I am reminded of the old saying “Rome wasn’t built in a day” as I think of the journey ahead in establishing interdenominational men’s ministry teams across the country. It will take time and much effort to see momentum from these groups as they are established and gain traction in their region or community.
We want to have groups that are working together across communities and denominations to see the Kingdom of God expand across New Zealand. I understand that God is calling His army together to take ground in your community and mine. An army that has representatives from the wider body of Christ with a common vision to see men activated and engaged in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in their community. Our society and culture are changing rapidly, and the enemy is trying to cut away our traditional foundations by undermining marriages, families and traditional values as we know them. We counteract this through knowing who we are as sons of God, breaking isolation and dealing with our issues not alone but in community.
I was catching up with a friend of mine, Pastor Jay Sagmyr from Invercargill, and talking about what has happened since our visit last month. I am so pleased with what I heard; men are developing groups; they are becoming authentic and transparent with each other; they are active and praying! As we talked, we set a plan for what could happen in their region as far as expanding this process going forward. Now if I applied the world’s standards, I may say the initial group was relatively small at thirty men, but I know that we have thirty men who are involved, and I know the Lord is pleased. That is all that counts.
You may ask, how do you know the Lord is pleased? Well, He reminded me of the scripture in Zechariah 4:10, “Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin, to see the plumb line in Zerubbabel’s hand.” Now this refers to the building of the temple which was a 20-year process, but it had started, and the Lord was assuring them it would be finished. He then drew me to the New Testament context of the temple in 1 Peter 2:4-5.
“As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
That is what I see happening in that situation and every other time we get men spiritually active in their community; men become a holy priesthood in their families, in the churches, and in their communities. The Temple of God is being built one man at a time. That is why people generously donate to the PK ministry so they can be involved in that process in communities across New Zealand. Just like the men of Invercargill, do you hunger to see your community transformed over time? Are you prepared to be part of the answer? Contact me by replying to this email or emailing me at pk@promisekeepers.org.nz. I am game if you are!
With prayerful thanks,
Paul Monahan.