Jesus become
leaders, don't divorce their wives, and don't neglect their children.
They donate more money, volunteer for more service, make a bigger kingdom
impact in the community, and they invite more visitors to the church.
In short, reaching our men is a battle plan for success.
OUR NEW GOAL
We want to help build Christ's
church. Someone has said, "The church has many critics, but no rivals."
We have good reasons to believe there is at least one leader in each of
America's 350,000 churches who is serious about the cause of reaching
men.
Our new goal is over the next
5 years to equip 100,000 church leaders who are actively building a ministry
to men. We believe this will reach 10,000,000 men in five years. With
proper funding we have the organizational capacity to reach these goals.
We presently have relationships with about 12,000 leaders.
History: 2 ½ years ago
Man in the Mirror set a 5 year goal to reach 275,000 men and have an organization
in place that could continue to reach 100,000 men per year. Then we developed
the 1,000,000 Book Giveaway, which has solidified into a new distribution
channel for Christian literature to men. As a result, over these last
2 ½ years we have touched 2,225,000 men, and estimate significant
ministry to 400,000 of those men.
THE CHALLENGE
Why should we do this? Perhaps
you can you identify with this pastor….
I'm pulled in way too many
directions. My time is not my own. I have a steady flow of people from
inside and outside my church who want me to adopt their idea or program.
The thought of adding "one more thing" is overwhelming to me.
I'm already going as fast as I can. My problem is not that I don't work
hard, but that I'm working too hard on things that are not moving us forward.
I have so many urgent things I need to do that I rarely have time to sit
quietly and ponder the direction of our church. I confess that I have
difficulty distinguishing opportunity from distraction. I am too busy
with second things. I haven't been able to implement my vision for the
church. If I could start over I would put men's ministry at the top of
my priority list. I know this is the only long-term solution to the leadership
deficit we have in our church, our families, and our community.
Jesus charged us to be the
church militant, but too often we're asking the church staff to plan our
next bake sale. The army of God is being led by the Pillsbury Doughboy.
It's time to move from a peace-time agenda to a war-time agenda. Will
we lose some friends? Maybe, but do we really need to keep people on board
who say "Peace, peace" while every day we hear heartbreaking
stories of new casualties in this battle for men's souls?
A FOUR POINT BATTLE PLAN
Identify: We want to
know who you are and how we can help you. Are you a pastor or leader whose
calling and passion is to build the kingdom? Are you a soul winner and
a disciple maker? We want to partner with you to reach every man in America
with a credible offer of Jesus Christ and the resources to grow-one man
at a time. We invite you to join The Battle For Men's Souls. Go to www.maninthemirror.org/pastors/bfms.htm
and learn more.
Minister "To": We
want to be your friend. Leadership is lonely, but it doesn't have to be.
Enlist and 3 or 4 times a month we will send you a Leader's Briefing filled
with practical men's ministry ideas, success stories, tips, and personal
encouragement. We pledge ourselves to be your trusted friend and ally
in the long term cause of battling for men's souls.
Equip: We want to further
equip you to evangelize and disciple men. We offer initial and ongoing
training with proven, field-tested methods to evangelize and disciple
your men. We will offer you message boards to get specific questions answered.
Minister "Through":
We want to educate you about the resources you will need to win this war.
We will help you find everything you need to create, capture, and sustain
momentum among your men-from evangelistic tools to small groups curriculum
resources to seminars. We are assembling the finest men's and leadership
resources available in the world today for your one-stop shopping. We
will be able to offer you the single best resources available on any and
every related topic.
This is a war we can win. Let
us not worry about losing those whose highest ambition is to live in a
gated community while the rest of the nation is going to hell. Let us
be like Churchill. Let us sound a clarion call to war. Let us sound a
call to revolution. We're not recruiting men to join some boy's club.
Let's raise an army. Let's march. Let's take back territory. Let's win
the battle and plant the flag of Jesus Christ in men's souls.
Next month's A Look in the
Mirror… Man in the Mirror's Theology and Philosophy of Ministry
APPLICATION
- Are you aware that you are
in a battle for your own soul? How has this battle been affecting you
in the last few weeks?
- How can you be a part of
the Battle for Men's Souls™? Mentally make a list of the men God
has brought into your life so that you could fight for their souls.
What is a right next step with each man? Will you take it?
Business leader,
author, and speaker, Patrick Morley helps men to think more deeply about
their lives, to be reconciled with Christ, and to be equipped for a larger
impact on the world.
©2000. Patrick
M. Morley. All rights reserved. This may be reproduced with proper attribution
for non-commercial purposes.
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