Don’t Forget The Young Men

As you seek to engage men in missions and ministry, don’t forget about the young men in your church.  I’m talking about those noisy, rowdy boys that run through the halls of your church, track mud on the carpet and wrestle in the Sunday school room. These boys will one day become grown men. They are the future fathers, pastors, business men, doctors, athletes, scholars and leaders of our country. These are the boys that will grow up to marry your daughters and to lead our churches. You can assume they will turn out alright, or you can make an investment in their lives now and help them to become the men that God designed them to be. 

Consider the following as you lead men to minister to the boys in your church:

• Remember what it was like to be a boy.  Put yourself in their shoes. It’s not that hard because you were there once. This will help you with your patience and it will help shape the way you do ministry with boys.
• Think about what boys need.  They need a relationship with Jesus. They need a relationship with a Christian man or men who can help them know Jesus. They need to know how to grow to become men who are passionate about God, about their families and about reaching others for Christ. They need attention, activity, encouragement and motivation.  They need you. 
• Provide opportunities for men to invest in the lives of boys. Let the church serve as the catalyst for bringing boys and men together. 
• Start an RA chapter.  RA’s is about men mentoring  boys and helping  them grow to become on-mission Christians.
• Use your existing men’s missions/ministry to plan and provide activities and events that intentionally involve men and boys. 
• Talk to your senior adult men about serving as an adoptive grandfather to one or more of the boys in the church. 

For help in equipping and engaging men in ministering to the young men in your church and community, contact Travis McCormick at tmccormick@absc.org.