So here at CVM we have been long-time supporters of encouraging men into men’s groups, and I thought that now would be a great time to just write a few blogs about it: why we are so focussed on it and how you and your mates can benefit from them. So, without further ado – let’s go.
Brutal honesty
I have been part of a men’s group now for maybe four years: we’re a group of seven fellas and work hard to keep the DNA and focus sharp, about providing a space and place for each of us to bring the rawest of ourselves to the fire, to seek Jesus authentically and to live that relationship and intimacy out with courage.
Let me ask you a question – reflect on it personally:
Where do you go to reveal the real you?
I am not talking here about the stuff you have done necessarily, the good or the bad, the mistakes and the mess. Rather the levels deeper than that, the places in you that have shaped, and are shaping, who you are and how you are deciding right now to live your life.
Deeper places of hope, dreams, passions un-reached or acquired, goals, frustrations, ruts or hurdles that caught you and held you as you watched the rest of ‘the pack’ run off into the distance.
I am talking about the stuff in our lives that I think, by and large, we don’t go to anyone with. The stuff deep in you that you think ‘I could never explore this, be honest about it or real enough with anyone to surface this thing to even start to understand it.’
That stuff! Where do you go to fill the balloons of buoyancy around this stuff, to bring it up from the eternal blackness in our lives to the piercing light of day: to examine it, understand it, heal it or learn from it?
My guess will be that you don’t – you don’t go near it, maybe you tried but couldn’t get it to move. Maybe you tried and got wounded even more trying to lift this stuff, so it’s now shut off, but its tentacles still reach up from the depth and choke you. Even today you might have felt that.
When we get plugged into a group of guys where the DNA of the group is clear, we create brutal honesty at this level; we pursue Jesus, His truth and the revelation and power of the Holy Spirit – stuff changes. It changes for us, for our family, and for our mates and family who don’t yet know Jesus. It changes because we surface as free men with a free heart and a fire in our belly to share the life of Jesus.
That’s one reason why at CVM we really want to encourage guys to be in a men’s group.
If you want to know more about setting up a men’s group, some tools and ideas to kick things off then you can get in touch with us here at CVM.
You can partner a men’s group with us and get plugged into the movement of CVM to introduce 1 million men to Jesus.
