5: Disciplines

The Journey to Biblical Manhood is a framework to disciple every man in your church. It is based on the principles of the No Man Left Behind Model, Man in the Mirror’s proven leadership training.

Become a Spiritually Disciplined Man

This challenge teaches men the biblical foundations of prayer, worship, fasting, meditation, solitude, and more. Men will learn how the disciplines are a means of grace to foster growth and how to incorporate them into their daily life.

Before you get started, take a moment to print this Summary Planning Sheet. You will complete it as you plan with your team. Be sure to go through all five strides of the challenge as you embark on this leg of the Journey. First up, plan for the challenge!

The foundation you establish during this stride will greatly impact the success of the challenge. Plan to devote two to eight weeks to this stride, depending on the systems and team you already have in place.

  1. The Plan for the Challenge stride is a great time to link arms with other ministry leaders in the church and engage them in the process. Keep them updated about what you hope to accomplish in the lives of the men and let them know how they can be a part of The Journey. Also, think of ways that you and the men can serve them in their ministries! Click here to download email templates to use with other leaders.
  2. It’s a good idea to review Process One in the Helpful Tools section before you begin; this will help you assess your leadership team and recruit new leaders for the challenge, as needed.
  3. Once your team is in place, click on the Deliver Content stride (Stride 4) and review the recommended Create event and Capture and Sustain resources. These suggestions make up the “Straightforward Plan” option for this challenge. If you’d like more flexibility, view the “Flexible Plan” option (found under Deliver Content) to choose your own event and resources.
  4. Once you’ve decided between the Straightforward Plan and Flexible Plan, download and print both the step-by-step instructions and Project Plan Checklist for Challenge 5. The Project Plan Checklist is a summary of the instructions to keep you on track; the timelines are a guideline and can be expanded or compressed as needed.

These instructions and checklists come from the JBM Leader’s Notebook.

Straightforward Plan:

View/download the Step-by-Step Instructions for Challenge 5.

View/download the Project Plan Checklist for Challenge 5.

 

Flexible Plan:

View/download the Step-by-Step Instructions for Challenge 5.

View/download the Project Plan Checklist for Challenge 5.

It’s important to cast vision for all the men in your church and help them see that where you’re headed is bigger than just an event or a group. We provide two tools to help you do this: 1) Faith & Life Objectives Cards and 2) Assessment forms.

(You can also show the Challenge 5 promo video to generate interest and cast vision, once available.)

Faith & Life Objectives CardsChallenge 5 card

The Faith & Life Objectives represent what you hope God will accomplish in the lives of the men through the current challenge. These are printed on a card that should be distributed to every man in the church BEFORE the challenge begins.

The card includes three objectives: one about what a man should know (Head), another about what he should love and believe (Heart), and another about what he should do (Hands).

Follow these steps before you begin the challenge:

  1. Download the editable card here and use as-is or edit as needed (template is in Microsoft Word).
  2. Have your pastor approve the Faith & Life Objectives.
  3. If you don’t want to make edits, download a color, print-ready version here; just send the file to an online printer (such as GotPrint or VistaPrint) for inexpensive printing!* (Note: You may also order these from Man in the Mirror.)
  4. Print them on business cards, whether you’re ordering from a printer or printing your own. If you’re doing them yourself from the Microsoft Word file, use the Avery template for business cards, 10 per sheet (Avery business card paper can be purchased from Office Depot, Staples, or a similar supply store).
  5. Give a card to EVERY man in your church. (You may want to distribute and collect the Assessment form prior to this.)

*Using the alternative brand, The Revolution? Click here to download a print-ready card for Challenge 5.

Assessment Forms

Challenge 5 AssessmentThe purpose of the Assessment form is to help both the leaders and the men of the church determine where they are spiritually at the start and end of the challenge. Therefore, there are two versions of the form–a pre-challenge form and a post-challenge form.

Follow these steps before you begin the challenge:

  1. Download the pre-challenge version here and use as-is or feel free to edit (template is in Microsoft Word). The form should reflect the Faith & Life Objectives.
  2. Have your pastor approve the pre-challenge Assessment form.
  3. Print them on whatever paper you prefer–two to a page–and then cut.
  4. Be sure to give a pre-challenge Assessment form to EVERY man in your church. Distribute these before the challenge begins and give guys multiple ways to easily return them.
  5. Make a simple report of the results and share with the leadership team.

Follow these steps near the end of the challenge:

  1. Download the post-challenge version here and use as-is or feel free to edit (template is in Microsoft Word). The form should closely correspond with the pre-challenge assessment.
  2. At the end of Stride 4 (Deliver content), distribute the post-challenge Assessment forms to EVERY man in the church. Again, give guys multiple ways to easily return them.
  3. Make a simple report of the results; if possible, keep the results of the men who participated in the men’s-only portions of the challenge separate from those who did not. Share with your leadership team.

No matter how well you promote or plan, there will always be a percentage of men that will not come to an event or join a small group or class. It’s critical that your team helps them participate in the challenge through whatever ways they are already engaged at your church.

Below are some ideas for including men on the fringe, as well as men who may be involved in other activities at the church besides the men’s-only opportunities.

Choose one or two of the ideas below!

Disciple Every Man

  • Give guys who aren’t participating in group studies the chance to be a part of Challenge 5 with individual study. Post a link on the church website or email a link to the online videos on Disciplines (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3) from the Journey to Biblical Manhood series. The study can be watched for FREE by streaming or downloading from the website, and comes with downloadable handouts. (Click here to download a template email in Word to use with your men when sending out a video link. Modify the information in red to suit your needs and then copy and paste it into your email.)
  • Email the men a series (or one email with them all) of short, three-to four-minute audio messages from Donald Whitney’s Simplify Your Spiritual Life, covering topics such as prayer and reading the Word.
  • Help men think outside the box regarding the purpose and nature of the disciplines. Print out or email the article(s) “Spiritual Disciplines: Experiencing God in Creation” or “The Lost Art of Sabbath
    to all the men in the church. (Click here to download a template email in Word to use with your men when sending out an article or excerpt. Modify the information in red to suit your needs and then copy and paste it into your email.)
  • Challenge guys to start reading the Bible daily—whether it be for five minutes or 45 minutes. Suggest they do a daily devotional right from their smart phone, using an app such as the YouVersion Bible App.
  • Help your men think through how they best connect with God. Send them to the blog post, “The 6 Worship Languages,” or print it as a handout.

Provide a way for men to put what they’re learning into action. Below are some ideas to involve all the men in the church in the challenge in a real, tangible way–to get them using their “hands.”

We recommend doing an activity during the Sustain Change portion of the challenge (the longer, more in-depth study near the end of the challenge).

Choose one or two of the ideas below!

Use Your “Hands”

  • Invite all the men in church to a Man & Creation morning one Saturday. This could be anything from fishing to hiking to rafting! The objective is to get guys into relationship with each other and connected to their Creator.
  • Print bookmarks for each man to help them with Scripture meditation. The bookmarks can be downloaded for free from The Center for Biblical Spirituality.
  • At a weekend worship service, invite every adult and youth to start a prayer journal; consider making a template downloadable from the church website. You might also send out a link to (or show a clip of) the video Jesus Explains How Prayer Works from the series Hanging Out With Jesus.
  • Host a special evening of worship for the whole church. Consider incorporating non-music types of worship as well as music, such as the reading of Psalms, a live painting or sculpting, a “human video” acting out some aspect of the Gospel, or other creative form of worship. Get the youth involved as well!

The engine that drives the content portion of each challenge is the Create-Capture-Sustain engine. We want to help you deliver content through three strategic steps:

  1. Create-Capture-SustainCreate Value and build excitement among your men through a kick-off event.
  2. Capture the Momentum you create by providing men with the right next step BEFORE they leave the event. The suggested next step is a short-term study, making it easy for men to commit–even those who have never been in a small group. It is designed to be done in a follow-up group setting.
  3. Sustain Change among men over time by getting them into relationship with other men and into the regular study of God’s Word. To do this, the suggested resource for this step is a deeper, longer study than the Capture step.

Note: For this challenge, we recommend offering two types of groups for the group studies: one on fathering and grandfathering and another on mentoring and being mentored.

Recommended Resources

Create Value

For this challenge, we recommend the Rock Solid Men event from Man in the Mirror (six and a half-hour event, 1 or 2-day format).

Although most of the planning is done for you, you’ll need to decide:

  • whether to use a Man in the Mirror presenter or present it yourself.*
  • whether to do it on a Friday night/Saturday morning or all day Saturday.

(Note for paid subscribers of JBM: you receive 10% off the event scheduling fee.)

Capture Momentum

For this challenge, we recommend the Rock Solid Men: Strong Foundations workbook from Man in the Mirror (six-week study, included with event).

Sustain Change

For this challenge, we recommend A Man’s Guide to the Spiritual Disciplines book by Patrick Morley, Zondervan (12 chapters).

Looking for alternative resources and event ideas?

Click here to view the Flexible Plan for this challenge.

One of the best aspects of the Journey is the celebration that happens at the end of each challenge, as men experience transformation and new relationships! For Challenge 5, we recommend having a cookout and/or bonfire, open to the men of the church. Refer to your step-by-step instructions (found under the Plan stride) for details about planning  your gathering.

Be sure to rally your leadership team at this integral time and thank them for all the work they’ve done and the impact they’ve made. Share the results of the post-Challenge assessment with them, as well as your pastor.

Make it a priority to include testimonies. Ask your Sustain group leaders to suggest a few men to share who have particularly benefited from the challenge. In order to emphasize the all-inclusive nature of the challenge, ask at least one man to share who was impacted but didn’t participate in the men’s-only groups. Testimony can be shared directly by the person, read by a leader from an email/letter, or via video.

Consider giving out something to commemorate the completion of Challenge 5. On many of the options below, you can print the logo and challenge name, a slogan that you’ve adopted, etc. Note that some of them come with minimum quantity requirements, so if you’re a small church, feel free to search other sites for similar products.

Here are a few celebration “hardware” ideas:

  • Order Wristbands for your men; we like to use the debossed, adult-sized ones for some of our Man in the Mirror events. You can get whatever you want on the wristbands themselves; you might choose the challenge name (“Manhood”), the program name and challenge (“The Journey: Challenge 1”), a ministry slogan (“Together on the Journey”), etc.
  • Give each man a token, customized with the logo. You might have them collect one for every challenge they complete! Choose wooden or plastic tokens. (Metal ones are also available on several other websites, but most have minimum quantities greater than 2000.)
  • Give every man at the gathering a dog tag with your ministry name and the challenge completed.
  • Award each man with a bookmark, printed either with a Scripture that encompasses the completed challenge or the Faith & Life Objectives.
  • Magnets are another option and an easy way to remind guys of what God has accomplished in their lives after the challenge ends. Print the logo and challenge name or the Faith & Life Objectives,
  • Another idea for a giveaway is a window decal; this also helps your men get the word out to others in the community who might want to join your men on the next challenge. Upload one of our logos or create your own! This idea requires a larger budget so you may want to only use these for your first challenge as a way to promote the Journey–inside and outside the church; quantity discounts are available.

Click here to view a sample Celebration agenda (sample is for Challenge 3).

We want to join with you in celebrating what God is doing in your ministry! Email us a group picture from your Celebration gathering at jbm@maninthemirror.org.

Is the Journey to Biblical Manhood (JBM) another book study, curriculum, or event?

Although JBM incorporates small group resources and events, it is not merely a curriculum or an activity; it is a flexible, sustainable, and intentional plan for a church to reach and disciple ALL its men over time. We’ll suggest heart-oriented resources and activities for the challenges to help your men go deeper with Christ and each other, but the ultimate implementation will be up to you.

JBM includes downloadable resources, detailed instructions and timelines, assessments for your men, promotional plans and videos, planning tools, graphics, and more.

How do I know if my church is ready to implement the Journey?

We recommend that three components be in place before you implement the Journey in order to be most effective: 1) a committed leadership team, 2) a vision to reach ALL the men in the church, and 3) the support of the lead pastor.

Who should be using this website?

Although JBM is for all the men in your church, this website is for the leaders responsible for planning and implementing the Journey. Only your leadership team should access this subscription-based site.

Should each of my leaders subscribe?

You may set up the subscription to be shared by the leadership team. In this case, consider using a generic Username and Password, as well as email address. Otherwise, each leader is welcome to subscribe separately.

What does the Journey involve?

The Journey is made up of 12 Challenges for your men designed to provide you with a long-term discipleship plan. There are five strides to every challenge: 1) Plan for the challenge, 2) Cast the vision, 3) Include ALL your men, 4) Deliver content, and 5) Celebrate.

Our leaders are busy. Will you help us know exactly what to do?

Yes! We provide detailed checklists, timelines, and planning tools for every challenge. We do recommend having a leadership team working on each challenge, and we provide tools to help you recruit leaders; JBM is not intended to be a one-man job. You may want to give leaders the opportunity to gracefully take a break now and then and we’ll show you how to recruit new leaders to help with whatever challenge you’re doing. Many of the tasks can be given to any committed man who has a passion to reach others; therefore, this is a great opportunity to raise up and build new, potential leaders in your church!

Our leadership training, based on the No Man Left Behind Model, is at the heart of everything we do in the Journey to Biblical Manhood. Maximize the effectiveness of JBM by taking your leaders through the No Man Left Behind training.

How long does it take to complete a challenge?

The duration of each challenge is up to you and will be determined by which resources you choose to study, how long you need for planning, how long you choose to promote your kick-off event, etc. Most churches will do one or two challenges per year.

Can I choose any challenge or is there a specific progression?

You are free to choose which challenges you do and in what order you do them. They are all self-contained so it’s completely up to you. We do suggest starting with Challenge 1: Manhood and Challenge 2: The Gospel.

Is JBM just for the men’s ministry?

No! In fact, we don’t want you to use the term “men’s ministry” at all. Every man is a part of your ministry to men; therefore we’ll show you how to engage every man in your church in the challenge. Certain challenges may also involve women and/or children, such as Challenge 3: Relationships and Challenge 4: Fathering.

I know that small groups are a big part of JBM, but we have trouble getting men in groups. Will this help?

Absolutely! We’ll show you how we’ve consistently recruited over 70% of more than 110,000 men at our events to form small groups using one simple idea! We walk you through it in your planning tools.

What about men who don’t join small groups?

You’ll cast the vision for the challenge church-wide with the tools we’ll provide. We’ll help you involve other ministries and groups in the church, and invite every man to be a part of what the church is doing. Still, we know that no matter how well you promote, build excitement, or cast vision among your men, there will always be those who won’t attend an event or join a small group. Therefore, for each challenge, we show you how to include ALL your men—even those on the fringe. Nearly all of these discipleship ideas are free to you and downloadable. We also show you how to help men put what they’re learning into action, and these activities should be open to all the men in the church.

Can I have flexibility in what events and resources we use?

We recommend a primary event and resources to use for each challenge. However, flexibility is built in every step of the way so you can customize each challenge to suit your needs. Beyond those primary recommendations, we offer multiple suggestions for resources and events from a variety of ministries and you will choose what you use. And no matter what you choose, we provide a list of free, downloadable resources to engage men outside of the men’s-only discipleship opportunities.

What is the cost for JBM?

The only costs for JBM itself are the annual subscription (one per church), which gives you access to all the downloadable components and instructions, and the JBM Leader’s Notebook (recommended, but downloadable as well). The annual subscription amount is based on church size:

Large church: $79 (more than 750 attending worship)
Medium church: $59 (more than 250 attending worship)
Small church: $29 (less than 250 attending worship)

There is also a free, monthly subscription open for churches with very limited resources. The total cost for each challenge is completely dependent on your resource and event choices, as well as the number of men in your church. To see how a small church might complete a challenge inexpensively, click here to view the Small Church Sample Plan (for Challenge 4).