108 ways to expand your ministry to men
- Charter your church with the General Commission on UM Men to receive a boatload of helpful information.
- Encourage men to become an EMS (Every man shares in evangelism, missions and spiritual life).
- Become a Legacy Builder.
- Obtain a copy of Guidelines for Leading your Congregation in men’s ministry.
- Invite a small group of men to participate in a computer-based weekly gathering based on Wesley’s Class Meetings.
- Use an interest finder to determine what kinds of groups your men might find inviting.
- Encourage men to oppose domestic violence by watching this video and using this discussion guide.
- Honor a leader by making him a life member or inducting him or her into the John Wesley Society.
- Host a United Methodist Men’s Day.
- Subscribe to UM Men magazine.
- Host an “unconference” event with topics selected and addressed by participants.
- Sign up for a free bi-monthly newsletter produced by GCUMM agency staff and officers.
- Host an Upper Room Prayer Line.
- Honor a woman with a Susanna Wesley Award of Excellence.
- Provide an endowment for the United Methodist Men Foundation.
- Participate in Wesley Building Brothers.
- Contact GCUMM staff about engaging in a Lead Like Jesus training event.
- Invite a men’s ministry specialist to help you discover new ways to reach men; contact GCUMM staff for lists of specialists near you. Consider the possibility of becoming a specialist. Take the first step by attending a course in Understanding Men’s Ministry.
- Consider purchasing “I am a United Methodist Man” parchment.
- Order UM Men shirts, hats, pens and other merchandise.
- Participate in Walk to Emmaus.
- Visit a webinar on Crafting a Vision for your men’s ministry.
- Visit a webinar on Goal Setting, Implementing & Feedback.
- Link to Goals Worksheet
Mission Projects
- Develop your personal mission statement.
- Support Hope for Hearing.
- Raise funds for Meals for Millions.
- Sponsor a potato drop with Society of St. Andrew
- Serve at a soup kitchen.
- Perform home maintenance/repairs for elderly church members; build handicap ramps.
- Make repairs to church building and provide maintenance work on church grounds.
- Visit homebound church members
- Give copies of Strength for Service to God and Country to troops at nearby posts or give copies of Strength for Service to God and Community to local first responders.
- Support Strength for Service with Home Depot purchases.
- Join the Strength for Service Society.
- Read to children at school
- Participate in a field gleaning project through the Society of St. Andrew
- Participate in an “Adopt-a-Highway” program or clean up a city park.
- Lead Disciple Bible Study classes at a state prison
- Prepare cleaning buckets or health kits for UMCOR.
- Offer financial education classes to your community,
- Offer nutritional education classes to your community.
- Collect supplies for a food pantry.
- Sponsor an outing for seniors.
- Volunteer at a hospital or VA clinic
- Build mobility carts for PET International.
- Volunteer to serve at a clothing or food bank.
- Entertain patients at a children’s hospital.
- Manage the church website or blog and link the site to a listing of activities sponsored by your UM Men organization.
- Adopt a local elementary school, provide lunches, and volunteer as after-school tutors.
- Be a big brother for an at-risk child through Big Brothers Big Sisters.
- Plant and tend a community garden.
- Provide transportation for elderly church members and people with handicapping conditions.
- Prepare care packets for deployed troops; include Strength for Service to God and Country.
- Participate in a Stop Hunger Now packaging event.
- Sponsor a camping trip or canoe trip for children and their fathers and grandfathers.
- Hold a “movie night” at the church.
- Sponsor a men’s motorcycle or bike ride.
- Send Bibles, Sunday school literature and other Christian material to Love Packages.
- Help feed hungry people by fasting one meal in one year (FAM1LY).
- Engage in a Bible Study on Hunger.
- Become involved in a short-term VIM mission trip
Youth ministries
- Invite a scouting ministry specialist to help you evaluate your youth ministries. Get names of specialists near you from GCUMM staff.
- Volunteer to be a leader for a Cub Scout pack, a Boy Scout troop or a Venturing crew.
- Lead a PRAY (Programs of Religious Activities with Youth) class (former God and Country Awards).
- Honor leaders of youth with a Cross and Flame Award or a Torch Award.
- Give a Silver Torch award to regional or national BSA leader
- Arrange to honor your BSA troop with a Bishop’s Award of Excellence.
- Host a Bishop’s Dinner for Scouting.
- Honor a youth with a Good Samaritan Award,
- Link to a Scouting Ministries Webinar.
- Give youth camp scholarships or help them fund mission trips.
- Take a Cub Scout pack to a museum, the zoo, or a ball game.
- Sponsor a youth sports team.
- Provide New Testaments for high adventure BSA camps.
- Help your church receive a Shepherd Church Charter Recognition.
- Offer to serve as confirmation mentors
Money Raising Projects
- Sponsor a day at a local amusement park, professional ball park or zoo. Arrange for reduced prices with proceeds benefiting mission projects.
- Sports night banquet (invite members of a youth sports team)
- Bake Sale
- Mother/daughter banquet,
- Peanut sales
- Father/son dinner
- Sweetheart dinner and dance
- Barbecue
- Chili cook off
- Congregational dinner
- Fish fry
- Pancake breakfast
- Wild game dinner
- Arts
- Craft fair
- Antique auto show
- Provide parking on church lot for modest fee on game day
- Recital program
- Bazaar
- Fruit sale
- Sell apparel with UMMen logo
- Sell Christmas trees with Boy Scouts
- Sponsor a church-wide yard sale
- Silent auction
- Operate booth at county fair
- Host a Bowl-A-Thon
- Join youth in sponsoring a car wash
- Fishing competition
- Golf tournament
- Mothers' Day dinner
- Sponsor a 5K or Bike-A-Thon