New Men's Small Group

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by פNIʞƎƎS, Mar 17, 2017.

  1. פNIʞƎƎS

    פNIʞƎƎS Connoisseur of Memes Staff Member

    For the last week and a half I have been in the process of starting a new Small Group for Men. Last night it became a reality. I'm so excited about this group. It combines my passion with my mission. It's called the Pray and Ride group. Last night we met at our Church parking lot, had a time of prayer, and then went our for a bike ride. In which the best part of it for me was the spiritual discussions we had during and after the ride. I'm really excited at the effect this group could have on men.
     
  2. TrustGzus

    TrustGzus What does this button do? Staff Member

    That's great, my friend. May God richly bless your new venture!
     
  3. פNIʞƎƎS

    פNIʞƎƎS Connoisseur of Memes Staff Member

  4. Dani

    Dani You're probably fine.

    Sounds fabulous!
     
  5. RabbiKnife

    RabbiKnife Open the pod bay door, please HAL. Staff Member

    Awesome!

    For a minute, I wondered how you would ever get anyone to participate because I misread on my iPad...

    I thought it said " new group for small men".......

    ;.;.
     
  6. devilslayer365

    devilslayer365 Wazzup?!

    That's pretty cool. If you can combine a personal interest with ministry it's a definite win and more enjoyable. :l:;
     
  7. פNIʞƎƎS

    פNIʞƎƎS Connoisseur of Memes Staff Member

    Thank you Dani.
     
  8. פNIʞƎƎS

    פNIʞƎƎS Connoisseur of Memes Staff Member

    ;D :D

    That would make for a very interesting group.
     
  9. פNIʞƎƎS

    פNIʞƎƎS Connoisseur of Memes Staff Member

    Absolutely. That's exactly what my (spiritual) mom told me.
     
  10. tango

    tango ... and you shall live ... Staff Member

    Sounds very promising. Here's the bit where I wish you were a little closer to home...
     
  11. פNIʞƎƎS

    פNIʞƎƎS Connoisseur of Memes Staff Member

    That would be wonderful indeed.
     
  12. TrustGzus

    TrustGzus What does this button do? Staff Member

    You guys both ride distances. Make it work!!!
     
  13. tango

    tango ... and you shall live ... Staff Member

    It's been a while since I rode any meaningful distance. Even then there's quite a difference between the longest I ever did (190 miles in a day, followed by two days of not wanting to even look at my bicycle) and the 1000-odd miles from me to Seeking. Even meeting somewhere in the middle would easily be 4-5 days riding for both of us.

    Not that I wouldn't like to do it, it's just tricky to find a window where I can cycle for 4-5 days continuously, then spend enough time to make it worthwhile, then spend another 4-5 days cycling back home again.
     
  14. tango

    tango ... and you shall live ... Staff Member

    Another note, it seems to be a recurring theme that churches everywhere have endless groups for women, whether they are mums-and-kids, women's prayer breakfasts, coffee mornings, whatever. It often seems there's not a lot out there for men.

    In many ways we men don't help ourselves, where it seems women are far more likely to talk about things that concern them we men are more prone to put a brave face on everything. I don't have any problems picturing a man who is literally dead insisting he's OK and not to worry. What little there is that involves men frequently appears to be little more than watching some kind of sports on TV with a notional time of fellowship afterwards, which means talking about the game. Not much good for those not interested in NFL/NHL/whatever.

    I often found cycling to be interesting as far as social dynamics went. Large groups inevitably split into smaller groups of people of comparable abilities, and the groups were often quite fluid (being a heavier rider I found I wanted to climb with slower people, but being fairly strong on the flats tended to leave them behind once the hill climbing was done), allowing people to naturally hang out with a range of other people in smaller groups where talking was available but not required.

    Anything that provides a good venture to meet other guys and hang out, enable discussion without it feeling forced, and letting a sense of fellowship build from that, can only be a Good Thing as far as I can see.
     
  15. TrustGzus

    TrustGzus What does this button do? Staff Member

    Excuses! Excuses!

    Seriously that sounds tough. I once rode 14 miles in a day. Put my bike away for the year after that.
     
  16. TrustGzus

    TrustGzus What does this button do? Staff Member

    I'm involved with two churches (member at one). Both have lots of "men's" studies that don't particularly deal with malecentric topics. Kind of odd. The men like to talk about God, the Bible and theology.
     
  17. tango

    tango ... and you shall live ... Staff Member

    Interestingly the time I did ride 190 miles in a day (it was slightly over but I forget the change), the first 100 miles or so weren't too difficult at all. I was thankful I decided to eat a cereal bar when I did - I thought it was about 15km to the next checkpoint (a cafe, with food) and it seemed pointless to eat so soon before a checkpoint, but I felt like I needed a boost so ate a bar anyway. Then it turned out I misread my distances, and it was actually more like 40km to the checkpoint. 15km (10 miles) was barely 40 minutes that early in the ride, but 40km (25 miles) was well over an hour.

    I once entered a 120km ride that was quite hilly, and cycled to the start (30km), and then back again after the ride. It sounds silly, but I wanted to see how my legs were doing because it had been a cold winter and I hadn't done much riding. Checking to see if I was likely to have a chance to complete the 300km ride took three stages - firstly a 50 mile ride as fast as I could without killing myself (if I couldn't do it in a little over three hours I wouldn't have done the 120k), then the 120k with cycling to and from (180k / 112 miles in total) and then, having figured that the total time I took would have left me something like 10 hours to do the notionally remaining 120km of the 300km ride, I figured I'd be OK if I entered it. I still ended up walking most of the hills in the last 50k or so.
     
  18. tango

    tango ... and you shall live ... Staff Member

    That sounds like a good selection of groups. Sometimes I've found that discussion can turn into little more than "who can say the holiest thing", or things get stuck on the idea that it's a specifically male group and the focus doesn't shift far from either sports or "male issues" (which in Christian circles usually means lust and/or pornography).

    Before I moved the church I was at had a men's group which was pretty good. I didn't get to attend for long before moving but it was good to have a balance between topics. It was also nice, as one not interested in sports, for sports not to dominate everything.
     
  19. TrustGzus

    TrustGzus What does this button do? Staff Member

    At the church where I'm a member the men's group is going through J.I. Packer's Knowing God. Before that it was The God Who Is There by Francis Schaeffer and before that Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology.

    Pretty humble group honestly. Not really much trying to one-up anyone in comments. In fact, I honestly don't see it at all.

    At the other church they're going through R.C. Sproul's Holiness.

    Sports are barely mentioned. I don't think there's a whole lot of sports interest. One guy buys season tickets for the Bears.
     
  20. teddyv

    teddyv The horse is in the barn. Staff Member

    I was a member of a men's group as well and it was pretty focussed on a book we were studying (can't recall exactly which one that was anymore). Our current church has a men's breakfast meeting on Saturday mornings, but I don't want to get up early that day and I'd rather have breakfast with the family.
     

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