Reaching Women and Children With Woman Pastors

You might laugh but I had a lady in the church who started a tea time in the community and it was a huge success. They always had a speaker and invited ladies from the community. The had things nicely decorated. It was a time for ladies to unwind and relax away from home. When she appraoched me about startinhg the tea time insdie I was thinking that it would be a flop but I told her to give it a try. I started working with men to train them to be leaders and make disciples. About 95% of the regular attenders were in a Bible study. All of the men I were training started Bible studies and discipleship groups. Everyone of the leaders had some kind of ministry going.

 

Remember that you cannot put new wine in old wineskins. What you are experiencing is typical unless you prepare other men to lead ahead of time.

I have found that if I take the time to lead men they will lead other men if I led them in such a way to reach anyone anywhere. We can lead a man to Christ in 20 minutes to two hours but it typically takes about 20 months to 2 years to get him on the road and going. I think we get back what we are investing in. If the men are not leading then we may be wearing them out as slave labor and not training them to lead. Men are results and goal oriented. Men will not do what you want them to do unless they are sold on it. In order to be sold on it they must see that it goes beyond just slave labor and what you want. I think too many pastors and congregations expect the pastor to perform miracles when he should be concentrating on small numbers for himself and everyone else. If everyone is discipling another then everyone is being reached. Typically I never met with more than four men personally but they are men reaching men. I do things in such a way that if they are not following then they will leave. Sometimes they want to do something else and that is okay.

Every time I do ministry I try to take one or two men with me. It doubles as time together and ministry. They see how I do ministry.

I have seen men who are great leaders in the business world falter in the church because they do not transfer what they already know and apply it to ministry. I just started meeting with a man who had about 300 employees and he cannot figure out why he did so well in business and not in the church. He is like an incredible magnet with people but does not lead them because he has not made the transfer. Right now he is imitating what he has seen done in the church and not what I know he did in business. My next step with him will be to help him to realize that if he does things the same way he did in his business then most likely he will be able to reach more people.

Ministry is much like what Nehemiah did. It works well but it does take organization and thoroughness.

I visited a church many years ago to learn from them and see what they were doing right. The pastor at the time was not all that good of a preacher in terms of dynamic but he knew what was needed to turn that church around. He hired his first staff member to make disciples. In the first year the man met with five men every week for over one year. Eventually those five started leading ministries. At the end of ten years that church went from 250 to 4000. Too many today are short sighted and not quality minded. That is true in the business world too. Too much is dependent on the quarterly report rather than being focused on the long term.

A good book I recently read on men's ministry is Pastoring Men: What Works, What Doesn't, and Why It Matters Now More Than Ever by Patrick Morley. Morley says the answer to having men lead is by making disciples. I have been praying for two men in the church and two weeks ago they asked to meet with me. Near the end of our first meeting they asked if we could keep meeting. I have not met with any of them less than two hours. They are men who want to grow and learn. I give them homework each time we meet. Then I follow up on the homework next time.

We cannot expect men to know where we are headed unless we guide them. I do not tell antagonists where I am headed because they have the giftedness of the paralysis of analysis and do not produce anything except new ideas that they do not do. I just tell them to start a ministry and see where it leads. What they always start is nothing. I have seen them fail time after time. They are like an empty bag. An empty bag makes the most noise.

 

Preaching is too often like driving a herd rather than leading. What do you suggest be preached to motivate them. The fact is that within a short time the men in the church are the result of the pastor's leading.

 

While the culture is the same, and the message is the same there are those who make excuses. The culture is one of rebellion against God then and now. The Pharisees have just changed names.

 

Henry Blackaby gave a sermon a few years ago and in it he referred to practical atheists. He was referring to those who have conservative theology and live like atheists.

 

A practice as if God does not exist. Intellectual belief only. According to James 1:22 they are deceived.