A fantastic way to reach out to men in your community is to offer courses that meet felt needs. Most men who are not part of a community of faith won’t just suddenly wake up and come to church one Sunday. There needs to be a bridge of connection built so that they see value and make relationships. One way to do this is by offering a course that meets a felt need that men are experiencing in your community.
A few things about offering courses:
- Don’t use Christian names or Christian language. Remove the “Christianese” from your vocabulary and just call them what they are. If the course is about finances, then call it a finance course. Don’t call it “Holy Money with a Fire That Burns Like a Dove”. If it’s about men’s mental health, call it “Men’s Mental Health” and not “Strength for today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow”. You catch my drift. Stop the over spiritualization of event names if you want non-Christian men to attend.
- Set up in round tables, not in rows. The point is to make connections not disseminate content. Have a host at each table who’s trained to have conversations with guys they’ve never met before and have them set a goal to make friends with the guys at their tables and not offend or make fun of them. Also, have good coffee, tea, water and snacks. Make it something fun and not something awkward. Men are easy to feed – chips and salsa or deer jerk.
- Choose Your Time Wisely. Offer either a one mid-week evening (2 hours) that starts at 7:00pm or a 5–6-week course. Don’t go longer than six weeks even if some curriculums ask for it; cut it down. Many men can only last for six weeks before their attendance becomes very spotty. Also, avoid Saturdays. I know Christians love their men’s breakfasts on Saturdays, but it is the only day that non-Christian men have to do stuff they want and need to do with their families. Try not to cut into it.
- Get men to invite men. The best way to get people to come to any course is to make sure they are invited by people. You will need to advertise but first give your people the tools and train them how to effectively invite their friends.
Here are three courses that you could offer to men in your community:
- Men and Mental Health. This would be a great one evening course that’s geared towards men and mental health. You could use Brett Ullman’s material or a video from The Sanctuary Course. Encourage a few of your men to share their lived experience, watch the video and discuss You’ll be surprised at how men respond.
- The Finance Course. Imagine a sign out that is in front of your church that says, “In Debt? Finance Course on Wednesday Evenings”. This is a sure-fire way to grab the attention of families that are under the gun financially. I’ve got a free “Dave Ramsey Financial Course” that’s based off the “Life, Money, Legacy” book and includes training. I would stick to a six week timeline as anything longer than that may be too intimidating for new people to commit to. Also, another great idea is to tally the total debts paid off in that six week period and then post that on social media with a instructions on how to register for the next one.
- The Dad Course. This could be a four-week or a one-day course where you give great ideas on how to be a dad that makes an impact. Take out the “Christianese” and simply apply biblical principles in a timeless way. Impactus has lots of resources on this and it’s a great way to meet a need because every dad wants to be a good dad.
So, which course are you going to offer your community?
Courses that you could also do:
- The Husband Course. See above and just change it to apply to marriages.
- Celebrate Recovery Course. A great course for any one with hurts, habits or hang ups.
- The Marriage Course. For husbands and wives. Set it up like a date night for 6 weeks and everyone will thank you. Alpha and Family Life Canada both have great options for this.
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