📚 Case Study: Cracks in the Foundation

Case Study: Cracks in the Foundation

Narrative

John had been asked to lead his church’s men’s ministry. It felt like a big responsibility, but also an exciting one. He was full of energy and eager to prove that he could do the job well. Almost immediately, he began sketching out a calendar of events—things he thought men would enjoy and that might draw them in.

The first event was a Saturday morning breakfast. He reserved the fellowship hall, lined up a few volunteers to cook bacon and eggs, and invited the pastor to give a short devotional. The turnout was impressive. The room buzzed with laughter, and John felt encouraged.

Next, he organized a golf outing. It filled up quickly. Men signed up who hadn’t attended the breakfast, and John thought, We’re really onto something here. For the fall, he put together a weekend retreat at a nearby camp. A handful of men registered, and the ones who came seemed to enjoy the time away.

On the surface, everything looked successful. John’s pastor thanked him from the pulpit, and people at church congratulated him on his hard work. But six months later, John’s enthusiasm was fading.

Attendance at the breakfasts had dropped sharply. The golf outing didn’t generate the same excitement the second time. The retreat felt more like a vacation than a time of renewal. Few men talked about Jesus during or after the events. Prayer felt rushed, squeezed in at the beginning or end so they could get on with the “real” activity. Most conversations never moved beyond sports scores, work updates, or the latest headlines.

At home, John’s wife noticed that despite all the busyness, nothing seemed to be changing in him. He was exhausted, stressed about low numbers, and spiritually dry. One evening, after he had spent hours on the phone trying to recruit volunteers for the next breakfast, she asked him gently, “John, what exactly are you building?”

The question hit him harder than he expected. What was he building? He thought the answer was obvious—he was building a men’s ministry. But deep down, he knew she was right. There wasn’t much evidence of men growing in Christ, or even of himself growing. He was building activity, not disciples.

A few nights later, John went out to his shed to put away some tools. He noticed the floor sagging in one corner. When he looked closer, he saw that the foundation blocks underneath had shifted. The structure was starting to tilt.

Standing there with his hand on the sagging wall, it dawned on him: This is exactly what’s happening in our men’s ministry. I’ve been so focused on putting up the walls and painting them with attractive events that I never checked the foundation. I built on activity, not on Christ. That’s why everything is starting to slip.

The following week, John decided to do something different. Instead of pulling out his calendar and planning another event, he called two men he trusted—David, an older deacon, and Marcus, a younger father who had recently joined the church. He asked them to meet him in the church library one evening.

When they arrived, the three men sat down with mugs of coffee. John surprised them. “I don’t want to talk about another breakfast or retreat tonight,” he began. “I want us to talk about the foundation of this ministry. I’m realizing we may have been building in the wrong order.”

For a few moments the room was quiet. Then John pulled out a notepad and said, “I think we need to ask ourselves some hard questions:

• Is Christ truly central in what we’re doing, or are we just keeping busy?
• Are we actually praying regularly, or only giving lip service to prayer?
• Are men being transformed, or just entertained by our activities?”

David leaned back in his chair, nodding slowly. “Those are the right questions. I’ve enjoyed the breakfasts, but I don’t know if we’ve really challenged anyone to grow closer to Jesus.”

Marcus added, “Honestly, I’ve been bringing my friends to these events. They have a good time, but they don’t leave any different. It’s like we’ve given them fellowship without discipleship.”

So instead of planning, they prayed. They prayed for their own hearts first, confessing their tendency to rely on busyness. They prayed for the men in their congregation—men who were struggling with marriages, fatherhood, addictions, and loneliness. They prayed for wisdom to rebuild on the right foundation.

That night felt different. There were no flyers printed, no sign-up sheets passed around, no menu decided. Yet the three of them walked away sensing they had done something far more important.

“This is the real start,” John told them as they left. “We may have already held half a dozen events, but tonight feels like the beginning of an actual ministry.”

That simple prayer meeting became the seed of a new foundation—one that wasn’t built on events or activity, but on Christ Himself, prayer, and the desire to see genuine transformation in men’s lives.

Biblical Reflection

• 1 Corinthians 3:11 – “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.”
• Matthew 7:24 – “Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”
• Acts 2:42 – “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”

Scripture consistently teaches that ministry built on Christ, prayer, and discipleship endures. Events may draw crowds, but only Christ-centered foundations bring transformation.

Ministry Sciences Observation

Men are often drawn to visible activity—events, projects, tasks—because activity feels like progress. Planning a breakfast, organizing a retreat, or running a service project produces measurable results: attendance numbers, photos, reports to the church board. These things can make leaders feel effective. Yet Ministry Sciences reminds us that the most decisive work in ministry is usually invisible.

Foundations, like the footings beneath a building, are rarely seen, but they carry the weight of everything above them. Without a strong and level foundation, no amount of paint or polish can keep a structure upright. In the same way, when Christ-centeredness, prayer, and spiritual formation are neglected, the entire men’s ministry—no matter how outwardly impressive—will begin to tilt and eventually collapse.

Cultural pressure reinforces this danger. Men are conditioned from an early age to “perform”—to measure themselves by productivity, output, and results. This performance mindset easily transfers into ministry, seducing leaders into mistaking busyness for fruitfulness. A crowded calendar can look like health, but it may hide hollowness at the core.

Transformation, by contrast, rarely announces itself with fanfare. It happens quietly, in the rhythms of formation: men praying together week after week, confessing sins in trusted relationships, encouraging one another through accountability, and stepping into mission that costs them something. These practices may look unimpressive compared to a well-attended retreat, but they are the slow, steady forces that change lives from the inside out.

Ministry Sciences likens this to the role of structural engineers. They don’t just admire the building’s façade; they test for stress points, hairline fractures, and shifting loads. Their work may be unseen, but it determines whether the structure will endure storms or collapse under strain. Men’s ministry leaders must adopt the same vigilance. Regularly checking the foundation means asking hard questions:

• Are we truly centering on Christ, or on activities?
• Is prayer central, or an afterthought?
• Are men being formed into disciples, or simply entertained?

Unchecked cracks—whether in Christ-centeredness, prayer, or transformation—may seem small at first, but over time they compromise the entire ministry. The wise leader slows down to inspect, repair, and reinforce before building higher. As Jesus taught, “The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock” (Matt. 7:25, NIV).

7 Application Discussion Questions

1. What stood out to you in John’s realization about his men’s ministry and his shed?
2. How do 1 Corinthians 3:11 and Matthew 7:24–25 shape your understanding of ministry foundations?
3. In your experience, what are the “cracks” that often appear in men’s ministry foundations?
4. Why are events easier to plan than discipleship processes? How do we resist the temptation to build on activity alone?
5. What practical steps could your group take to ensure prayer is a central foundation, not an afterthought?
6. How do you recognize whether men in your group are truly being transformed?
7. If you had to write one sentence that describes the foundation of your men’s ministry today, what would it say?