Men's Spiritual Retreats: "As for Me and My House"
October 7-9  ::  October 14-16  ::  October 21-23, 2011

Life Enrichment Center, Fruitland Park, Florida

Check-in begins at 3:00 PM on Friday, Dinner begins at 6:00 PM.

Events Designed To Renew and Equip Men for Ministry and Service - each saturday afternoon will have free-time options and equipment available for: pick-up sports; volleyball, football, soccer, horseshoes, canoeing, or take part in a variety of small group enrichment discussions lead by key-note speakers and staff; visit one of the ministry booths and discover opportunities for service for you or your men’s unit such as disaster relief, UMVIM, Society of St Andrew, Children’s Home, Conference-Prison Ministry, Physical Fitness Programs, Community Service Programs, learn about “Men’s Ministry Specialist” training.

Make checks payable to: UNITED METHODIST MEN and mail to: P.O. Box 93370 Lakeland FL 33804-3370. Additional information and registration forms may be downloaded from our webpage www.ummflconf.org or call toll free: 877.815.3692

Methodist Men’s Ministry

Build a men’s ministry and they will come.

When did men originally get together to be “a creative, supportive fellowship of men who seek to know Jesus Christ, to grow spiritually and to seek daily his will”?

Did it start in 1968 when the Evangelical United Brethren Church merged with the Methodist Church?

Did it start in 1966 when Bishop James Henley addressed a group of men in the field house at the Warren W. Willis United Methodist Camp in Fruitland Park, Florida?

How about in the 1940’s when the first men’s retreat within the Methodist Church started?

Maybe it started 101 years ago when a group called the Methodist Brotherhood formed from a conglomerate of several Methodist ministries of men.

Did it start when Charles and John Wesley organized “The Holy Club” in the upstairs of a little white building near Oxford, England in the 1720’s?

When the apostle Paul and Barnabas met with the new Christian Council in Jerusalem and teamed up with James and Simon Peter, is this the event that brought men together to be “a creative, supportive fellowship of men who seek to know Jesus Christ, to grow spiritually and to seek daily his will.” [Acts 15]

Did it start a few years before when The Twelve commissioned The Seven "full of Spirit and wisdom" to manage the affairs of the church while they could give attention to prayer and preaching the Word. [Acts 6]

We can all safely say this started when Jesus called ordinary men to “Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” [Mark 1:17] and He commanded Peter, the rock upon which He would build His church, to “Feed my sheep.” [John 21: 17] We know this today to mean to feed God’s people more than just physically. This would mean “spiritually and to seek his daily will.”

Today we have in the Gulf Central District 26 of 70 churches acknowledging the presence of a men’s ministry within their churches. In the January 2009 report to the Florida Conference, 20 of these ministries are chartered with a commitment to the mission of the United Methodist Men which is “to be a creative, supportive fellowship of men who seek to know Jesus Christ, to grow spiritually and to seek daily his will.”

In addition, these churches are committed to:

• making Christ central in the lives of and relationships of the men in their church;
• encouraging knowledge of and support for the mission of The United Methodist Church;
• sharing the fullness of the gospel;
• clarifying and speaking to the identity and role of the man in contemporary society;
• discipling men;
• studying and becoming familiar with the UM Church, its organizations, and beliefs;
• cooperating with other units of the UMMen in obtaining these objectives through district, conference, jurisdiction, and church-wide goals.

With a Church having a chartered ministry of men, its men who seek membership in the local UMMen’s Fellowship subscribe to engaging in Bible study and prayer, bearing witness to Christ’s way in daily work and in all personal contacts through words and actions, and engaging in some definite Christian service.

This means there are 50 churches in the Gulf Central District either do not have a ministry of or for men subscribing to this Mission or purpose or they are content to have men attend their churches without such a purpose. Or maybe it is that men just don’t want to attend church. We hope to find out what it is and why and see what these churches can do to change this.

Cathy Lynn Grossman, reporter, quotes Pastor Ross Sawyers of Grapevine Texas in the July 23, 2008 US Today’s article A Nation’s Churches - Guys are Few in the Pews - “I have read that if a child comes to Christ, 12% of the time the whole family will follow. If a mom comes, there’s a 15% chance the family will. But if the man comes to church, 90% of the time the family will come along behind.”

The article cited a study that showed 62% of those who attend church regularly today as adults went to church with both parents as children. The likelihood of an adult attending church regularly today dropped to 50% if one parent, usually the mom, took them to church when they were children. If neither parent took them to church, 33% percent now attend adults.

David Murrow, author of Why Men Hate Going to Church says, “Blame the church, not the men.” Warm, nurturing churches ignore men’s needs to face their epic struggles of living for Christ and having Christ as a leader instead of a lover. “We’ve wrapped the Gospel in this man-repellent package.” Murrow advises pastors to “Go for the Guys” by infusing “adventure, challenge, boldness, competition, hands-on communication, ferocity, and fun.”

Pastor Phillip Short of Stuart Florida says, “Men like the outdoors. Engage men in Christ in an outdoor setting, such as the parking lot of the church, a cookout, a driveway/garage small group, or at an outdoor event, and the men will come.” We’ve seen what recruiting men to assist with directing traffic on the church campus during peak seasons such as Christmas, Palm Sundays, and Easters can do to bring men out.

Get the men to come together at church and their families will follow.

According to the Disciplines of the United Methodist Church worldwide, every church or charge shall have an organized unit of United Methodist Men chartered and annually re-certified. For the Gulf Central District, this is done for both National and the Florida Conference through the office of the Florida Conference United Methodist Men.

Is it to be a men's club?   A men's breakfast?   A men's Bible study?    A stewardship of men working on the building and the grounds? Or a mission of men engaged in a Habitat for Humanity project or a foreign mission? Or an “eat-and-meet” bunch of guys?   Or men engaged in Walk to Emmaus, Man in the Mirror, Promise Keepers or Stephen Ministry or attending an annual conference or retreat? Or engaging men in ushering, parking attendants, choral singing, or a prison ministry? Or working with youth, young athletes, or Scouts?

As our young folks would say, “What---ever!?”

There needs to be a man or a group of men at every church overseeing these activities men are engaged in, offering resources these men's groups can use, and lifting up these ministries with the church and with District United Methodist Men and the Florida Conference.

The UMMen, as an organization, has come a long way from being a few guys helping do the work around the church or eating and meeting to becoming a program of discipling of men, making fishers of men, and holding each other accountable as a band of brothers in Christ.

By collaborating with “Man in the Mirror”, “Building Brothers”, “Letters from Dad” ministries to its training of Men’s Ministry Specialists and scouting and civic-youth-serving agencies to developing coaches, mentors, and Stephen Ministers, the United Methodist Churches and United Methodist Men are banding together to bring more men back into the church, bringing younger men with families, and offering something for men and boys at every life stage.

Starting with a passion for Christ, the leader, men engaged as Disciples of Christ bring more life, more leadership, and more passion to the stability and growth of the church.

Chet Klinger, President