Church work with men

Robert A. Dockery

This project aimed to equip selected men at Valley View Baptist Church, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, with essential spiritual disciplines. This project employed information from research in the field of spiritual disciplines. This project was implemented with a select group of men from Valley View Baptist Church through eight sessions in essential spiritual disciplines. The curriculum in the eight sessions highlighted the following essential personal spiritual disciplines; intake of God's word, submission to the Holy Spirit, and the practice of prayer. Through the eight equipping sessions, the selected men learned the importance of essential personal spiritual disciplines and were equipped to practice them in their lives.

Stephan C. Kish

The purpose of this project is to equip six men in sharing their faith through training utilizing multimedia. Three theological assertions provide the impetus for this project. First, disciple making is the primary responsibility of the church of which evangelism is the initial stage. Discipleship follows a positive response to hearing and understanding the Gospel of Jesus Christ.9 Yet, there can be no hearing unless someone shares the Gospel (Rom. 10:14). Therefore, evangelism is to be a priority for the church. Second, believers, empowered by the Holy Spirit, share their faith. Christians sharing their faith is a direct result of the gratitude and enthusiasm of the Christian life (Acts 1:8). Third, God gives pastors a primary role of equipping the church to engage in its call to evangelism. As the shepherd to the local body, the pastor is the one who is responsible to build up the body (Eph. 4:12).

Leon D. Parker

What kind of tools would enable African American congregations to engage more effectively in their response to the crisis of mass incarceration of African American males? The author conducted interviews with pastors and ministry leaders engaged in prison ministry. Based on the author's years of experience as a Chaplain and on data generated by the interviews, the author developed a four-part workshop training.

[Note about entry: Abstract submitted to the Atla RIM database on behalf of the author. The text appears in its entirety as it does in the original abstract page of the author’s project paper. Neither words nor content have been edited.]

Michael Novotny D.Min.

According to even the most conservative statistics, pornography is wrecking the bodies,
minds, and souls of millions of Christians in America. Nevertheless, most pastors are unsure
how to address this pandemic problem in their sermons.

This project suggests a solution. If a preacher verbalizes this taboo topic, normalizes the
struggle for God’s people, demonizes the sin of lust, evangelizes those struggling with sexual
sin, and strategizes ways for every member of the church to honor God with their bodies, the
pulpit might become a powerful solution for the saints’ struggle.

In this project, twelve pastors were surveyed and studied in order to create a workshop in
hopes of equipping them to preach wisely, boldly, and effectively on the topic of pornography.

Jack DeVere Olsen D.Min.

The purpose of this project is to make existing leaders equipping leaders of emerging leaders in the men’s ministry of Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church in Casper, Wyoming. The first goal toward fulfilling that purpose is to be transformed from a trained servant or service-providing clergyman to an equipping leader or a training pastor. The second goal is to create and implement a plan for developing leaders. The third goal is to introduce and encourage leadership development by mentoring in our men’s ministry.

The first goal was approached through writing a revised job description, and keeping a diary of time spent in leadership development. The second goal involved developing a leadership development curriculum focusing on leadership concepts, character and competency. Nehemiah was chosen for study as the Biblical example of a godly leader. Leading a small group was selected as the ministry for developing competency. Mentoring was the method for implementing the curriculum. Three mentors each selected one mentoree to train and develop. The third goal involved developing a series of teaching lessons on leadership development through mentoring. These lessons were presented at our monthly men’s breakfasts.

The proposed mentoring process revealed that the equipping leaders need precise instructions and accountability for carrying out the mentoring of the emerging leaders. One of the greatest challenges in mentoring is getting men together and establishing the mentoring relationships.

Doug Helmer D.Min.

The topic of this project is the observation that men are often tempted to withdraw from difficult relationship with the Lord and others. Once this observation is demonstrated to be a prolific phenomenon amongst men, this project develops a small group curriculum designed to help Christian men recognize this tendency and respond rightly. During the course of this project the curriculum was implemented with a group of men from Harvest Bible Chapel Indy West. An analysis and evaluation of the project's implementation is included.

The process of this project begins with constructing a biblical/theological perspective of relationship. God has ordained relationship, sin has brought brokenness to relationship including the temptation to withdraw from difficult relationship, and man is called to faithfully engage in relationship with the Lord and others. Next, a body of popular level and scholarly material pertinent to the project is gathered and reported. Together these findings demonstrate a substantial conversation surrounding the subject of this project and provide the foundational content from which a men's small group curriculum is developed. The curriculum is then executed in a six-meeting, men's small group and then evaluated for improvement.

The findings of this project include the biblical primacy of relationship. Mankind has been divinely designed and called to live in relationship with the Lord and others. This project also presents a breadth of Judeo-Christian and secular conversations related to the subject of the project, which communicates the need to equip Christian men to remain faithfully engaged in relationship with the Lord and others. Additionally, analysis of the pilot small group exposed the need for the curriculum to include additional interaction with the biblical/theological content and further implementation of personal application. Therefore, an eight-meeting scope and sequence curriculum is recommended and outlined.

Donald Sampson D.Min.

The purpose of this project was to investigate the topic of spiritual warfare and assess the level of understanding of it among the men of a Presbyterian congregation in order to develop a plan to enable the men to engage in spiritual battles with the world, the flesh and the devil. The project included a biblical and theological study, followed by interviews with a select sample of men from the congregation. Qualitative analysis revealed some confusion over the phrase “spiritual warfare.” Additional themes that emerged from the interviews included a high degree of awareness of temptations of the flesh as an ongoing source of spiritual struggles and a strong belief that Satan is real. This latter belief was tempered by widespread uncertainty over the relevance of Satan, or any demonic influence, due to a very high conviction about the sovereignty of God. A recognition of the importance of enlisting other men for help in fighting spiritual battles was also a significant theme. While the men interviewed identified the value of having “battle buddy” type relationships, they readily acknowledged the absence of such relationships. Quantitative research via a confidential, online survey confirmed a low level of self-disclosure among the men of the congregation.

Willie Robert Cobb Jr. D.Min.

This thesis-project set out to explore the current faith formation programs offered in the Archdiocese of Chicago and the experience of fathers within this context, to support the spiritual growth of fathers and to explore how the church is called to support that growth through faith formation. The meta-method employed for this thesis-project involves the four “movements” of the “pastoral circle” developed by Joe Holland and Peter Henriot, with two additional steps—engagement with theory and correlation. The process included both a broad approach and a personal outreach to those working in the African American and queer communities. Direct outreach to various parishes throughout the Archdiocese of Chicago entailed making phone calls, sending emails, or stopping by a total of 32 parishes. In the end, three focus groups were conducted. The moderator completed all the necessary IRB paperwork and permissions prior to the session meetings. The moderator encouraged participation from each participant in order to elicit information from every single person in the group. To facilitate the discussion, questions were presented to allow the participants to reflect on and share their experiences. Genograms were used to help the participants consider the impact of their personal family history on themselves and their children for several generations back. The project presented and answered the following questions: Does the Archdiocese of Chicago play a role in helping fathers understand how to raise their children, how to fight stereotypes they face about their fatherhood, and how to share their spirituality with their children in a way that interrupts patterns of violence and confronts the social issues they encounter? A two-tiered program was developed to address the concerns that were presented through the course of the project to provide agency for fathers in developing their own spirituality.

Lonny E Hughes

The purpose of this project is to equip selected men of Perdido Bay Baptist Church in biblical competencies for men's ministry. The project produces a clear definition of authentic, biblical manhood and lays a foundation for a successful ministry to men. Through research, biblical competencies of ministry to men are identified, a strategic plan to initiate men's ministry is developed, and a men's ministry leadership retreat is planned and implemented with a select group of men. By utilizing the research and considering the unique culture of Perdido Bay Baptist Church, a curriculum is developed for the weekend men's leadership retreat. Professionally, the project director increased in the knowledge of authentic, biblical manhood, men's ministry, and retreat planning.

Brian G Campbell

Confusion over a failed attempt at reconfiguring our parish's "Discipleship Process" sparked the research question for this study. Gaining clarity on and then dealing with this confusion became the driving impetus for the project. Our leadership team was confused about the definition and conception of discipleship (clarified through a study of Philippians), about divine-human dynamic of discipleship (clarified through an analysis of O'Donovan's Self, world, and time), and about how to overcome impediments and gaps within our individual histories of discipleship (clarified through in-depth interviews concerning discipleship). Achieving clarity in these areas led to a renewed pursuit of discipleship.