{"id":27481,"date":"2016-04-03T09:34:29","date_gmt":"2016-04-03T13:34:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=27481"},"modified":"2016-07-19T11:24:04","modified_gmt":"2016-07-19T15:24:04","slug":"new-mens-ministry-creates-a-space-to-take-on-the-tough-questions-of-masculinity-identity-and-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2016\/new-mens-ministry-creates-a-space-to-take-on-the-tough-questions-of-masculinity-identity-and-faith\/","title":{"rendered":"New men&#8217;s ministry creates a space to take on the tough questions of masculinity, identity and faith"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>During one recent Friday lunch hour, a group of about a dozen male students, faculty and staff gathered around tables in Eastern Mennonite University\u2019s dining hall and broached the question, \u201cWhat makes men men?\u201d Is it careers, athletic ability, attitude, even facial hair?<\/p>\n<p>A vigorous discussion followed, and the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.emu.edu\/studentlife\/campus-ministries\/\">Campus Ministries<\/a> office hopes that many more follow\u2014part of a new effort to create a men\u2019s ministry on campus.<\/p>\n<p>EMU senior Wesley Wilder, a student <a href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/studentlife\/campus-ministries\/ma-pa\/\">pastoral assistant<\/a> in Campus Ministries, says the idea began through conversations in an off-campus apartment. Some upperclassmen were talking about possibilities to become better engaged and connected and began to brainstorm.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_27486\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-27486\" style=\"width: 200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2016\/04\/new-mens-ministry-creates-a-space-to-take-on-the-tough-questions-of-masculinity-identity-and-faith\/wes\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-27486\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-27486 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/is\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2016\/03\/wes-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"wes\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2016\/03\/wes-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2016\/03\/wes.jpg 667w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-27486\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Wes Wilder, a pastoral assistant in Campus Ministries and a senior Bible and religion major, has helped a new men&#8217;s group get off the ground at Eastern Mennonite University. The initiative arose from conversations among several undergraduate men who thought the campus community lacked places for men to meet and talk about issues of identity and faith. (Photo by Joaquin Sosa)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cWe recognized a need to revamp what we had been doing,\u201d Wilder says. \u201cWe saw a need or desire for men on campus to talk about man-like things.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That prompted Wilder to make such a ministry a focus of his work. In addition to regular Friday lunch discussions, the men\u2019s ministry has also offered monthly Saturday morning hikes with faculty leader Ron Stoltzfus and held a Spiritual Life Week retreat at Lake Anna on the theme \u201cMan Makes Myth Makes Man.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While past efforts at men\u2019s groups have often focused solely on topical concerns, such as sexual assault education, the new effort is broadly oriented toward faith, open sharing and personal connections.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe hope is that this continues to be a space where however many people show up can get together and have conversation and intentionally build relationships with people they might not have connected with,\u201d Wilder says. \u201cAlready several faculty and staff members have come that I had never met before.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.emu.edu\/seminary\/\">Eastern Mennonite Seminary<\/a> student and Campus Ministries intern Micah Hurst says much of his identity growing up revolved around being a baseball player, until a back injury altered that path. He started questioning who he was, and what it meant to be a man. If Christians don\u2019t take time to reflect on what masculinity means, Hurst says, then \u201cwe give up that authority to our culture.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMasculinity takes on a whole different meaning depending on our generation and all our different cultural experiences,\u201d Hurst says. \u201cWe want to get a more holistic understanding.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hurst says he and Wilder noticed that many men on campus didn\u2019t come to the Bible studies or other Campus Ministries activities that were already being offered. The new approach aims to provide \u201copportunities to have quality conversation at places people already are or want to go,\u201d Hurst says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe EMU <a href=\"http:\/\/www.emu.edu\/president\/mission\/\">mission and vision statement<\/a> says we\u2019re a campus that intentionally builds community with one another,\u201d Hurst says. \u201cThis is a great opportunity to do that, 10 men at a time. We hope that people come into this space and create this conversation in other spaces, too.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>During one recent Friday lunch hour, a group of about a dozen male students, faculty and staff gathered around tables in Eastern Mennonite University\u2019s dining hall and broached the question, <a href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2016\/new-mens-ministry-creates-a-space-to-take-on-the-tough-questions-of-masculinity-identity-and-faith\/\" target=\"_self\" class=\"more-link\">... read more <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">about New men&#8217;s ministry creates a space to take on the tough questions of masculinity, identity and faith<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27485,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5589,14715,5185,5861,5642,265,4513],"tags":[6795,15099,16673],"feature":[],"class_list":["post-27481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bible-and-religion","category-campus-life","category-campus-ministries","category-conferences-and-events","category-faculty-and-staff","category-seminary","category-student-life","tag-diversity","tag-micah-hurst","tag-wes-wilder"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - 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