By the Man in the Mirror Team
Jim Jeffery, discipleship pastor at Chapel Pointe, read The Man in the Mirror book by Patrick Morley when it first came out in print, but he’d been unaware of the development of the ministry until his local Man in the Mirror Area Director came by one day to introduce himself.
Jim recalled, “His servant spirit, relational bent, and heart for ministry to men made an instant connection with me. He was more interested in our church’s ministry to men than just promoting a program and material. Our friendship deepened and our partnership in ministry expanded with regular times of sharing together.”
As they assessed the state of their ministry to men, one main need bubbled to the surface related to what we call the “Wide-Deep Continuum.” What is that exactly?
Making disciples is all about taking men who don’t know Christ and helping them become mature, passionate followers of Jesus. This journey can be represented by a path, or continuum: from men who don’t yet know Christ (WIDE) all the way to mature disciples who are discipling others (DEEP).
Chapel Pointe was ahead of the game with a desire to disciple men firmly established. As a result, they already had a good group of men engaged on the deep end (Biblical Christians and leaders) of the continuum.
They also had some level of participation on the wide end (seekers and Cultural Christians). What Pastor Jim was looking for were proven ways to move those men from wide to deep—in effect, ways to help them begin—and continue—growing as disciples.
[click_to_tweet tweet=”Making disciples is all about taking men who don’t know Christ and helping them become mature, passionate followers of Jesus.” quote=”Making disciples is all about taking men who don’t know Christ and helping them become mature, passionate followers of Jesus.”]
Our Area Director recommended a Man in the Mirror event, which is designed to do just that by presenting the gospel, addressing practical needs, and then getting attendees into small groups.
For the next three years, Chapel Pointe used our event materials for their spring men’s conference as a catalyst to create and capture momentum and spur on long-term growth.
“The events and process have been outstanding,” Pastor Jim said. “We found Success that Matters, Rock Solid Men, and The Playbook to all be biblically rooted with practical application to men. The discussion questions helped our mentors at each table create conversations that were life changing. The follow-up materials helped our guys gather together to build community and apply the practical insights to their lives.”
Today, the lead pastor has developed an annual class, Men of Impact, that challenges men to become spiritual leaders. They continue to offer their annual men’s conference each spring with mentors inviting other men to join them in table groups. Throughout the year, their men meet in small groups, do service projects, and challenge each other to take their next steps following Christ.
“The number of men whose transformed lives are making a difference for Christ in their homes, workplaces, and our community is astounding,” Jim shared. “Marriages have been rescued. Wives of our men have asked for classes and groups where they can be impacted the way their husbands have been transformed.
“Men are stepping up to lead in our church. They are sharing the gospel with other men. The spiritual momentum is impacting the life of our church, which has nearly tripled in size in the last five years.”
[click_to_tweet tweet=”“Men are sharing the gospel with other men and the spiritual momentum is impacting the life of our church.”” quote=”“Men are sharing the gospel with other men and the spiritual momentum is impacting the life of our church.””]
Jim’s vision goes far beyond the walls of Chapel Pointe. “We want to be a catalyst for spiritual awakening in a dry culture. In partnership with other churches, we’re impacting our region for Christ.”
Discipleship changes everything.
THE BIG IDEA: Building an intentional ministry strategy that helps a man who doesn’t yet know Christ become a mature disciple will radically change your church.
Hallelujah thanks so much for positive ways to build men’s groups
Thanks, Bob! It’s our privilege to work with leaders who want to build up their men through discipleship.
Transformed me will transform the church. However there are elements of the routines of church that must be transformed to permit further transformation. Maintaining the status quo and merely adding in a mens ministry does not permit the FULL transformation God desires. Here is one example of church ministry that must be transformed if you want more “love and good works”.
Hebrews 10:24-25
And let US (all of us)
consider how
to stir up ONE ANOTHER
to love and good works,
not neglecting to MEET TOGETHER,
as is the habit of some,
but encouraging ONE ANOTHER,
and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
This is God’s instrution for “meeting together”. Preachers use it to get believers to hear them lecture the Bible every week. But this instructs the OPPOSITE of that kind of “meeting together”. This kind of “meeting together” demands that ALL brothers and sisters prepare in advance to speak to one another towards “love and good works”. The instruction for how to prepare begins in verse 19. When this kind of “meeting together” is severly marginalized by the pulpit kind, then the whole “new and living way” is marginalized. If we want God’s people to be transformed to the image of Christ, we must follow God’s instructions. This means dealing with systemic confort zones that leaders may want to protect. The clergy are in equal need of transforming, as the laymen. Am I wrong about this?
Tim, thanks for taking the time to comment! You make some great points. You can’t add any ministry to an unhealthy or stagnant environment and expect that it will ‘fix’ anything. And we are all in need of transformation.
But I think most pastors don’t consider this specific passage to be only about meeting together for a service, nor do they consider this the only passage about preaching/teaching. We meet great pastors all the time who are all about equipping the saints to build the Kingdom (love and good works).
I hope YOU are encouraging and stirring up your brothers to love and good works too! Praying that you see transformation all around you, and in your heart as well. Praying that for all of us!
Thanks for your reply. Were you thinking there is a “meeting together” taught in the Bible that is a reversal of this instruction? Would there be any “meeting together” where this instruction is rejected? Can you expect to get “love and good works” from a reversal of this instruction?
I am aware that for 500 years, “preach the word…” has been forced into lecture the word. You cannot exposit kerysso into lecture by one man in perepetual dependency, as it is practiced. This refers to a messenger sent by a higher authority to deliver a message. EVERY believer is this kind of messenger. Timothy was a marketplace minister, just like the apostle Paul, “everywhere in every church”. He was to “entrust” EVERYTHING to “faithful men who will teach others also.” 2Tim. 2:1,2 This assignment is not reserved for men with Bible degrees. The Roman Catholic church has practiced reserving ministry to only official men for 2000 years. It’s called “holy orders” or sacerdotalism. This was not reformed at the reformation. Clergyism is a sinful hindrance to “running the race marked out for us with perseverance. Hebrews 12:2. It must be “thrown off”. I realize that clergyism is the most highly protected element of church life by all hired Bible experts – clergy. I have given you a few scriptures exposing this error. We should dialogue further. Hopefully your heart is open to “rebuke and correction” with scripture from a lay person. There is sooo much more scripture to expose this error that hinders marketplace ministers from being permitted or recognizing that they are ALL “full time ministers” and should not be restricted or nuanced out of any work of God.
“The great danger is not that we will renounce our faith, but that we will settle for a mediocre version of it.” Author unknown own
This is great for large churches in large cities and towns, but what about the small churches in small towns?
Thanks for reading! Actually, when it comes to using our event process, we have worked far more often with small and medium churches. We provide the planning and promotional tools, as well as a worksheet to help churches break even financially. However, if you’re starting from scratch and need to first put a team into place, we recommend checking out our GO Box, which is designed for smaller churches who are looking to jumpstart ministry to men. https://maninthemirror.org/go/
Great post! Is there some way these can be reformatted so that when I print lines of text aren’t missing?
Thanks, Steve! Are you using the Print function at the top of the post?