In our work at Man in the Mirror, we’ve noticed that a lot of the real transformation in men’s lives takes place in “life-on-life” small groups. Here are a few of the reasons why, and you no doubt can help me add to the list…

• Men get “air time” to flesh out biblical concepts for themselves—concepts that can take 10 or 20 years to fully sink in.
• They get to “observe” how other men react to the same concepts (for example, are they solemn, joyful, convicted, encouraged?).
• And they see “changed life” take place over time in other men. 

If your church isn’t taking full advantage of men’s small groups, here’s any idea to move the ball forward. What if at the end of each weekly worship service you invite men interested in becoming part of a small group (or learning more) to go to a station located somewhere inside the sanctuary. You could hang a large sign on the wall that says something like, “MEET HERE to Join a Small Group” (maybe even with a big down ARROW pointing down to the spot!), or something similar. If you are a large church, you can have multiple signs broken down by geography (e.g., north, south, east, west). You can call women forward too, and then have both male and female leaders there to greet them.

It’s the idea of moving immediately with an action step when men (and women) are inspired by the Holy Spirit. Or from a secular perspective, It’s about “closing the sale” on the spot when the customer is ready to buy. For example, if someone went into an automobile showroom and gave all the buying signals, what would you think if the salesperson said, “I can see you really want this car. Tell you what – why don’t you give me your name and phone number and I will have someone get back with you next week to see if you’re still interested?” You wouldn’t expect that salesperson to be very successful! 

Until every church disciples every man…

Pat