Real church needed for real men? - CFN Newsletter 105

CHRISTIAN FAMILY NETWORK NEWSLETTER 105

> Richard Meryon says our churches will have to change if they want more men to come
> Special offer: 50% off football and faith booklet
> News:
> Record numbers call pregnancy helpline
> Mercy Ships to launch largest ever floating medical centre
> Teenagers self-harming - numbers continue to soar
> Sites:
> Is your church breaking the law on copyright and data protection? Check out helpful URC briefing pages
> Fed up with junk mail - these sites could provide the answer
> Marriage MOT: Will you comfort them?
> You've got to laugh: Staying (in)sane at work
> Members' Zone latest

OUR SPONSORS FOR THIS WEEK

... Could be you or your ministry, church or business!

Find out how you can reach thousands via this newsletter for just £50 - mail SteveRogers@christianmedia.org.uk

Hi there

Hope you had a good summer - and are looking forward to your youngsters heading back to school again :)

In this latest update, we've got ...

• tips on how your church can reach and keep more men
• encouragement on letting teenagers exercise their creativity in your church
• news of holidays for single parents
• Eric Spellman's expertise on tackling junk mail ('spam') in your inbox - plus some sites to help you out
• plenty of fun items you'll want to pass on
• relationship advice, news and much more

And a special offer to get Families Together magazine to work in your church and local community - we can supply you with bundles of 50 of our latest issue for just 50p each! If you'd like a bundle (or more), just mail Lyn Bedford on lynbedford@christianmedia.org.uk or call her direct on 01903 602126.

God bless

Russ Bravo
Christian Family Network
info@cfnetwork.co.uk
http://www.cfnetwork.co.uk

PS Christian Family Network is here to direct you to the best in parenting, marriage and family resources; to link you up with other Christian families up and down the UK; and to help you make the most of life as a follower of Christ - at home, at work, at school and college, at play and online.

Your feedback, positive and negative, enables us to develop CFN in the way that is most useful for you - so please tell us if we're off the rails or on the button!

And don't forget - if we can pass on material (sample copies of Families Together, leaflets) which will help you tell your friends and your church about CFN, just mail Lyn Bedford at marketing@christianmedia.org.uk and she'll be glad to help you out.

Real church gets real men

• Christian Viewpoint for Men director RICHARD MERYON has some challenging perspectives on how the Church can reach men with the Gospel
  

Men are self-sufficient, all-capable and have no need of a crutch, so why be a Christian? That’s for wimps and women. And nothing at all happens in church that is of any relevance to men, does it? So there are three good reasons why 98% of the men in the UK are Not Yet Believers, “NYBs”.

At least until something goes wrong, and then on whom do they call? You’re probably saying: “They’ll call on a Christian” but will they? Their perception of what a Christian is and stands for may be quite the opposite of what they feel they need in this crisis, so what are we going to do to put hairs back on the chest of the Gospel?

Men today still enjoy chunky fellowship and so they shoot off to the pub, to the football stadium or to the Masonic lodge. No self-respecting man would expect to find rock solid manly friendship in church. Let’s face it, the three driving forces for men are money, sex and power and what they reckon the church has to say about those will be diametrically opposed to what they want to hear.

Status and success are really important to many men, which is why their work is of such crucial importance. Yet churches rarely ever tackle workplace issues head on. Take a look at your church: when did you last hear a sermon on work? Do you have a theology of work?

Even Christian men sitting on the pews of sound Bible-teaching churches often wonder what’s in the service for them: the preaching deals at best with generic issues, or with churchy or touch-feely things, and the very things that absorb so much of a man’s time in the week are never mentioned.

Consider the real things confronting a man - and many women - at work this week:

Setting profit and loss
Stress
Fiscal control in hard times
Negotiating skills
Human resource management without exploitation
Empowerment
Integrity in advertising
Leadership
Handling redundancy – each side.
Submission
Conflict resolution
Sexual harrassment
Discrimination – race, gender, religious, handicapped
Time management
Work:home:church balance
Personal ambition
Debt issues
Late payment terms
Negotiating parameters
Knowing when to close down
Employing Christians because they're Christians
Materialism
The place for compassion
Self-image
Corporate sponsorship of Christian events

Is your church feeding your men at their point of hunger? And when did the church last pray publicly and seriously for those at work – yes, we pray for doctors, nurses and teachers in the so called “caring professions” but when did you hear a prayer for a Tesco van driver, a policeman dealing with child abuse work, a solicitor handling divorce work each week, a train driver who must spot the red lights so passengers can travel safely.

We pray for those in "full-time Christian" work – but we ALL are! Let’s get church to engage with men on the real issues they face. Believers in close touch with the most Sovereign God have access to infinite resources and must hereby be a business asset, and less of a liability, yet we fail to teach our men to be godly at work.

• For positive steps your church can take, read the rest of this article in our Advice section at http://www.cfnetwork.co.uk/members/advice.asp

>50% off Road to Glory for CFN

This high-colour, 36-page, glossy book contains the 2003-2004 Barclaycard Premiership fixtures arranged on a club by club basis, with interviews with Christian Premiership players (Richard Rufus of Charlton Athletic and Shola Ameobi of Newcastle United), two articles (by Damaris writers) that relate the world of football to the world of faith in a thoughtful and
non-threatening way, and 20 teasing football trivia questions.

The perfect gift for any Premiership football fan. Buy lots and give them to your friends!

Damaris are pleased to provide CFN readers with 50% off Road to Glory until 30 September 2003 (usual price £1.50, now only 75p).

To take advantage of this great offer simply:

1 Go to www.damaris.org and register to get a username and password, if you don't already have one
2 Go to the Damaris online store at www.damaris.org/shop navigate to 'books'
3 Click on 'view products' and choose the quantity of Road to Glory you require
4 Click 'buy now', keep following the instructions until you reach the checkout.
5 Proceed to the checkout and when it asks if you have a voucher for money off items, please enter: CFN. This will deduct 50% off Road to Glory and is valid until 30 September 2003.

> THIS WEEK'S NEWS

Record numbers call pregnancy helpline

CAREconfidential is responding to a record numbers of callers this year.

Go to http://www.cfnetwork.co.uk/members/news.asp for the full story

Mercy Ships to launch largest ever floating medical centre

The worldÕs largest non-governmental medical ship, the Africa Mercy, is expected to set sail in early 2005.

Go to http://www.cfnetwork.co.uk/members/resources.asp for the full story

Teenagers self-harming - figures continue to soar

Accident and emergency staff at hospitals around the country continue to report significant increases in the number of young people coming in having harmed themselves, reports BBC Radio Five Live.

Go to http://www.cfnetwork.co.uk/members/news.asp for the full story

> MARRIAGE MOT

> Check out our archived marriage tips in the Members' Zone, plus stacks more marriage resources at http://www.2-in-2-1.co.uk

Will you comfort them?

One of the questions asked at some church weddings of both bride and groom is whether they will comfort each other. What does it mean to comfort someone? There’s the obvious meaning of sitting with them in their pain and caring for them.

We all need that sort of comforting in our marriages. Sometimes that comforting is needed when we have hurt each other and we need to reach out and begin to show our love and care again. Some sign of tenderness and affection can be the beginning of the process of asking for and giving forgiveness and finding healing. Without the tenderness, we can feel too raw to take the first tentative steps back together again.

There is another meaning of comfort that I have come across. It comes from the Bayeux tapestry of the Battle of Hastings. A war-like bishop is seen prodding his reluctant troops forward with the point of his spear: "The Bishop comforts his troops", the caption says!

I’m not suggesting the sharp point of a spear has a place in married life, but sometimes we need the sort of comfort which encourages us on in life, affirms us, even challenges us and gives us the strength to face a tough situation, when we’re feeling weak and reluctant.

How can you comfort and encourage your loved one today?
.......................................................................
Please rate this Ezine at the Cumuli Ezine Finder
http://www.cumuli.com/ezines/ra20836.rate
.......................................................................

> EVENTS

> YOU'VE GOT TO LAUGH ...

How to keep a healthy level of insanity at work - Part 1

~ Encourage your colleagues to join you in a little synchronized chair dancing
~ Put your wastepaper basket on your desk and label it "IN"
~ Develop an unnatural fear of staplers
~ Finish all your sentences with, "... in accordance with the prophecy"
~ Dontuseanypunctuation in e-mails

Joke of the Week

I spilled Spot Remover on my dog. Now he's gone.

www.MikeysFunnies.com

> CHRISTIAN FAMILY NETWORK THIS WEEK
(MEMBERS' ZONE) - http://www.cfnetwork.co.uk/members/default.asp

> Advice

> Richard Meryon says our churches will have to change if we want to reach and keep more men
> Eric Spellman on keeping spam out of your InBox
> Kate's marriage tips - Will you comfort each other?

> Resources

> Yes, you can trust your teens with a church service - one Belfast Elim church's experience
> Special holidays tailored for single parents and their children
> The mini versus the Rolls
> Things I've learned in life ...

> News

> Record numbers call pregnancy helpline
> Mercy Ships to launch largest ever floating medical centre
> Teenagers self-harming - numbers continue to soar

> Top sites this week

> is your church breaking the law on copyright and data protection? Find out here
> more sites to help you tackle junk e-mail
> watch Christian TV live online
> don't dump that old PC - give it to a charity that recycles them

> Events: More of what's on near you

> Webwatch Index: more than 600 sites at your fingertips

> Site Search Engine: the easy way to trawl our 1,000-page plus archives

Christian Family Network, Christian Media Centre, Garcia Estate, Canterbury Road, Worthing, West Sussex BN13 1EH, UK (01903 821082; subscriptions 01903 602136)

HOW TO UNSUBSCRIBE FROM THIS NEWSLETTER

Just send an e-mail to leave-cfn-newsletter@cfnetwork.co.uk

© Christian Family Network
is run by CPO, supported by
Care for the Family, Marriage Resource, Positive Parenting,
Care, Women Alive, Christian Herald and many others.