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Discipleship Ministries of the PCA

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Reaching Every Man

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Reaching Every Man

Does your church have an effective discipleship process for all the men in your church and community? Here is a way to find out. Rate your ministry on a scale of 1-10 in the following areas:

1. ____ Most men in our church understand what it means to be a disciple,
and its importance.

2. ____ Most of the men in our church have a best friend or band of brothers
who stand with him in his spiritual battles.

3. ____ Our ministry to men provides opportunities for men at all spiritual
levels to become engaged.

4. ____ The participation level of men in our men’s events indicates that we
are scratching where they itch.

5. ____ Our men’s hearts are captured by the desire to show Christ and his
kingdom to the world.

Over the last ten years, several graduates of RTS Orlando, along with a third PCA member, began to conduct extensive research into churches that were effectively discipling men, to determine why they were so successful. They saw time and again that the churches with effective long term processes that produced Godly disciples followed the same principles. For example, they targeted the hearts of men, not their behavior. They thought of discipleship as a relational process that moves men down the discipleship path, so they were intentional about capturing the momentum from their events and building upon it. Instead of expecting the pastoral staff and elders to “disciple” all the men, they built strong lay men’s ministry leadership teams, making Eph. 4:16 the foundation of their discipleship approach. “From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”

These three men, Pat Morley, David Delk, and Brett Clemmer found these key principles to be so consistent in successful men’s ministries that they put them into a book and designed training to make these valuable insights available to men’s ministry leaders across America. The book is called, No Man Left Behind. The insights are also taught in 20-hour regional seminars by the same name, and in a 4-hour Reader’s Digest version for local churches and presbyteries called, Reaching Every Man.

This 4-hour Reaching Every Man training is now available to PCA churches and Presbyteries “to equip the saints for the work of ministry” at a very reasonable price-just $38 per man and $28 per man in groups of 4 or more. This allows our PCA churches to bring 4 men for a little over $100. Thirty-five men already attended an REM seminar at Covenant PCA in Harrisonburg, VA, and PCA churches in Baltimore, MD, Gainesville, FL, Ft Worth TX, and Tucson, AZ are in the process of trying to get an REM set up for their men’s ministry leadership teams. For more information on how to bring this training to your church or presbytery go to www.pcacep.org/Men, or contact Gary Yagel gyagel@forgingbonds.org 301.570.5097.

Does Men’s Fraternity Belong In a PCA Church?

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Does Men’s Fraternity Belong In a PCA Church?
Interview with TE Pete Deison, Park Cities PCA

Article originally part of “Get in the Game”
a periodic email communication from CEP

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(Note: Men’s Fraternity Is a 3 year men’s discipleship curricula, designed by Robert Lewis, pastor-at-large of Fellowship Bible Church in Little Rock, Arkansas and author of Raising a Modern Day Knight. The first year curricula is entitled The Quest for Authentic Manhood. The material, which includes a weekly video clip, can be taught by the local church pastor in a large group setting, can be taught in a small group setting by watching the DVD, or can be listened to on CD by individuals. Pete Deison has been on the staff of Park Cities PCA in Dallas for over 10 years as the Minister of Discipleship.

GITG: Tell us about your experience with Men’s Fraternity.

Pete: It has been great. Just last week we ended the fourth year and we’ve had over 200 of our men involved. We started with The Quest for Authentic Manhood, and then repeated that a second year, which is what they suggested. Then we went on to Authentic Manhood: Winning at Work and Home, and concluded with The Great Adventure series. This is excellent material, which addresses topics men are interested in from a Biblical perspective.

GITG: How was the material presented?

Pete: We met at 6:30-7:20 AM Tuesdays in a large group setting but then broke into small groups for a 30 minute discussion. Tim Tinsley, our Evangelism pastor, and I have shared in teaching the material, with Tim covering the majority.

GITG: On a continuum of spiritual maturity, where is this material targeted?

Pete: We had men of all age groups and spiritual maturity participate. But it is especially helpful as a pre-evangelism tool. The material starts out man-centered as a pre-evangelism door to attract men, but then takes them to the gospel.

GITG: What were the weaknesses of this ministry?

Pete: “The program doesn’t provide material for training the small group leaders in follow-up.It is designed for the leader to facilitate only. In my opinion some follow up material would be helpful. It was left up to the discretion of the leader.”

GITG: What about the strengths?

Pete: We have seen many men come to faith in Christ, many men’s lives changed, and many marriages saved. In fact, when we put Robert Lewis’ lecture up on our website, we found that many of the wives were going there to find out what we were talking about. Also, Lewis’ discussion of the “Father wound” gave our men a vocabulary to start to talk more about some of the wounds to their hearts that are obstacles to whole- hearted surrender to Christ.

GITG: This material is broadly Evangelical, but not particularly Reformed. How did you deal with this issue

Pete: First, anytime you use anyone else’s material you need to present it through your own Biblical lens, which in our case is Reformed. Second, we actually met with Robert Lewis to gain his permission to teach the material from a Reformed point of view. He was very happy to do that. Third, we made adjustments at a few points along the way-but had no problem with the core of the curricula. Fourth, we realized that though initially the material seems man-centered, because it is targeted to lost men, the material is quite God centered.

Believe me, we had our skeptics when we started-but just last week, one of our elders came to me and said, “Pete, I’ll admit that I was skeptical about Men’s Fraternity coming into it. But coming out of it 4 years later I’m looking forward to continuing because I’ve seen so many lives change.”

(If you have further questions, Pete can be reached at pete.deison@pcpc.org)

2009 Mercy Ministries Conference

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In March, Christian Education and Publications and Mission to North America conducted the fifth biennial conference on Mercy Ministries in the PCA. Over 230 participants from twenty-five states gathered for this conference entitled The Church as a Community of Hope: Restoring the Family, Serving the Community at New City Presbyterian Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Because training the church to show mercy is both a privilege and responsibility of discipling people for kingdom service, mercy ministry becomes a tangible way for churches to put hands and feet on the gospel of the kingdom.

The conference had four main objectives:

1. To mobilize compassionate leadership in our churches.

2. To equip congregations to pass on a biblical legacy of leadership characterized by mercy.

3. To understand that justice is a biblical imperative.

4. To develop an integrated approach to ministry so that mercy permeates the entire church.

How successful and effective was the conference in accomplishing those objectives? Curt Moore, Assistant Pastor/Disaster Response Assistant at Lagniappe Presbyterian Church in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi gave the following statement:

“I believe this year was the best Mercy Conference because of the real and practical ways we were encouraged to participate in showing mercy to those in need. It was also an encouragement to hear what God is doing and the diverse ways He is mobilizing His church. With regard to the content, the plenary and break out sessions were led by people who knew what they were talking about and communicated well God’s vision and passion for mercy. Unlike some conferences where you go home and put your notes on the shelf, this conference gave me the encouragement that I could really apply what I learned. What I like best was that it was a very gospel driven, gospel centered conference.”

And others add their comments:

“The plenary speakers were excellent. They were helpful to me personally.”

“An excellent conference with a lot to take back to our church and implement.”

“Definitely one of the high points in my Christian walk.”

“The conferences are impacting my church directly and my community positively.”

“The quality of the speakers and the variety of workshops was just excellent.”

“I wish we could have this kind of mercy ministry conference every year.”

CEP and MNA know this is a crucial time for churches to develop ministries that will be effective during our tough economic times. The 2009 Mercy Ministries Conference offered a program that was pertinent to our current situation. During the plenary sessions, Dr. Bob Burns of Covenant Theological Seminary spoke on Restoring Hope to the Family. Tara Barthel from Rocky Mountain Community Church and Peacemakers Ministry delivered the Friday morning plenary on Living the Gospel in Relationships. Randy Nabors, pastor of New City Presbyterian Church, spoke on The Story of Mercy; and Julian Russell of Park City Presbyterian Church in Dallas, Texas, gave the closing plenary on Kingdom Instructions for Mercy. For a complete list of workshop sessions, check out www.pcacep.org/mercy.

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The New City staff, worship team, and members did an outstanding job of hosting and contributing to the overall success of the conference. During the Friday night session, participants also enjoyed a mini concert from James Ward and the New City Church choir.

CEP Coordinator Charles Dunahoo reminded conference attendees that while the church has been losing ground in the past ten years, it has an opportunity to regain some of its ground by demonstrating integrity and seriousness about its challenge to disciple its people with a kingdom perspective that requires mercy and service. Referring to an article in USA Today regarding depression caused by the current economic crisis, Dunahoo expressed that the church as God’s messenger of the good news of the kingdom is the answer; but the world has to see that it is real, and young people have to be serious about making a difference in today’s world.

If you were not able to attend this year’s conference, you can still benefit from the array of pertinent and beneficial speakers. All the plenary sessions and seminars are available on CD from the CEP Bookstore at www.cepbookstore.com.

How We Teach and How They Learn, Part 2

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In order to understand how to teach, learn, or even preach effectively, we must understand how people process information. This is the subject of learning styles. Most teaching and preaching are done according to one’s own learning style. By doing this we miss reaching those who do not learn the same way we do. Did you ever wonder why you were drawn by certain teachers and preachers and not others? It was because they communicated by the same learning style you have.

There are four basic elements to learning that need to be understood. The first two elements deal with perception; the way we take in new information. This is done in either a concrete or abstract way. Concrete learners perceive things by what their senses take in; and if they are heavily concrete, they see little more than what their senses take in. The opposite is true for the abstract learner. This type of learner takes in new information and conceives new ideas from the concrete. For example, I have two sons. The first sees only what is in front of him; he does not understand jokes or puns. When he drives, he sees the sign that says the speed limit is 35; and he will drive 35 mph, no more, no less. The other son sees the same sign and perceives this to mean 35 is the suggested limit. He has the tickets to prove it.

The next part of the process shows how we order new information. Do we put things in sequential order or random order? Most of us know that when we study history we do so from beginning to the present, and we work accordingly. We also know that what happens in history depends on what went before. This is how the sequential learner lines things up. The random learner sees not the sequence as important but the event itself. To this learner, the order is not important, just the event – in any order.

The individual elements are the easiest to understand. Now we put these together and get their combinations. If you get a learner who is abstract random, sometimes called an Imaginative Learner, you get someone who is prone to be very people-oriented, idealistic, learns by talking things through (teachers love that!), dislikes lectures and working alone, and works better in a colorful environment.

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The concrete sequential (analytics) is a detailed person who loves facts. (Just give me a new dictionary and I’m happy.) It doesn’t mean they want to do anything with the facts; they just love to collect them, such as Cliff Claven from Cheers. These are the great debaters who will use these facts to prove you wrong. This is the ONLY category that learns well by lecture! (Preachers take note.) They also love competition and working alone.

Abstract sequentials are common sense people who like to take the facts gathered by the analytics and figure out what they can do with them to put things to work in some useful way. These too do not learn much from lectures. They are goal-oriented, well structured, resent being given answers, and excel in problem solving.

The last category is concrete random. These are the dynamic people who teachers “hate” the most because they want to run the classroom, think outside the box, and are innovators who use a lot of instinct. They demand flexibility. If you give them an assignment, they will ask if there is a way to do it other than the one you required. They might get the assignment done on time but don’t expect it. These people are natural born leaders and great visionaries, but they are not detailed people.

In Part 3, we will begin to develop each of these four learning styles and put together ways to help them learn.

John Calvin: The Reformer and Educator

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This year, 2009, marks the 500th anniversary of John Calvin’s birthday. Why should we take the time to remember someone of so many years past? Simply because of how God used him to impact the Protestant Reformation and to shape theology with his life, teachings, writings, and emphasis on the sovereignty of God. His system of theology set the course for Protestant thinking. God used John Calvin in a most remarkable way and enabled him to clearly define Christianity in its purest, most biblical and Protestant form.

When we think of John Calvin, we usually do so in a manner that suggests a person who was driven to write volumes of books, treatises, and letters focused on theology and doctrine. Those who know Calvin through his writings and teachings first think of his emphasis on the sovereignty of God and God’s revelation in the Scriptures. Those who are not that familiar with those resources often think of him as the man who taught the “horrible decrees” connected with predestination. They envision the thin man with a pointed face and goatee who was sickly most of his life or the man who encouraged burning at the stake those considered to be heretics.

In discussions over the years with people regarding Calvin, I can generally tell whether a person has actually read Calvin’s writings or simply heard about him from other sources that may or may not be sympathetic towards his teachings. For example, I was recently interviewed by a high school student for a history project because of my Presbyterian affiliation and age. Listening to the young man, especially as we talked about Calvin, I could tell he was getting a picture of Calvin from someone who had never read Calvin. I had to tell him that he was being taught from a perspective that misunderstood what Calvin and Calvinism were all about.

Without counting them all, I have more than ten biographies of John Calvin and have been reading back through some of them for the past several weeks. I was sparked to do this by a new biography by Herman J. Selderhuis, John Calvin: A Pilgrim’s Life (IVP). Though many of my following comments will reflect aspects of all the biographies, much of Selderhuis’ work helped with this article and is the biography I would recommend to you. You will find it comprehensive, readable, and consistent with other biographies, though written in a different style and format.

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Most of you know enough about Calvin to also discern the difference between what people say Calvin said and what he actually said. Calvin was a holistic thinker who understood the importance of thinking God’s thoughts after Him, and the Scriptures were the spectacles through which he was enabled to see God’s truth. It was his rule of faith and practice. He wanted to know everything he could know about God; but as he learned, he realized that God was incomprehensible and there were things that he could not know. Hence, he concentrated on the things that God showed him in the Scriptures. Knowing God is the sovereign God, Calvin knew that through His general grace (common grace) that all truth was God’s truth; and whether he found truth in the special revelation of God’s Word or in the general grace areas of life, truth was all about God.

However, for our purpose here, we want to focus our thinking on John Calvin as an educator. So much of our educational philosophy and foundations can be traced back to him, whether we speak of education in the home, the school, or the church. There is so much to be said, but I will of necessity be selective.

While Robert Raikes is called the father of the modern Sunday school, a careful reading of Calvin’s life will reveal that three hundred years prior to Raikes, Calvin had a Sunday afternoon school for children and youth, primarily to teach them the catechism of the Christian faith.

When Calvin agreed to Guillaume Farel’s insistence that he come to Geneva to teach and preach. Calvin agreed but to do it in the following way. First, he would establish the Reformed faith among the people of Geneva to enable them to be people of the Word. This of course required their being able to read and then understand the Scriptures. Ronald Wallace points out in his Calvin, Geneva, and the Reformation that “it is not surprising that when the citizens of Geneva accepted the Reformed faith, they also at the same time agreed to make a new start with the education of the young.” Calvin’s plans included schooling as his first priority. Wallace points out that in the 1540’s some of the greatest educational experts of the time were at work in Geneva.

Acting on his main concern of establishing the Word of God in the Reformed sense, Calvin would always have as his priority catechizing the youth. In 1537 Calvin wrote his first catechism, Instruction in the Faith. This way of learning using questions and answers was designed to teach the young the Christian faith. He wrote, “The Church of God will never preserve itself without Catechism.” “‘True Christianity’ should be taught in ‘a certain written form.’ Such catechetical instruction would promote unity, supply deficiencies even of some ‘pastors and curates’ and help people not to be led astray by ‘presumptuous persons.'” Not only did Calvin spend his Sunday afternoons teaching children the catechism, he also had the council of Geneva insist that parents assume a major responsibility in the process. About four times a year, church leaders would meet with children and their parents to evaluate and examine their progress in the teaching. This is how Calvin’s catechism became a key resource along with Scriptures.

Calvin was desirous that covenant children be confirmed, generally around the age of 12, and make a public profession of faith, which for him was the door from baptism to the Lord’s Supper. When they could recite the catechism from memory, it was generally accepted as a public profession of faith; and they were admitted to the Lord’s Table. Calvin’s catechism became extremely popular and was translated into several different languages. It was a key reference in the later writing of the Heidelberg Catechism and a good companion to his Institutes.

Calvin insisted that the Geneva Academy, which was his second priority to teaching the children, was to have teachers of the highest standard anywhere. The Geneva Academy opened with 600 students and during its first year grew to more than 900. There were two sections of the institution. Students first went to college with seven grades where they learned to read French, Greek, and Latin. This was called the schola privata. Part two of the institution was called schola publica. In this second level students were taught to be exegetes of the Bible, to learn the basics and be able to explain them. They preached and were evaluated. On Saturdays, students focused on practical theology led by ministers that Calvin and Theodore Beza had discipled. The records show that students came to Geneva from all over Europe. Working with Theodore Beza, the educational institution became second to none.

Following his constant reference to the church as the mother with God as the Father, Calvin did not hesitate to refer to the church as “l’ecole de Dieu,” the school of God. A mother gives birth, nourishes, and educates her children, which according to Calvin is the role of the church. Thorough knowledge of the Bible was essential, because only by knowing the Bible was a believer able to know what God wanted and how God must be worshiped. Calvin wrote that even up to the grave God calls us to His school.

Calvin not only helped establish many schools, he was clearly a promoter of Christian education, or should I say education that is Christian through and through. According to Selderhuis, another important influence Calvin had in Geneva was to give children a significant place in the church. Selderhuis points out that Calvin mobilized the children for singing. With his emphasis on proper schooling, Calvin also believed that the parents could learn from the children.

However, Calvin did not see education as an end in itself. He believed that he had a twofold mandate from God: to train men for the ministry of the Word and to train men for the civil government. His Mondays were spent discipling pastors. This practice allowed him to impress upon clergy the importance of having a pastor’s heart and scholar’s mind and the importance of developing the ability to teach truth in a comprehensible way. Calvin was known for his brevity. One biographer said this characteristic did not refer to length of articles, sermons, or lectures, but to sentence structure. Calvin was a writer-educator.

For Calvin, the educational process required knowing something of the humanities as well as the Word of God. As you read Calvin’s writing, especially in Institutes of the Christian Religion, you quickly find him quoting people such as Plato and Aristotle.

“We have given the first place to the doctrine in which our religion is contained, since our salvation begins with it. But it must enter our heart and pass into our daily living, and so transform us into itself that it may not be unfruitful for us.”

-John Calvin,
Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book III

Whatever we know of Calvin, he was not only a scholar but a real pastor. He was not only a preacher but a teacher par excellence. He insisted that all clergy be learned men with the ability to teach truth to the ordinary person as well as the highly educated.

I remember how impressed I was as a young Christian when I worked al a summer camp whose seal was the Calvinistic seal. The seal showed a heart held securely in a hand; and the slogan was, my heart I give thee promptly and sincerely, or another translation could be willingly and honestly.

It is obvious from Calvin’s leaching and life example that the only successful teacher and educator is the one who lives a life consistent with his teaching. Some of Calvin’s biographies have been titled, The Genius of Geneva, The Man God Mastered, Calvin the Contemporary Prophet, and Selderhuis’ John Calvin: A Pilgrim s life. He set a standard for us to be people of the Word with an understanding of the world into which the Word of God has penetrated. He set a standard for godly living by following the Word of God. He challenged us to see God’s hand in all things working to accomplish His purpose and to know, whether we understand or not, that God controls all things that come to pass. He will complete the work He has begun in us; and yes, there will be a final restoration of all things. It was Calvin’s understanding and insistence on the sovereignty of God over all things that has given us a kingdom perspective. along with a world and life view that enables us to see truth and reality as God reveals it to us through His special and His common grace.

2009 Women’s Leadership Training Conference

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For the first time, CEP took the Women in the Church leadership Conference on the road. It was truly a mountain top experience as over two hundred women traveled to Lookout Mountain, Georgia. March 10-12, to the PCA’s Covenant College.

PresWIC, Bible study, and local women’s ministries leaders, including PCA staff women, gathered to be equipped corporately and individually for kingdom ministry. They were part of this annual CEP event that trains leaders to pass on their training in order that every woman know Christ personally and be committed to extending His kingdom in her life, home, church, community, and throughout the world.

Click here to read entire publication in PDF (Acrobat Reader required)

As we listened to the women who came, we heard:

“Leadership 2009 blended theology and truth-centered teaching from speakers and workshops with many practical applications for implementing ministry. Women left not just ‘inspired,’ but equipped with ideas and resources for leadership.”

“Covenant College was a great venue – [it] worked so well with the Family Matters theme. The quietness of the mountain top campus and the absence of outside stimuli greatly enhanced this conference.”

“As a pastor’s wife, fairly new to the PCA, I walked away with a better understanding of the regional discipleship of PresWIC, the PCA. and covenant theology.”

“Regional training sessions with women from my region of the United States were as beneficial as the plenary sessions.”

“Relationship building with women across the PCA is an important and beneficial equipping I am taking home.”

“Networking at the denominational level was so helpful.”

“Strong covenant theology from our LT pastor; Stephen Estock.”

“I loved the beautiful women who shared their testimonies!”


For those churches not able to attend, begin now to think, pray, and plan about attending leadership Training 2010, February 25-27, in Atlanta, Georgia. Be strategic in looking at the women in your church and region. Who needs to be trained, encouraged, and equipped?

For those churches with representation, CEP encourages you to give them an opportunity to share what they learned and brought back to the local church.

As the PCA continues to grow, there is an increasing need for the ministries of Christian Education and Publications to work with the local church in raising up a generation of leaders and teachers to build upon a firm foundation.

Please join us in kingdom ministry.