Frequently Asked Questions:
How did Broken Strength get its name?
2 Corinthians 12:9-10 - But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Our strength as men, as a marriage, as a family, as a church is perfected by being transparently open and broken, allowing God’s grace to forgive, heal, and redeem in the name of Jesus. More of Him and less of us.
Why does Broken Strength exist?
We, as men, must protect ourselves, our wives, our children, and other families in our church and community from this terrible trend that is tearing lives apart. But, unless we’ve processed our own brokenness, struggles, and lustful thinking, how can be fully present for others?
Why the emphasis on the local church?
God’s plan for salvation as well as His great wisdom is to be made known to all, including the enemies that are not flesh and blood, through the church (Eph 3:10). The church is God’s chosen agent, described as the body of Christ, “the fullness of him who fills all in all” (Eph. 1:22,23, see also Col. 1:24)
Who should participate in your men’s events?
Four types of men should participate:
those who want to pursue holiness personally, especially in the area of sexual purity.
those who know someone who needs to be free from sexual sin.
those who believe this is a big problem in the church and society today and want to be pure, stay pure, and help others do the same.
those who want to pass on a legacy of purity by training their children, grandchildren, and the next generation to be people of sexual integrity.
What are the benefits of participating?
There are many benefits, tangibly and intangibly, including:
Getting pure and maintaining God’s standard of purity.
Helping other men and boys to get and remain pure.
Standing together for the holiness of the church.
Standing against a common enemy - the devil’s fiery arrows in the form a sexualized culture that has, among other things, made pornography a normal part of growing up in the United States.
Preparing the church, the Bride of Christ, for the return of Christ and the marriage supper of the Lamb.
Being part of a counter-cultural, Biblical-sound, Spirit-led revolution.
Taking back ground given to satan by the church and Christians.
Restoring marriages and protecting children from divorce.
Providing effective worshipers, tithers, leaders for the local church.
Does Broken Strength produce any resources?
Very little. Our main emphasis is helping the local church help the 60-80% of their men that are secretly struggling with sinful sexual thoughts and behavior. Besides our events, we help by pointing churches to the many good, biblical, proven resources that other ministries have taken decades to develop. Though we recommend many ministries such as The Freedom Fight and Pure Desire and Faithful & True, we specifically utilize the book Finally Free by Heath Lambert into a 3-4 week follow-up for a church to initiate men into ongoing help, hope, and healing.
How can we as a church address the following obstacles?
It’s a sensitive topic. God is the creator of us and of sex and of our sexuality. Acknowledge that it is very personal because God made it very personal. Also, acknowledge that we have all been affected by sexual brokenness, either our own or others’. We can both honor people’s privacy while also providing clear paths of addressing the topic by not avoiding the topic from the stage or clearly in your ministries.
There’s much shame around this for a majority of people. The opposite of shame is belovedness. Address our identity, as Christians, as beloved children of God even if you struggle with sexual sin.
Parents are all over the board regarding how they want this addressed with their children (or around their children). Pray about how you as a church can address this with all ages at the same time (or one after another). Puredesire.org has great resources and Broken Strength can help you utilize them and get you going! Again, when we DON’T talk about sex as a church, the people in your church will mainly hear the world’s message and start believing God has little to say or do about it.
Our church (or pastors/leaders) simply doesn’t have the bandwidth to tackle this at this time. Broken Strength has addressed groups of 9-150. All it takes is one man to be changed in order to make your effort worthwhile. Broken Strength, Pure Desire, and The Freedom Fight can all help you do this for practically $0, though lots of prayer and energy will certainly be your biggest, and most worthwhile, investment.
Our men’s ministry is not equipped to dive into this topic at this point. This is why we are here! We can come with a small “Primer” event and share a testimony to get the ball rolling. If you have the Bible and men that are willing to be honest, you can start, but it will take intentionality. Reach out and we’ll tell you how!
We recognize the issue is important, but we just don’t know where to start. Start with prayer, and lots of it. Pray for each family in your congregation, that sexual integrity would become a higher priority for each of them. Consider implementing more sermon illustrations around the topic or even a sermon series around how the word “porneia” is used in Scripture.
We have things already in place for men to address this issue when they want to, yet most of our men are not involved. The enemy has purposefully drawn men and women away from the Lord through our sexualized culture. The local church must be equally, or more so, fastidious in our efforts and creativity. Gather a group of people or designate a “Church Champion” to lead the cause to think creatively and pray passionately over your church’s sexual integrity.
What is the cost of bringing Broken Strength in? We only charge our cost for books. We are 100% donation driven so that we can be most accessible to any local church or group of churches.
Can we support Broken Strength as an extension of our missions budget? Yes! Thanks for asking 😀. Put us in touch with your missions board or pastor so that we can get the ball rolling. We continue to seek consistent monthly donors as well as individual donors with great resources and a heart to reach our churches with the hope of Jesus in the midst of even the most shame-filled struggle.