CapeMen – Cape Christian Fellowship’s Men’s Ministry

CapeMen

Beginning in 2020 from humble beginnings, CapeMen has grown from a small Bible Study of approximately 20-30 men into a major men’s movement of close to 300 men meeting weekly. In the Fall of 2022 attendance jumped from 30 to 145 men in one week. I believe this rapid growth can be attributed to a variety of factors:

  • 1,000 people a day moving to Florida
  • Lee County is one of the fastest growing counties in Florida and the country
  • Cape Christian’s rapid church growth 25-35% over the past 4 years
  • The hiring of a full time Men’s Pastor with decades of Men’s ministry experience, serving with and overseeing a 6 man Lead Team
  • The support and endorsement of the Lead Pastor
  • The timing and blessing of the Holy Spirit

Another factor of our growth is the philosophy switch from it being a Bible Study to a Men’s gathering. This makes it easy for any man to come, with or without Biblical knowledge. We meet for 90 minutes and the flow of the night looks like this:

  • Welcome, brief introduction as to who we are, announcements—10 min.
  • Worship (we’ve used live and video)—10 min.
  • Live teaching—20 minutes
  • Table Discussion time (most important time of the night)—40 min.
  • Wrap up, close meeting—10 min.

The Fall semester of 2024 CapeMen saw us average 280 men per night (we meet weekly on Tuesday nights) and more importantly, we are seeing lives changed and men’s hearts coming alive for God. We are seeing salvations, baptisms, and authentic discipleship happening on a regular basis. Key to the success for us has been the role of the table leader. We run a 2 man offense—2 men per table that facilitate discussion and care for their “dudes.” These tables really become small groups, where men are finding other men to do life with. Proverbs 24:16 says it well, “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.”

I believe a key factor to this growth is that God has created an atmosphere of full transparency, honest dialogue, and an environment where men can come “pre-loved and not pre-judged.” When leadership is real and transparent, it gives others the license to be as well. We say this at Cape Christian, “No perfect people allowed.” We tell our men that “we are all broken, let’s figure this out together.” Our goal and method is to encourage and challenge men to be all that God has created them to be.

This environment where men sense the love (agape) of Jesus has creates an openness that I have never seen before. Some men on their first night are vomiting their issues of pornography, infidelity, adultery, and addiction and are finding men to walk alongside them and are finding freedom through Jesus.

We have also seen that as men grow they are “buying in” and are getting onto a team. The teams we currently have are: Communicators, Hosts, Table Leaders, Production, Greeter, Usher, Set-up, Social Media, Prayer. We hold several Fantasy Football leagues, host a Fall “Brotherhood Conference” and have sent teams on Mission trips to the Dominican Republic and Mississippi. We are also continually forming small groups that meet outside of Tuesday night for deeper discipleship. Giving men ownership (we currently have 75 volunteers) is essential to the longevity of the ministry and their spiritual growth and development.

We are doing our best to do the natural and He is doing the supernatural. It’s been a blessing, joy, and privilege to see what God has done!

 

Pastor Brian Demmel

Groups and Men’s Pastor
Cape Christian Fellowship
Cape Coral, FL

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