Men’s Ministry leadership teams are critical to the success of your men’s ministry. Far too many churches have just gone with any warm body to fill a volunteer slot. If reaching men is truly critical for the spiritual health of families, children, youth, and women – and it is – then the leadership of your men’s ministry should not be an afterthought. It needs to be one of the first priorities of leadership development.
Start With Prayer
With this in mind, your starting point for building a Men’s Ministry Leadership team is to pray. Jesus told us to pray for labourers, and so that is what we need to do. Pray for God to raise up the men he wants in leadership. Then, be willing to wait on God to answer that prayer. It is better to have the right team in place and start in God’s timing than to have the wrong team in place and start in your timing.
Look For Diversity
Look for diversity in your team. You need men who love to organize event logistics, but you also need men who like to teach and men who like to relate with other men. Our Men’s Ministry Leadership Training program identifies three key positions that require different strengths: Events leader to help organize events, Men in Action leader to help organize missional projects for men, and Man to Man leader to give leadership to your teaching and small groups.
Share Your Vision And Expectations
As God begins to give you names, then ask that man for a meeting. This would be better as a one on one meeting than a group meeting. Do not go to the meeting to ask the man to volunteer. When you are together, share with that man your burden and vision for the men in your church. Explain to him why men are so important to the health of families, churches, and communities. Then show him the part you believe he can play to be part of the solution.
As you show him the part you want him to play, then you need to outline your expectations. Men want to know the time commitment and the responsibilities involved. They need to believe they can actually accomplish this. If you follow the Men’s Ministry framework, you will be able to help men see how simple it is to follow if they focus on their role.
Men follow a leader who has vision, but they also follow a leader who believes in them. When you personally approach a man and tell him that you believe in him and his ability to do this, then you are making steps towards capturing his heart.
Equip Your Leaders
Once he has agreed to participate on the team, then you need to equip him. Take your team through the Men’s Ministry Leadership training at least once a year – it will be good for new members of the team to be trained, plus serve as a great refresher for other members to refocus in their ministry efforts.
Begin Looking For Replacements
The final step is in finding new men to join an existing Men’s Ministry Leadership team. If you already have a team in place, you need to begin to find your replacements for when God calls you to another area of service. Follow the same process as we just described, but invite those men to serve as assistants to some of your key leaders that are already in place. This will be very important in building the sustainability of your ministry efforts.
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