5 Keys to Men’s Small Groups

men's small groups

“Dude … want to get some coffee?” Those six words and a core group of three men were enough to start our Thursday morning men’s small group. But before I show how to get guys to join men’s small groups, allow me to turn the clock back to early 2007.

At that time, the interim pastor of my church of 40 was also serving as the senior pastor of another small congregation of 20. Rather quickly, the leadership of the two churches decided to join together as one. So the men’s ministry was the first to be combined, meeting monthly on Saturdays for breakfast and Bible study. This continued through the launch of the new church.

But as weekly attendance for our Sunday service had grown to about 80 or 90 people, attendance at these monthly men’s breakfasts slowly declined and whatever momentum we’d carried from the launch of the new church had dissipated.

Men’s Small Groups – the History

So the typical pre-Saturday men’s group conversation usually went like this between me and another leader:

“Hey Andy … can you lead the men’s Bible study this month?”

“Sure. When is it?”

“Tomorrow.”

“Who’s cooking?”

“Let’s see … I am, but Phil’s working, Jason hasn’t responded to any emails all week and Ricky said he’d bring the OJ. I’m handling the eggs and bacon … can you do the pancakes?”

Poor Organization & Leadership

Sound familiar? The ministry had become an albatross that wasn’t being led effectively, with organization handled at the last minute. Add to that the declining attendance, the lack of fellowship among the men and it was clear the men’s ministry needed a change-up.

In January 2009, a group of us met for breakfast at a local Denny’s to discuss how we could restart the men’s ministry. It was clear meeting monthly was not conducive to creating a genuine sense of fellowship among the men—and for many of them that was all they wanted. Many were not ready to go deeper.