Anthro Groups

by Joe Thorn on January 20, 2009

anthrogroupmeeting

This morning I met with some of the men of Redeemer Fellowship. Earlier this month we launched Anthro, our men’s ministry that aims at helping our men to “live, love and lead” the way God has designed. As we have been developing our systems in the church for discipleship, we wanted a process that would be profitable, managable, and streamlined. This first year will cover basic doctrine, its connection to the gospel, and our lives as men. The year is broken down into 3 trimesters.  This first trimester (Jan-March) we are using part of Grudem’s Bible Doctrine and Keller’s The Prodigal God. We also handed out supplemental reading in the form of a “reader” for each trimester. This first reader has material from Thomas Watson, Octavious Winslow, Drew Goodmanson, Darrin Patrick, Michael Horton, and others. We have two groups that meet every other week. One group meets early Tuesday morning before work, and the other group meets Saturday mornings.

The men are excited about these gatherings, and the discussions have been great. At this early stage in our church’s life, this is a good fit for us, but I’m always interested in what others are doing to disciple the men at their churches, so please share.

About Joe Thorn

I am the Lead Pastor of Redeemer Fellowship in Saint Charles, IL, and author of Note to Self: The Discipline of Preaching to Yourself. Jen is my wife, and Katherine, Elias, Madeline and Kilian are my kids.

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  • Jason Watson

    Hi Joe,

    I am teaching through Grudem’s Bible Doctrines book in February. Is there any chance you could post any notes or topics from those meetings. I would love the reference material.

    Thanks,

    Jason

  • http://crossbridge.cc Chuck Land

    Joe,
    This looks great!

    I took a group of men through Gospel Transformation this past year and it was awesome.

    I love the format you are using.

  • http://www.vellezerit-shkoder.com 68guns

    Joe,
    yet to start a men;s group with the church.

    problem is the material.

    Was thinking of using this…http://www.thegoodbook.co.uk/Man-of-God–gmog_1037/

    But it appears very difficult to find material specifically for men. ( and that is theologically sound, challenging and culturally relevant for where we are based)

  • http://www.relentlessgrace.wordpress.com Robbie Schmidtberger

    Impressive. Love the tone and subjects of the reader.

    My church has an informal men’s ministry; we recently went through a merger and the ministry of the church is in the replant and launch stage. There are two groups that meet every week: one on Saturday at our church, the other on Tuesdays at a local Paneras. Ironically there is a big age divide between the two. The two groups lack definition, but there is a desire to discover what it means to be a man. One book we (Tues. morning group) consider using is Mahaney’s “Sex, Romance, and the Glory of God.” or his “Humility.”

  • http://www.joethorn.net Joe Thorn

    Thanks guys. I’ve been looking at what others are doing, asking around and in the end decided this was the best way for us to move forward for where we are and who we have. Our two groups are generationally diverse, ranging from young 20′s to 60′s.

    Jason, I’ll be putting up meeting notes/outlines on the church blog.

  • http://www.menowar.blogspot.com marcelo

    Joe,
    Love what you are doing. I’m part of a very small church and we get together on Saturday mornings. We don’t have a specific curriculum but we talk about diverse issues in light of the gospel. We also share material ( lectures, podcasts, sermons, books etc…) we have found helpful recently. It has been a blessing so far.
    I also like the fact that there are older men in your group. Young guys tend to feel immortal and unbeatable so it is good that the wiser men impart their wisdom to them.
    God bless.

  • Scott Eaton

    Great idea, Joe. Last year I started a men’s group on Thursday mornings at 6:00am. We already had one or two men’s groups that met, but they weren’t/aren’t really doing much but talking around a very loose Bible study. These guys were a bit resistant to change so I decided to plow around and do something new.

    This new group consists regularly of the same 12-15 men. We meet at the church for an hour. We slowly work our way through a book. The guys like it that way. Our first book was “The Discipline of Grace” by Jerry Bridges. It was transforming for the men. Right now I am challenging them greatly with “According to Plan” by Graeme Goldsworthy. This book is considerably more challenging than Bridges, but they are really starting to get it. Most of them have never read anything on this level.

    After we conclude most guys head off to work, but a few of us try to catch some breakfast at a local restraunt just for fellowship. It is open to any of the guys who want to come and the breakfast crowd changes every week.

    This group is honestly a dream come true for me. The men are studying things they would not normally study and are liking it and growing. Sorry to ramble – but I’m excited!

    By the way, how do you download that Anthro Reader thingy from Media Fire? I couldn’t figure that out (techno challenged). I was intrigued by the Botox ad, though.

  • http://www.joethorn.net Joe Thorn

    Very cool Scott. I hope these men will have a good influence on the others in the church and things will spread!

    Re: mediafire. On the left hand side of the page is text in blue that says, “Click here to start download.”

  • http://templeoflife.wordpress.com Jeremy

    I hope you don’t mind my downloading and exploring the reader. Great stuff in there I’d like to share with dudes out here in Olympia, Wa.

  • http://www.joethorn.net Joe Thorn

    Of course that’s fine. Hope it helps!

  • http://www.benarment.com Ben Arment

    Joe, you’re such an amazing photographer. Looking forward to meeting you someday…

  • http://www.joethorn.net Joe Thorn

    Thanks Ben. It’s just a cameraphone shot processed via Flickr’s “picnik” app. (added a vignette and softened the shot).

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  • http://aubuchon.wordpress.com Bob

    Is the Anthro Reader comprised of readings/chapters you have come across? Just wondering how to compile such. I very much like what you are doing. Use to do a “iron men” group on Tuesday AM … looking to create a new men’s study. Thanks for the stirring.

  • http://www.joethorn.net Joe Thorn

    Well, most of what’s in the reader is supplemental to the required reading in the books. And yes, I had a lot of those articles in mind in advance (I already have things in mind for the second reader next trimester). But some things I came across while putting things together for that first trimester. Modern Reformation magazine (you need to be a subscriber) and Monergism (free) are good resources for articles coming from the Reformed perspective.

    If you put something together Bob be sure and share it with us!

  • http://www.relentlessgrace.wordpress.com Robbie Schmidtberger

    What do you think of R. Kent Hughes’ Disciplines of a Godly Man? Specifically for a group of 3 young and newly married guys wanting to be better spiritual leaders. A few questions that we want to discuss are: family worship, personal Bible reading and sanctification, and being a faithful husband.

    • http://www.joethorn.net Joe Thorn

      It’s been a while since I read that one, but I remember it being okay. I think how you handle a book/material is as important as the book itself. An okay book can be used in a very positive way by a good leader.

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