A year and a half ago a group of men from Williams decided to meet to see if there was the possibility of re-starting an organization of United Methodist Men at this church. After many meetings the group put out the word, to as many as they could, that there would be an organizational meeting. This meeting seemed to be a great success; at least to those of us that were trying to organize UMM at Williams. We had more than fifty men attend a steak dinner and got things rolling.
The group progressed to electing officers and regular meetings. The officers thought “well, that was easy; all that was needed was a few wise men to get things started.” Not so fast. The attendance at the meetings, which we continued through the year, began to shrink. By November, there would be less than ten men at a meeting and most of these were the officers.
So, what went wrong? Each time there was a board meeting, the topic of why the attendance was so poor was the main discussion. Many reasons for men not coming were offered. At Williams, you can get only women to meet on committees or groups. The men at Williams just don’t want to associate with each other on a social basis. The meetings are on the wrong day of the week, Thursday; we have the wrong food or it costs too much.
So, let’s quit. It was discussed, to just abandon the effort to get the men of Williams interested in meeting. This would have been the easy thing to do. But as we talked, it was clear, the same core group still believed it was important to continue with the organizational effort. Why? Many reasons. Rather than the number of men interested in the organizational success of Methodist Men going down, we now had more men willing to help organize. But why had we not been successful, so far, and how do we change this?
More meetings were held with a larger core group, new officers were elected. The new board decided several things. First, we totally reject the idea that Williams men are not interested in gathering with other men. We saw how the men that had attended the meetings last year enjoyed talking to each other and how new acquaintances were developing within the group.
We asked; since there is a viable group of women meeting regularly, how are they doing it? Well they have Circles. These are groups of women with like interests who gather to pursue these interests in communion with other women. Maybe if we tried something similar it would be successful. We have begun to organize the UMM into what we call “tribes.” These tribes are smaller groups of men that have some perceived common interest. These tribes will meet as often as they decide, when they decide, and for how long they decide. But, several times each year we will have a large meeting of the whole group of Methodist Men.
Why do we care? Let’s look at what some of the organizing members have to say, in their own words.
“I believe my being a part of UMM is important to strengthen my relationship with Christ and to improve myself as a Christian leader in my home and community.”- Harold Myers
“United Methodist Men is a great opportunity for men of all ages and different interest to come together as a group for fun, fellowship and most important, to support the mission of our church.”
-Ron Rehkopf
“As I considered why UMM was important to me, I looked at the UMM website for the first time. It shows the UMM purpose as “helping men to grow in Christ, so others can know Christ”. Enough said but the “meeting food” is pretty good too!” -Mark Smith
“I have always believed that the strength of a church is the relationships that exist among the members of the congregation. The Methodist men allows me to reach out and build relationships with men who worship in other services, go to other Sunday School classes, are different ages and have other interests. I think that this will help to make me a more rounded person and their witness to me will help me on my Christian journey. Besides it is a lot of fun.” -John Mercy
So please help us on our search for “Vox Via”, the right way to a successful United Methodist Men’s group. Come join us. Join a tribe you are interested in or form a new tribe with other men in the church (all do not have to be Methodist; other Christian men are invited.)
For more information about the Methodist Men contact Ron Rehkopf, Doug Read, Phillip White or John Mercy or call the church office 903-832-8663
