I’ve been thinking a great deal over the years about the way we communicate the “good news” about Jesus to men.  We wonder why we see so few men becoming followers of Jesus but fail to effectively and analytically look at the message we are communicating, the way we are communicating it and who we are communicating it too.

So, here are a few blog posts over a few weeks about telling ordinary men about Jesus.

I strongly believe that the church is failing to operate behind enemy lines.  As far as I can see, the UK church is rarely in the front line trenches of proclamation and hardly ever behind enemy lines. Check this very simple diagram out:-

Dave (mark 1) is not a Christian.  He doesn’t give a stuff about what you believe unless he’s had a couple of beers.  He is after-all, like most men, an expert on everything already. Sure he likes to row with you in the pub but for the most part he doesn’t really care about church stuff and its not at the top of his list of hot topics to discuss with his mates.  Working class Dave wrote the church off years ago.

So who is Dave?  Well, Dave drinks beer, loves football (West Ham of course) and thinks that Jeremy Clarkson (if you don’t know who he is, you need to get out more) should be Prime Minister.  He has a skilled manual labour job, only goes to church when someone gets married, drops dead or chucks water on their kids head before having a few beers and a roast dinner.  He doesn’t care about atheism, creationism or any other ism.  He’s a bloke.

Then there’s Dave (mark 2).  Dave is a full on fired up follower of Jesus.  He prays, tithes, has a quiet time and feels guilty when he doesn’t. He goes to the mid-week prayer meeting and a home group.  He smiles at the little kids in the church and helps out sometimes at crèche.  He happily sits through long sermons and sings emotional songs to a man.  He has embraced churchianity and christianity.  He is Dave redeemed, tamed and cleaned up.  (More on the “taming of the Dave” in future weeks).

There is however a massive problem.  Most church evangelism starts where the church is on the diagram.  Way too far along the scale of belief.  To go on an Alpha course, you need to be prepared to sit and have a meal with a stranger, over a structured 10 week course, attend a Holy Spirit weekend and share your feelings.  Alpha is amazing as is Christianity Explored.  But to attend you have to be prepared to want the conversation and be fairly committed to seeing it through.  You’ve also got to be able to work through some real church sub-culture stuff and get the jargon. (More on this issue in future editions as well).  He’s also got to filter a message that tells him that he’s needy and needs a saviour.

Basically, it’s not going to happen is it?  Or if it does its rare.  Sure, someone will write to me and tell me how Dave came through but its not happening in massive numbers is it.

The church needs to learn how to operate in the realm and world of Dave (mark 1) and that friends, is behind enemy lines.  At CVM we view it as a massive victory if we move a bloke along the scale of belief.  Get a debate going with Dave that’s not beer fueled and you’ve won a skirmish behind the lines.  He accepts an offer of prayer and you’ve neutralised a defensive shield.  Get him to your church blokes clay pigeon shoot and bonfire and you’ve taken an enemy position out.

Firstly of course you’ve got to get behind enemy lines and to do that you’ve actually got to make some mates who aren’t followers of Jesus. I kid you not when I tell you that I know evangelists who haven’t got any mates who aren’t followers of Jesus. So lets get out there.

Future blogs will cover:- jargon, what is good news to a man, church for men and more.

As a final note, you’ll realise that this blog is about actually telling people about Jesus.   The UK church is swamped just now with loads of political and social justice activity.  I’m deeply involved in some of this activity.  Its all good stuff but I appeal to you that we mustn’t lose proclamation.  As far as I’m concerned, the biggest injustice of all is that people die without knowing Jesus.

This blog was first published on carlbeech.com

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I suppose I’m a fairly typical guy. I love Top Gear, sport and action movies. I love extreme (ish) endurance challenges, prog rock (cant believe I just admitted that) and nothing more than and banter filled evening with my mates. I’m also madly and deeply in love with my wife of 19 years and I totally adore and love to bits my two daughters Emily and Annie who are 12 and very nearly 14.

I also have a sex drive. I’m a red blooded male, so what do you expect? The fact we don’t talk about it much in churches doesn’t mean that we don’t. However, there’s a problem. The world outside the church is highly sexually driven but they do talk about it. In fact, they don’t just talk about it; they flaunt it and get in everyone’s faces. The church by contrast seems powerless to respond and the sexualised culture we have marches on.

There’s a lot I could say but in a few short words I’ll say it as it is:- I’m pretty sick of the porn peddlers. It drives me mad (anger is a very underrated fruit of the spirit). I walk into a newsagent with my two girls and right in their faces are a bunch of lads mags with bare breasted women and smutty headlines. So what’s that saying to my girls? Its saying something like;

“you are objects of sexual gratification for blokes…that’s all your good for.”

And what’s it saying to men? I guess its something like; “this is what drives you…we know what you’re really all about…we know what you really want…and its smut and sleaze”


Time to take a stand I think fellas.

You want to make a difference? Next time you see lads mags in a newsagent at eye line, either turn them all around or scoop ‘em up and place them on the counter and ask them to be displayed more appropriately. Evil persists when good people do nothing. (Edmund Burke).

It’s also time for blokes to start to speak up and put up. We’re not all driven by sleaze. We can flipping love sex but be monogamous and strictly eyes front. We need to start fighting the porn cancer that’s eating at the hearts of men. Watch this space but I feel like a man at war.

As for page 3? It’s become so culturally ingrained we’ve forgotten how demeaning it is for us all. I’m writing this on the day that the Duchess of Cambridge had a picture taken of her topless on holiday whilst in private. It’s a disgrace. Lets show that we want no more part of this. Take 5 minutes and sign this petition. Time to start demonstrating that ‘real men’ don’t do porn.

Carl Beech

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The last time I was interviewed by Christian.co.uk, it was the most-read article on their website for weeks on end. This interview was written and first published by Sam Hailes here…

Having seen the head of Christian Vision for Men (CVM) give his seminar at New Wine, I waited patiently as a queue of people formed to speak to Carl. He would later reveal, while making a point about lust being a “primary issue” for men, that every conversation he had was about sexual sin.

After half an hour of Carl counseling and praying for people, we made our way to the speaker’s tent to discuss his vision of seeing a million men come to faith in Jesus.

One Million Men

Carl tells me that according to surveys, 75% of British men are antagonistic when it comes to the gospel. “Which leaves 25% who are not…I think we can take a million of that 25%. I think it’s a God given figure actually. I had a prophetic guy contact me recently who said ‘I don’t think a million is enough, you need to up your game’ which is quite interesting.”

Speaking bluntly throughout our interview, Carl keeps his answers to my questions brief and to the point. He’s just explained CVM’s four levels of evangelism. 500 small groups across the UK and beyond aim to: 1) Befriend other men 2) hold an event with a speaker who shares the gospel 3) organise an all male course further explaining the gospel 4) help people find a male friendly church.

Starting a fight

Next, the subject turns to testosterone.

“I’ve got my testosterone for a reason and since I don’t need to hunt a stag for dinner anymore, I might as well use it for something,” Carl says

“I’m trying to call the guys to get involved in a fight with something that’s noble and good.”

“We’ve been given a fighting spirit so I’m trying to call the guys to get involved in a fight with something that’s noble and good. I’m not talking about bar room brawls but the spiritual equivalent of that.”

“Let’s tackle issues like violence against women, seek to become better husbands and fathers or if we’re single keep our sexual integrity. We’re there to make a profound difference and bring men to Christ. So use your testosterone for good.”

The Code

The 12 point honour code Carl developed has resonated with thousands of men across the UK. What is it about?

“It’s like a new monastic order without the celibacy and we can still have a drink,” he says.

“The idea is you read it, are inspired by it and take action because of it. There’s things like ‘Jesus is my captain brother, rescuer and friend’ which is a declaration of faith and the last one is ‘I’ll never give up because he’ll never give on me’ which is a declaration of grace.”

“There’s stuff like ‘I’ll treat all men and women as brothers and sisters.’ If you do that you’re not going to jack off to porn because she’s a potential sister in Christ.”

“We thought about 12 areas of a man’s life that need to be brought into sharp focus. It took two years to work out 12 statements. Normally I do things in half an hour so that was quite challenging,” he admits.

The Manual
Following on from The Code, Carl has just released a series of short snappy devotions for men called The Manual.

“On the basis that most men’s attention span is short and we like things that are blunt and direct we thought we’d pick on the issues that man are facing. They are 200-300 words long and start with a verse and end with a prayer. The idea is everyday a guy can pick them up, read it and get something out of it. It’s not irrelevant fluffy stuff, it’s real stuff that men are facing.”

Although these devotions are hot off the press, feedback has been rolling in already. “I had one guy saying he’s reading it outside of work with two younger men he’s led to Christ before they walk through the office doors. Crucially what we’ve done is we haven’t dated it, we’ve numbered it. If blokes miss the date they won’t look back at it through guilt but if they are looking at number 13 it doesn’t really matter.”

“It’s not irrelevant fluffy stuff, it’s real stuff that men are facing”

‘Why are there tissues everywhere?!’

Those familiar with Carl and his ministry will be unsurprised to hear him complain about what he calls the “romanticisation” of the Church. His seminar at New Wine included a moment where he kicked a box of tissues across the stage asking, “Why are there tissues everywhere!? Do they think we’re all going to cry or something!?”

It was moments like this that made me compare Carl to the controversial US pastor Mark Driscoll. “Yeah people say that,” he replies when I put this to him. “We’re the same age but I’m not as belligerent as he is. I don’t know. I think I’m my own man.”

CVM’s annual event, The Gathering certainly sounds like an event for manly men. “1500 guys together in a field. We burn stuff, eat stuff and talk to people about Jesus. We sing hymns, we don’t sing romantic songs. We make a lot of noise and it’s great fun. We have sports cars and that kind of stuff, it’s good blokey fun.”

Inflicting intimacy

Carl says the women he speaks to hate the romanticisation of the church too. “There’s a really small group of people who are really heavily into some of the intimacy stuff and I wouldn’t want to take that away from them but I would say is ‘don’t inflict that on the rest of us who don’t get it.’”

“A lot of people think you’ve not achieved this revelation of God if you’re not in that zone. They think you’ve got issues because you can’t say ‘Jesus is my lover’ or ‘He is beautiful’. I say ‘if that means I’ve got issues then I’ll keep them! I like those issues!’”

Amusing throughout our short conversation, Carl isn’t afraid to be direct and make important and weighty points. But he isn’t quite as macho as he sometimes comes across. “I drink warm beer in warm pubs with newspapers,” he says as we finish our conversation.

After thanking him for his time, I get up to leave. “Don’t write anything that will make people hate me too much,” he asks. Smiling I reply, “I’ll do my best!”

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It was on Easter Sunday that Jesus rose from death. Jesus had told his disciples before he was arrested that he would be crucified and on the third day he would rise from the dead.

Sunday was the third day from Good Friday (Good Friday, Holy Saturday, Easter Day).

The second day after Good Friday.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Walter Raleigh

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During a weekend of speaking and conferencing in London, Dean (CVM Managing Director) and I were heading back on the Northern Line to our hotel, when Dean spotted a woman being forced aggressively against a wall by a man. Our train was in the station with the doors open. It looked like it was going to get nasty and as Dean got out of his seat I saw the woman try to slap the man in the face to get him away. He was so close to her and so forceful that she couldn’t get get her hands free properly.  She looked terrified. Not good.

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I was present at the birth of both of my daughters.  It was of course an amazing experience and far more exhilarating then the gas and air that I sampled earlier in the labours. (Just checking it was safe of course, much like Nehemiah and the King’s wine).

When both of them were born, I gave them a cuddle within minutes of their birth.  Both occasions were profound moments. I heard a still small voice that I knew to be from the Lord. I had a distinct sense from God that He was telling me that they were in effect on loan to me. My job was to raise them and to show them Jesus through the conduct of my life and by sharing with them the things that we saw God doing in our lives.

Now, don’t get me wrong. The kids have heard us row as well as seen us make up.  They’ve seen me get it wrong and they’ve heard me apologise to them. I’ve prayed with them and at times neglected to do so because I’ve been away or taken my eye off the ball. I’ve shared the stories of what Jesus has done in my life and heard them beg me to tell them another story…only to go for chunks of time when I have let it slip. In other words I am doing my best but I get it wrong plenty of times. One thing I have done is pray for them frequently and for a variety of things, including any future husbands they might meet. (I’ve been praying for that since before they were born!)

As part of our commitment to our kids development spiritually, Karen and I started to lead the Sunday school group they are part of.  (As an aside I really do believe we need more men leading kids work so I’m putting my time where my mouth is).

During one time of preparation for Sunday my eldest sat and read the Bible with Karen. For some reason, this gripped my daughter and she took it upon herself (she is 13) to read a page of the Bible every night from Genesis until she finished it. I tried to show her that there might be a more interesting way to do it (worried of course about lists of skin diseases and laws in Leviticus being a bit boring etc) but she’s a single-minded kinda kid and she wouldn’t hear any of it.

Several nights ago Karen find her quietly lying on her bed with tears running down her cheeks.  She had just met Jesus despite only reaching Exodus.

The word of God has power to change lives.

My eldest daughter has always been a character: a free thinker, artistic, willing to challenge and not one for the status quo. Turns out Jesus was well able to work with that, despite my at times, prayers of angst.

I share this to encourage you blokes; Keep praying, keep modelling Jesus, keep your heads, spend time with your kids, let them see you being men of God, take your share in the responsibility you have for pointing beyond yourself to Jesus and remember, despite your fragility and weakness, God is sovereign and your kids are precious to him too.

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Nuts, a basically pornographic magazine has seen its circulation fall by 22.5%.  Zoo has fallen by 32.1% and FHM by 19.2%.

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People love big events. You get a buzz,  big sound, big names, big crowd…you leave feeling ready to take on the world. I’ve got nothing against a big event or a mega church. Both are great for a preach! I just don’t think its where the real revolutionary work happens.

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As the guys say in our typically bizarre Boxing Day film, why not do something epic today and reserve your place for the CVM Gathering! Take full advantage of the Early Bloke booking and get the whole weekend for just £65. Hundreds of guys from across the UK will meet for banter, laughter and solid teaching on what it means to live LIFE IN FULL.

(CVM Men’s Camp is June 29 – July 1 @ Lynt Farm, Nr Swindon)

Don’t miss out on the discount and book now for The Gathering 2012

Here’s what some guys thought last time:

“Great bunch of speakers, very down to earth and practical but with a real live Jesus message.”

“Fantastic! already getting more guys geared up for next year.”

“I thought the whole things was a blast from start to finish. What an ACE idea to have the teas & coffees going all day for free. That’s a cracker of a facility and was so good to just have the place and space to catch up with folks not seen for ages. Nice One! I’ll be back despite living 12 hours drive away!”

“As a Vicar I found I could relax and really chill out, I loved every main session and laughed so much. Minsitry can take it out of you and CVM stuff always builds me back up. To be honest I think you did very very well and I can’t wait to tell others. In fact that is what I have been doing ever since with every man I meet – I say “Do you know what I did last week?” and tell them.”

See you there guys!

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Merry Christmas from Carl Beech

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I have some great memories of Christmas as I was growing up.  I was walking the dog early this morning and I had a vivid memory of playing a king at the infant school nativity.  I can remember being dressed up in a blue velvet robe and plastic crown on my head and thinking I looked the business. I can remember feeling excited that it was Christmas … because that meant Quality Street, presents and staying up a bit later …

When I was 18 I met Jesus, that was in April 1990. That year Christmas seemed very different to me.  Sure, it still meant presents, time standing still, family and a great meal … but the underlying reason for the day was for the first time right at the forefront. In fact that year was the first time I went to church on Christmas morning.

I don’t know what this year has held for you … I don’t know what’s in front of you.  But whether it’s been good, bad or truly awful, the one thing we can be sure of is that Jesus is amongst us.  We live with a great promise of hope.

Isaiah 9 says;

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light!

For to us a child is born

To us a son is given

And the government will be on his shoulders

And he will be called

Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Have a fantastic Christmas and a brilliant 2012…. And keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, the bright morning star …

In other words: keep looking up!

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