The mission of the United Methodist Men is to support spiritual growth among men, helping men to mature as disciples as they encourage spiritual formation in others. The pathway toward this mission is a lifelong commitment to spiritual growth to maturity as Christ followers. Our spiritual formation is marked by spiritual reproduction, as our faith passes on in others.
Men wanting to be a part of this mission are expected to commit to daily Bible study and prayer. There are many resources on the General Commission on United Methodist Men website (gcumm.org) to help you in this journey. The newest resource released is United Men’s Ministry (unitedmensministry.com). This is an app-based program that has several components.
The “Live Bold” app is free to download on a smartphone and it contains a daily devotion with a link to a Bible reading. It also contains a prayer wall where you can submit prayers or let others know you are praying for them. There are stories that are longer than the daily devotions but relate to Christian principles.
Registering your congregation for United Men’s Ministry will get you a kit with step-by-step instructions for implementing the Adventure Men program. This program will help you build a ministry to men through small groups. The material for the small group studies is all available on the Adventure Men app that you can download. The studies are short-term so they do not require several months to complete. After you finish one study, suggestions are made and material is available to start another study.
There are many small congregations in Arkansas that may think they are too small for something like this. If this is the case, it is okay for multiple churches to work together to form multiple small groups. Christianity is a community activity not a solo journey and we can do more for Christ by walking alongside each other than any of us can do walking alone. So, do not feel like you have to do this alone.
There will be a Zoom meeting on September 13, at 6:30 pm to ask questions about this new ministry program. Bishop Gary Mueller will join us to share more information about the new materials and resources available to use in your church.
To register for this meeting, please go to https://arumc.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwkduyhrzkuHt082WzjB1j3EiAuGePBy8of.
Contact Clay McCastlain, Arkansas Conference UMM President, at clay.mccastlain@arumc.org with any questions you have or any help you need building your ministry to men.