Online registration is open for Lutheran Men in Mission 'summit'

by Frank Imhoff, ELCA News Service

"Building for the Future" is the men's ministry summit that
Lutheran Men in Mission (LMM), the men's ministry of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), has planned for
Aug. 3-5 near Navy Pier in Chicago. Promotional materials
challenge the notion that church is just for "nice" guys. "Is it
also for guys who sit shirtless in the stands of a NASCAR race,
struggling with addictions, relationships and work?"

At a time when men are becoming a smaller minority in church, LMM
is looking at the message a man may get in church. "Does the
setting tell him that this is a place where men are welcome?"
The declining percentage of men in church is having a negative
effect on congregations and families, the materials say. "What
would happen in your congregation if just 10 more men were more
deeply committed to Jesus Christ?" The summit is to address
these questions and help men "grow in their relationship to God,
and build men's ministry in their congregations and churchwide."

Speakers will include David Anderson, Paul Hill and Roland
Martinson, authors of "Coming of Age: Exploring the Spirituality
and Identity of Younger Men;" Dick Hardel, executive director of
the Youth and Family Institute; and David Murrow, author of "Why
Men Hate Going to Church." Dakota Road will lead music and
worship during the event, and Peter Mayer, lead guitarist for
Jimmy Buffet, will perform a special concert.