If you are a pastor or staff leader in a local church and
you desire to reach and disciple men then you need to get a copy of the book, How to Disciple Men (Short and Sweet) by
Jay Payleitner and David Morrow. It’s 45 short essays written by leaders in the
effort to reach men. The book is divided into several sections. Section 1 is
the case for ministry to men. The essays deal with the why of the effort in
large part. This is a great section if your church hasn’t yet decided to go
after men in a systematic effort. Section 2 deals with how to plan and conduct
successful events for men. This can help you move your ministry to a new level.
Section 3 deals with the various aspects of discipling men in your church. If
you are looking to move beyond the attractional events in the ministry to men,
this will be a place you will want to spend some time. Section 4 is about men
and small groups. This section could have been a little larger to have made it
more useful, but the stuff there is really good stuff. Section 5 deals with
targeting subgroups within the whole ministry to men. If you are looking to
find a smaller section of the population you might find what you are looking
for here. Section 6 spends five chapters dealing with how to teach men and how
to get them involved in prayer and evangelism. Every ministry needs help in
that area! Section 7 provides more organizational info regarding taxes,
volunteers, and full time ministry opportunity. Section 8 focuses on the
personal health of the leader of the men’s ministry.
I found the book to be an engaging resource for those who
long to see more men involved fully in the life of the church as a whole. Some
chapters are going to be more critical depending on where you are and where
your passions lie in the effort to reach men and help them reach more men. I
would encourage another volume in this series to really drill down into the
practical nuts and bolts of how you accomplish the things laid out in each of
these short essays. Almost every one of these chapters could be a book if
fleshed out and many of them are by folks who have done just that. But who has
time to read 45 books these days?
This is definitely a book you should have on your shelf if
you are on staff at any church in America. If you are blessed to have someone
leading your church’s effort to reach men, I would highly recommend you buy
this book for him. If you don’t, then maybe you can buy two copies and get together
with the person you want to lead your ministry to men and discuss how these
chapters might apply to your local situation. It’s hard to read these essays
and not come away with a renewed or new vision for the impact reaching men in
our churches could have on the kingdom of God and the world around us.
