Liam Husband

A dedicated band of inspiring men

Liam Husband shares his thoughts after visiting Kenya with a group of Elim men.

On a missions trip in 2019, my team and I had the privilege of sharing some time with the men’s group of Elim Kosele in Kenya.

The group would meet every second Saturday in the afternoon for a couple of hours. I was encouraged by these faithful men in all they were attempting to do just by simply meeting regularly.

The first thing I noticed about these great guys was the mix of generations. The youngest member was a recent school-leaver, the oldest was in his 70s.

I was inspired by how they related to each other and formed a strong bond together as men of the church. It challenged me to think about the divides we have within our churches and how we can overcome them. What I liked was the relationship these men had with each other as mentors and elders, helping and guiding each other. There is an obvious gap in father figures in Kenya, but these men were working hard to counter that.

Another facet of the group was the simplicity with which they ran it. No gimmicks, no big events, just the faithful few meeting up to read Scripture, encourage each other, and to pray. Every time they came together they took a small collection. They would talk about the needs of the local community, and then plan to do what they could the following Saturday, before coming back together the week after. Here was a group of brothers with very little to use, but what they did have they used to meet the needs of those around them.

These guys were so dedicated to meet; some would walk for an hour just to be there. I was left with stirring emotions, and thoughts of how we can change the way we walk through the challenge of men’s ministry in our local churches.

The simplicity of what they did was the thing I left with, determined to work it out in our local context. What our churches need is an accessible men’s ministry that relates to all. A time to build relationships with no frills and no agenda.

Any thriving men’s group needs a strong foundation of relationship. We know relationship doesn’t happen overnight, but through regular times together. When those foundations are right within the group who knows what could happen, and what God could do through the faithful in their local communities.

Let’s not downplay meeting regularly to simply be brothers, and be there for each other.

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