Men’s Conference Launches “Real Men’s Ministry”

Many of the men in the community of Barr have been silently hurting, and haven’t known how to deal with their shame. Feeling like failures as husbands, dads, and men has been a heavy weight to bear. Their extreme poverty and lack of opportunity has sucked the life out of them. One man once said it well: “We feel like spiders stuck in a web and every time we move we get more stuck.” These men haven’t known how to recover from living through years of war, and their lives are filled with regrets.

It was with these men that we had our very first men’s conference six weeks ago. We can honestly tell you that God did great things! The conference lasted for two days, giving the men a chance to learn and open up about issues they had not talked about before. They were amazed at what the Bible had to say about the identity, roles, and responsibilities of a man. It was so different from everything they had been taught.

On the last day of the conference, all of the men were asked, “When did you become a man?” Charles, who is 48, stood up and said, “Yesterday!” Later, he shared, “I have led my family in cruelty and harshness because of my bad experiences. But I hope through this men’s ministry, I can learn to restore my family. I now know God is a good Father and that is the kind of father I desire to be.”

The two-day conference opened the eyes of these men and stirred something deep inside of them, but they knew they needed to learn so much more. And so before they left, a plan was put in place for a monthly fellowship that would include further study and time for discussion. From this, “Real Men’s Ministry” was born! Please pray for this ministry, as the potential for impact is tremendous, not only for these men but for their families - and already, men in other communities are asking for “Real Men” to come to them!