Wednesday, April 2, 2008

WACMen Intro

Hey Fella’s,

Let me first say it’s was an excellent camp at Easter time and it was good to catch up to all my old mates and get acquainted with some new ones.

This is the first WACMEN (WA Conference Men’s E-News) which should come out to you monthly if all goes well and it will keep us up to date on what is happening in the Conference. By no means is the name static or going to stay this way. It was just an off the cuff thought and it lined up nicely with the theme of what I wanted to say.

I keep thinking of the Men’s movement in our church as a giant sleeping Lion who hasn’t seen any action for a long time but when he get’s up everyone better move out the way.

I want to encourage you to print off a copy of WACMEN and hand it to your church pastor’s, personal ministries leaders and any other’s who you think may benefit. One of the things that came out of our meeting on Sunday afternoon at camp was the idea that we would like to see a Men’s Ministry tent next year at camp just like the ladies have.

This is not a tit-for-tat thing but as I wandered around camp talking with men there was a real felt need that blokes around the conference are not going too crash hot when it comes to church. I’ve always felt this in my own ministry to men but when talking to men at camp from different churches I was amazed at how many are doing it tough. It is also evident to many experts that men both outside and inside the church are struggling on all kinds of fronts.

WACMEN is just a start but if we all get on board we will be an awesome force to be reckoned with when it comes to reaching Ozzy males. At the Men’s tent we hope to provide a consolidation point where possibilities can be explored. One of the most important universal things that should come out of the Tent is the concept of mateship.

A consistent thing I kept hearing at camp was, “I don’t have any real mates in the church”. One idea (and it’s only an idea) to help this is the concept of a Buddy Board of events for different Men’s activities from around the Conference that we can all hook into. t will be explained below but you will be invited to contribute and hopefully as it circulates it will be packed with all kinds of stuff for us to be involved in.

Someone once said “if you mobilise the men in the church then get ready because we are going home”. Waking men up and giving them the permission to do things their way is in a sense waking the Lion within our churches. For too long the Lionesses have been shouldering the work while we slept under the shady trees. Now it is time to awaken the King of the beast within each of us and get about our role as males – leading, challenging and making a difference in the church.

I really believe this and hope that we can gain support and encouragement as we get involved in our home churches so men can once again be happy in the work of God.

Catch ya round,

Danny Bell

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