Developing The Team For Ministry To Men

Promise Keepers has observed that the great downfall for effective Ministry to Men is the lack of a focused and cohesive team.

Often one willing and enthusiastic man has been asked to lead Men’s Ministry. This has proved a recipe for disaster. This man may succeed on his own for a period, but is often taken out by work and family commitments, burnout or sheer exhaustion and the Men’s Ministry then fails until the next man is selected and the same process is repeated. This has been one of the basic reasons for the stops and starts that have existed in a lot of Men’s Ministries. It is therefore important not to be reliant on just one man.

Our model is Jesus and Jesus spent three years with twelve men encouraging, correcting and refining those men so they then became His team.

Remember:


The Team Captain

91% of successful Men’s Ministries are pastor-supported. Therefore without the pastor’s support and involvement, a Men’s Ministry has only a 9% chance of success.

The pastor is like the captain of the team. He knows the position that each member is supposed to play. He is therefore able to identify team members according to their giftings, abilities and strengths. The captain then encourages them into their roles and responsibilities, and helps them see their purpose and the goal that the team is to fulfil over that season. A captain is involved with the team so that he can encourage them in times of difficulty and rejoice with them over their victories.
A team without a captain will not have the benefit of this encouragement and accountability. It will ultimately drift through lack of direction and vision. A captain is there at vital times to make crucial decisions that will benefit the team as a whole and enable them to achieve their purposes.

Jesus is our ultimate example of how a captain should take care of his team.


Selection of the Team

Unfortunately too often we have asked for volunteers to assist with Ministry with Men and the men that have responded have had neither the skills, personality, faithfulness nor giftings necessary to propel this ministry forward and incorporate all the men in the church. Selection of the right team members to fulfil a variety of roles and functions is crucial.

Our example is contained in Luke 6:12-13: “Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. And when it was day, He called His disciples to Him and from them He chose twelve whom He also named apostles.” Therefore there are three steps in the selection of a team:

(1) Pray. Just as Jesus did. Identify a few men who are faithful and teachable. 2 Timothy 2:2: “And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”

(2) Invite these men to join the team. When men are invited by the captain to join the team, it should be seen as a privilege, something to aspire to and an honour to be involved.

(3) Assign to each man a role and a task with a job description. Matthew 10:5-26.


Positions and Responsibilities within the Team

Promise Keepers has available descriptions of responsibilities of each position.

1. Team Captain (the Pastor)

2. Vice Captain

3. Prayer Leader

4. Men’s Small Group Leader

5. Event Leaders

6. Camps/Retreats/Advances/Seminars Co-ordinator

7. Administrative Team Member


Coach for the Team

We have discovered that developing a team is one of the most challenging tasks facing Ministry with Men in our nation. Unfortunately information alone is not the answer. It often requires a coach to come alongside the team to help them each step of the way in overcoming obstacles and pitfalls that others have already struck. It is our concern not to see the same errors repeated that some Ministries with Men have already fallen into. Often it is not major defects which stall Ministry with Men. It can be relatively minor things that need adjustment, correction or encouragement. This is why we have appointed a Coach to assist captains to develop their team. Call Promise Keepers to find out more about Coaching or visit: Promise Keepers Coaching