St Augustine's, Neutral Bay parishioner Mark Edmonds always knew that steak came from a cow, but other than that, he knew next to nothing about meat. To combat this ignorance and to create a unique opportunity for connecting men to church St Augustine's ran an unprecedented outreach event that saw 60 blokes, half of whom were guests, get together to learn about how to cut up a cow. This week Sydneyanglicans.net looks at four diverse events that your church can run to reach out to men.
At the "Men and meat' night the men present were taught how best to cook different cuts of meat and advised which cuts are the best ones.
"Our church organised a "Men and Meat' night in order to learn more about meat, have some fun and to provide easy opportunities for the blokes at our church to invite their mates to hear the gospel," Mr Edmonds reveals.
"Three Daves " Dave Munnoch, the Butcher, Dave Nickoll, the Knife Sharpener, and assistant minister Dave Ould, the Preacher Guy " were invited to entertain and inform us."
According to Mr Edmonds, given the high number of guests, and the "blokey aversion' to "get to know you games', it was unilaterally decided everyone would just be called "Dave' for the night. The only exception was the guest of honour; "Daisy' the Half a Cow.
The event was the first in a series of men’s ministry and outreach events that St Augustine's is planning over the next 12 months that promise to be a bit different to the usual church outreach events.
"Dave the Butcher’s job was to help educate us poor city boys about Daisy " the best cuts of meat and how to cook them. This was informative and a lot of fun, even if our student minister then proceeded to render the different cuts of meat a consistent charcoal texture," Mr Edmonds says.
"Next up was Dave the Knife Sharpener. Dave was always going to struggle with the task of teaching new skills to blokes who would then be expected to put these skills into practice for their wives and girlfriends. Dave was also able to entertain us with stories of how he had cut and stabbed himself numerous times throughout his life. Dave was a real winner."
"Over dinner, Dave the Preacher guy went to town on the meaning of sacrifice. Dave reminded us of what it must have been like to have to offer sacrifices, what a bloody mess being a priest would have been, and just how difficult the whole process was. Dave, by this stage covered in fake blood, then proceeded to talk about the new way " Jesus is the perfect high priest, we need no other sacrifice, and we can be made clean and new. It was an excellent and graphic talk on the importance of Jesus’ work in our lives."
Mr Edmonds says the men at St Augustine’s were very pleased with the night and are happy to provide advice on how to organise and run a Men and Meat event at other churches.
"As a guy who struggles sometimes to ask his mates along to events at church, this was an easy invitation to make, and judging from the responses, a surprisingly easy invitation to accept," Mr Edmonds says.
"We're already lining up more similar events including Men and Machines, at which we ask how much damage a group of men can do to one automobile engine, and Men and Marinade, in which we figure out ways to drown out the flavour of charcoaled meat."
A is for Ale and J is for Jesus
St Luke's, Miranda held their fourth annual international beer-tasting and trivia night on a Friday in late October as a way of reaching out to men who would not normally come to church.
Held in a hall on the St Luke's site, the event known more commonly as "A is for Ale " and J is for Jesus' gave men the opportunity to sample 10 different beers matched with accompanying food, get involved in some beer-related trivia and sit back to listen to a yarn or two about beer and Jesus.
St Luke's parishioners Trevor Lowder and Simon Twist organised the event, which they say is a great way to get men comfortable with being on church property, and to help them understand “that Christian men are not all like Ned Flanders”.
"We first ran the event in 2004 after talking about ways of getting more blokes to church," Mr Twist says.
"We considered what the majority of blokes enjoy and that is sitting and chatting with a beer in hand."
Mr Lowder says the event celebrates beer as a social lubricant for Aussie men while recognising that alcoholism and binge drinking are real problems in Australia.
"Through this event we believe that Christian men can demonstrate that God made beer and he approves of it when it is enjoyed in a moderated and controlled manner," he says.
"Indeed the Apostle Paul himself said ‘I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel that I may share in its blessings'."
The event is a professionally run affair which aims to live up to its name by educating men about beer and Jesus.
This year, every person was given two tastings of beer per round: one local, one international, along with a small meal that complemented the beers.
"In one of the rounds the men sampled a local and imported lager accompanied by kangaroo skewers, whilst the final round was more like dessert, with a Belgian chocolate stout matched with a handmade chocolate truffle," Mr Twist says.
Along with some beer notes and a stubby holder there was also a gospel of Luke placed on the chairs so each man could take home a part of the Bible.
"We want to introduce blokes to Jesus and we do it while sharing in a common interest: beer," Mr Lowder says.
Almost 250 men between the ages of 18 and 60 attended the event and although all the tickets were distributed through members of St Luke's, over 150 of the men present on the night were non-church-goers.
Mr Lowder says this year's event had more gospel content than any previous event, a result of the organising team responding to feedback.
"In the first couple of years we toned down the gospel content and treated the event as pre-evangelistic with some subtle Christian messages throughout, with the main achievement being that we had brought men to the church property and opened invitations to other outreach events," he says.
"However, the feedback from guests was that they were prepared to "sit through' a bit more of a gospel message since they were coming to a Christian event. So this year we ramped up the message and took advantage of that."
"Because the men there were brought along by friends and many had been to the event previously, we could be more frank in the message we delivered," Mr Twist adds.
Both Mr Twist and Mr Lowder agree that the success of the Ale night has given men in the church more courage in inviting their friends to other church-related activities.
"Once someone says "yes' to coming to one event it really motivates the men to invite their mates to something else."
Men "rescue' car accident victim
What does a bishop, a barbecue, and a fire rescue team have in common?
On a Saturday night in September, the Bishop of Wollongong Al Stewart joined a group of men gathered around a barbecue as the NSW Fire Brigade officers started to "rescue' a person trapped in a car at the Engadine-Heathcote Sand and Soil gravel yard in the Heathcote industrial estate.
The place came to life with floodlights illuminating the staged horrific crash scene as generators filled the night air with noise at the mock rescue site.
The night was put together by Engadine Anglican Church in the south of Sydney as an outreach event for local men.
Senior Minister, the Rev Rick Lewers, says it was a brilliant event for Christian and non-Christians alike.
"So many of our men were involved with the set-up of this exciting evangelistic event," Mr Lewers says.
"Neil Robson, who regularly tours with a pit crew, talked about the hidden dangers involved in driving and the simple precautions that can be taken to ensure that a family vehicle is roadworthy and secure."
A car which had been damaged beyond repair was brought into a local gravel yard for the exercise and an emergency fire rescue team demonstrated how they use their equipment to free a person trapped in a vehicle.
"Blokes don't think a lot about death so it was a sobering moment as the captain of the brigade talked through the confronting realities of the work he and his team do. The jaws of life were put to great use on the night," Mr Lewers says.
Bishop Stewart spoke to the 90 men present about the importance of eternal matters.
"If death is always so close at hand, then the most important question for every man is "what happens after I die?'," he said.
Bishop Stewart called on men to ask themselves the question "What must I do to make sure my family and I have security for eternity?'.
Mr Lewers says it was a great night for men.
"Many of the men who attended wouldn't necessarily consider coming to church " but to be able to come and hang out with other blokes, have a good feed, and hear a straight-shooting talk about life, death and getting right with God " that actually appeals to most men. And when you add to the night such an amazing display of our fire rescue service's skill " it all combined for a fantastic night," Mr Lewers says.
"We hope these kinds of events will become even more commonplace as we move toward getting into full swing with Connect09."
Men making meals
On a Saturday afternoon in late October, St Matthias', Centennial Park held "Extreme Cuisine 4 Men' with the aim of getting the men in the congregation to learn to cook, so that they could better love and serve their wives.
The rector of St Matthias', the Rev Warwick de Jersey says he wanted to run a simple but very useful event.
"We stole the idea from St Stephen's, Normanhurst who did it earlier in the year on a much grander scale," acknowledges Mr de Jersey.
"We had a shorter lead-up time so we picked a few of ideas out of their event and did it in a way that meant it could all be done in one afternoon."
Mr de Jersey and four other able male cooks from the congregation each came in to teach one signature dish so that by the end of the three hours each man would have three new meals he could cook at home.
"It was a great way to help them to love, care for and serve their households in the kitchen, so their wives aren't always left thinking about cooking every night," he says.
Each man was given a specially made cookbook containing the five recipes from the day. Every ingredient in the book is accompanied with a note about the aisle in which it can be found at Coles Bondi Junction so there is no excuse for any man missing a key ingredient when preparing meals at home.
"Each bloke did his own preparation on the day, cutting up and cooking everything so that when they got home they would have the confidence to do it again at home for the wives. We also had a wine lover from the congregation come in who picked a $15 bottle of wine," Mr de Jersey says.
"I think wives would love their husbands to take a more active role in cooking. This is a way of putting Ephesians 5 into practice in the home. It is also a great way for blokes to grow as friends as they achieve together and eat
together."
