Men’s Fellowship
Ministry
Men’s Fellowship
When the church was established in the 1950s, the atmosphere was highly spirited and owing to the fact that before its emergence, the Limba community had social clubs and organizations that always catered for the welfare of their members and families. Their new environment (the new church) needed to satisfy this that aspect to ensure their retention. To do this, groups according to sex were formed later on to help the church in addressing emerging social and economic issues. It was on that note that the adult male members formed themselves into a unit called; Men Prayer Band. The Prayer Band was a support based group to the spiritual and numeric growth and development of the Limba Congregation and the community by extension. It was then like a home cell unit. They will visit and pray with their members or relatives of their membership and will always be with and support family members in cases of bereavements and sicknesses and also in joyous moments. The Men Prayer Band which was formed in the early days of the church started its independent operation in the 1980s. The Men Prayer Band has today been transformed to be called Men’s Ministry. The Men’s Ministry of the National Pentecostal Mission is in active pursuit of men in order to connect them to God, His Word, and other men for the purpose of winning, growing, and training souls for Christ. Churches within the National Pentecostal Mission have varying ways of setting up events and activities for their constituents (male members) in their respective local branches. Some are more religiously focused, like conference for men or prayer breakfast etc… Others particularly those in the interior part of our provincial churches focus more on manly activities such as; hunting or fishing expeditions. No matter which way a church goes, these events are intended to be an invitation to the unsaved to the church their locality/area. What’s funny about these events is that you will often see men become more active in worship when brought to church using the above means of evangelism. Whatever the outcome of that may be, the men’s ministry events are often a good way to open the door for men who don’t prioritize church. The next step is figuring out how to keep them coming back
Discipleship
In other to reduce the activities of the pastor and elders in the church, men in the church are trained on how to lead discipleship programs in the church. Discipleship is meant to be a path to mentor other Christians who, in turn will mentor other believers. Through this system, members of a church can grow intimately in their faith more quickly than by just leaning on their pastor’s teaching. This goes back to authenticating the need for the Men’s Ministry in the Church of God. When we build stronger relationships with God in the Church and stop treating it (the church) as though we are nothing but consumers, there’s a better chance for men to be interested in what the church is doing.
Leadership
Like most things in life, the Men’s Ministry needs good leadership. This starts with the pastor and other church administrators. The Men’s Ministry isn’t really worth pursuing if the church is going to half-heartedly do it. Having good leadership is a sign of strength that most men will rally behind and appreciate. Pastors have over the time past identified and trained faithful leaders to lead through the consent of the membership they are leading in their absence