Men bond over food. Feed them!
Ingredients: 2 bags Nacho Doritos, 2 bags Cool Ranch Doritos.
Prep: Pour into a large bowl. Toss. Serve.
The Manhood Talks
Week 1
Be Men | Our Stories & How this Works
Before the meeting: preparations
Download as PDFMeeting prep checklist
Watch the Week 1 Leader Video (4 min).
Set a meeting place & time with your men. Have them bring a Bible, a journal, and a pen.
Review this Leader Guide & prep the challenge.
Preview the Week 1 Group Video (12 min).
Bring to the meeting
Bible, journal, pen, & this guide.
Video display with Week 1 Group Video cued up.
Cookie cutter (object lesson).
Snack.
Recipe of the week
Dorito Salad
Week 1 goals
Start the conversation by talking through what it means to be a man in our own lives. Begin a perspective shift where we stop seeing manhood as us conforming into some masculine image and begin to see it as part of God transforming us into His image.
Leader tip of the week
The key to get a group talking is asking questions in the right order. Follow the S.P.I.T. guide to help them open up: Start Simple. Make it easy to speak up. What does the verse say about…? Then ask about Personal experience to help them connect and relate. Have you ever…? Next, ask for Insight with why and how questions to make them dig deeper. Why do you think God says…? Finally, ask a Thinker and help them ponder questions without clear answers. What would you do if…?
Watch the Week 1 leader video (4 min)
Discussion prep
Men bond over words. Guide them!
1st Corinthians 16:14 includes a simple call to “act like men.” Some Bibles translate it as “be courageous,” but the original language is be men. It’s a stirring call for every young man, so we’ll start the conversation there. Key talking points will be:
Defining Manhood. Every boy grows up with conflicting definitions. Help your young men articulate their ideas, and share what manhood meant in your youth and how your view changed as you grew up.
Four Pillars. Every week we’ll come back to the four pillars of manhood in 1st Corinthians: faith, courage, strength, & love.
Conform vs. Transform: As we begin this journey of identity formation, Romans 12:2 provides essential guidelines. Don’t conform, be transformed. Object Lesson: cookie cutter
Group meeting
Group challenge (10 mins)
Knots! Click here for directions
Ice breaker (8 mins)
What’s the weirdest thing you had to do because you’re the man? Why do you think men are called on to do certain things?
Group video (12 mins): Be a Man
Small group discussion (30 mins)
Start with prayer and the Rules of Engagement: Speak with Grace, Listen with Humility, & No Shaming. Value everyone’s input and create a trusted space.
Part 1: Be a Man
Key Verse: “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2).
- Read 1 Corinthians 16:13-14 in several translations (NIV/NKJV differ from ESV/NASB).
- Simple: Why is the phrase “act like men” also translated “be courageous”? How do those relate?
- Personal Experience: What does it mean in your world when someone says man up or be a man?
- Insight: When each man shared what man up meant, which answer did you relate to? Why?
- Thinker: All of the men said their answers changed as they grew up. How do our views of what it means to be a man grow & change as we mature?
Part 2: Conform vs Transform
- Read Romans 12:2. Challenge the guys to restate it in their own words.
- Object Lesson: How does a cookie cutter illustrate conforming to this world?
- Simple: How is transforming different from conforming? How does the verse say it happens?
- Personal Experience #1: Name some things that we do to conform to an image of masculinity.
- Personal Experience #2: What things in your life pushed you to actually grow up and man up?
- Insight: How does “renewing your mind” happen? What sort of man is God transforming us into?
- Thinker: Is conforming always wrong? Does church ever push us to conform, and is that wrong?
Take Home Truth: Every young man is called to man up. The world presses us to conform into a manly image. God transforms us into His image.
Wrap-up
Review the take-home truth. Verify that everyone is on the Manhood Talks plan on their phone and on the same group chat for daily discussion questions. Pray together to close.
Please feel free to reach us at [email protected]
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