Involvement key to ministry success

Sometimes the heart of a church, rather than its size affects the ministries that it supports. Two of these, men’s ministries and Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU), rely on the willingness of church members to reach out and participate in missions work, and not simply attend meetings.
   
“From an office standpoint, we do look at the numbers as an indicator of the level of involvement,” said Candace McIntosh, students and ministries consultant with Alabama WMU. However, “WMU means involvement at all age levels,” McIntosh said. “It could be Missions Friends, GAs, Women on Mission or women who observe the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. We’re trying to help them see various levels of involvement.”
   
And helping churches recognize different ways to be involved is what Tommy Puckett, director of the office of men’s ministries for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions (SBOM), is trying to do.
   
“The [participation] numbers are more reflective of meeting times and participation in meetings than it is an actual reflection of men involved in ministry and missions,” Puckett said. “Men’s leaders need to count the men who are actually involved in missions ministry and men’s discipleship activities as well as the meetings.”
   
Puckett said in recent years a number of churches have quit having regular meetings, because men are beginning to become  interested in hands-on activities rather than meeting and listening to a speaker.
   
“Men’s ministries is anything led by men or specifically for men,” Puckett said. He added that there are four areas in which men of the church should be seeking to involve other men. These are reaching men for Jesus, discipling men, equipping men for ministry and sending men to be on-mission Christians.
   
And developing on-mission Christians is a major emphasis of WMU. “Trend-wise, more people are getting involved in missions,” McIntosh said. “Women’s ministry is breathing in through Bible study and enrichment resources. WMU is breathing out by praying, giving, going — living out what they believe.”
   
And this can include projects that both men and women participate in. “This is not about competition [between the men’s and women’s ministries],” Puckett said. “Sometimes men and women are able to come together for a like cause.”
   
While McIntosh agreed that larger churches tend to have more resources, and so may be able to participate in larger projects or partnerships, she says that it is the heart of a church that counts. “If a church has a strong background of having a missions heritage, that will help it develop into a missions church,” she said. “There are some very small churches that are sending missions teams overseas and to places at home.”
   
Puckett agrees that the mindset of a church is what matters, but when it comes to men’s ministries, some differences exist between the focuses of smaller and larger churches.
   
“In larger churches, the focus may be more event-driven, because most large churches have a staff member for men’s ministries. So they are better able to plan events and can offer a smorgasbord of choices for their men,” Puckett said. “This allows men to focus in on things they do well and what God has gifted them to do.”
   
However, the ministry dynamic for smaller churches is totally different. Events are planned based on a certain need that is present or the men choose to be involved in a certain project. “Smaller churches will do two to three projects a year and still do monthly or bi-monthly meetings,” Puckett said. “The drive is need-based, and men will participate in whatever comes up, rather than focusing in on one aspect [of ministry].”
   
Whatever the size of the church or its focus, both McIntosh and Puckett agree that what matters is the church staying focused on God and doing what He leads it to do.