An Often Overlooked Opportunity

I absolutely love that there are men who gather to learn together and encourage each other, but I think that there is an opportunity for men's ministry that is often overlooked. This is the opportunity to come alongside the next generation and pour into the fatherless children in our churches.

John Sowers shares in his book Fatherless Generation that fatherlessness accounts for:

• 63 percent of youth suicides

• 71 percent of pregnant teenagers

• 90 percent of all homeless and runaway children

• 70 percent of juveniles in state-operated institutions

• 85 percent of all youth who exhibit behavior disorders

•80 percent of rapists motivated with displaced anger

• 71 percent of all high school dropouts

• 75 percent of all adolescents in chemical abuse centers

• 85 percent of all youths sitting in prison

 

John also shares these statistics:

 

Children with mentors are 46 percent less likely to do drugs, 33 percent less likely to resort in violence, 53 percent less likely to drop out of school, and 59 percent more likely to improve their grades. One-to-one mentoring has also been shown to lower the rates of teen pregnancy, suicide, and gang involvement in communities.

I believe that the men in our churches can change the future of our next generation by intentionally mentoring these children.