It may be porn. Or pride. Or ruling your family like a tyrant.
But all of those things are just symptoms — the real disease is a lack of discipleship, said Rick Burgess, host of the Rick & Bubba Show and founder of Man Church at Shades Mountain Baptist Church, Vestavia Hills.
“As I would travel, I started asking pastors across the country about their church,” Burgess said. “We’d talk about their women’s ministry, and they’d get excited. I’d ask them about their children, and they’d feel like it was doing great. I’d ask about the youth, and they would always say they had some that were sold out and serious about their faith.”
But then he would ask about the men.
“And their eyes and face would drop down, dejected, and they’d say, ‘We can’t get them involved.’”
As Burgess talked with these pastors he said he began to get the sense that, even subconsciously, church had fallen into the routine of crafting itself to cater to women and children with the idea that the men would follow their families.
So Burgess — feeling convicted that he hadn’t been as involved as he should’ve in his own church’s men’s ministry — began to develop a vision for Man Church, a once-a-quarter service for the men of Shades Mountain Baptist.
Men-style Bible studies
“If you’re already at a men’s ministry at another church, this isn’t designed to bring you in. We want to deal with the things going on in our own body.”
The quarterly service kicks off six to eight weeks of Bible study that men can plug into. Before the next Man Church, there will be breaks taken at man-appropriate times, Burgess said.
“Men don’t need to do one Bible study all year, they’ll fade on you. … We understand it’s hunting season. We understand it’s football season. We want to minister to the men in the way men receive ministry,” he said.
The men who attend Man Church but don’t get involved in the ongoing Bible study fall away from church involvement almost every time, he said. But the ones who do get involved are now “sold-out men who are beginning to duplicate discipleship in their families,” Burgess said. “We’re beginning to get the men of the church rolling into every aspect of the church.”
Danny Wood, pastor of Shades Mountain Baptist, agreed.
“We are seeing men going deeper in the Word of God, building accountability with other men and becoming better husbands and dads,” Wood said.
The fourth Man Church is set for Aug. 28, and while the purpose isn’t to draw in men from other churches, Burgess said anyone is welcome to come check it out and see if something similar could work at their own church.
For questions about how to start a Man Church for your congregation, email Burgess at rick@rickandbubba.com.
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