Start A Men’s Group

Anyone can become a group leader. You simply have to complete the Start a Group - Quick Steps above.

However, the best candidates for this role, and those who are the most prepared for being a leader, are those who have been a member of an Avenue group for men.

The Operation Destiny Group course is both open enrollment and evergreen. It is meant to be an ongoing resource that is available long term, unlike a Bible Study that runs for a few weeks in the spring.

Be certain that you can make a long term commitment of at least 18 months before starting a group. Continuity in leadership is essential for the group members' success.

Once your group is running, you will likely be able to identify other men within the group to act as a co-facilitator, and eventually facilitator, and to carry out other roles.

This is how these groups grow organically and stay active for years! The process is fully explained in our Leader's Guide.

Believe in yourself!

If you have a heart for men dealing with porn addiction, and/or if you've worked on issues in your own life, that's a great start. Our Leader Guide gives you many tools to help you facilitate your meetings. It can feel intimidating in the beginning, but you're not alone. Your Coach is there every step of the way to help you facilitate your group well.

This is also a great question to explore with a Leader Coach. You can have that conversation by clicking on the 'Contact Leader Coach' button above.

Even if you are months away from actual start-up, it’s not too early to register your group. At this stage, you’ll have questions. It’s the perfect time to talk with a Coach. Buy your Leader’s Guide and start reading to acquaint yourself with the details of starting and then facilitating your group. When your timing is right, begin preparing to run your group.

There are several meeting styles that you can choose from. The constant is to keep the groups small for true connection and confidentiality, about 10 members max per group.

Local Group

A local group meets in person. Churches create most local groups, both for their congregation and the surrounding community to attend.

Mobile Group - 2 modes offered

Phone

A phone group uses a conference call feature to bring all members together by phone.

Online

An online group uses computer technology to create a visual conference call. All members can see each other live on the computer screen, similar to a local group.

You'll need to get your church's approval to start a group, which they host. The first step would be to approach your men's small groups ministry leader. Explain your interest, and desire to facilitate the group. It would be helpful to show him our website pulled up on your phone, or have a printed page to bring with you.

If he says yes, you can offer to start the registration process and Coach training with us. Our Leader's Guide gives you directives to check with your church on matters of their protocol, because it supersedes our best practices.

The church may want to gather more information. Be sure to give them our web address.

Negative Responses

If you receive a negative response, ask if you can use a room to host a weekly group. In the event that your request is met negatively, it's not the end of the road. You may be able to facilitate an AVENUE hosted online group. The registration form starts that process.

An individual can start the process for an organization, church or counseling center. First, you need to have the approval from the organization that will be the group's Host, providing support for the group. Once you've done that, register your group, buy your Leader Guide, and then get in contact with one of our Leader Coaches.

Leader Coaching does not cost the leader anything and is very valuable to help you provide a safe, healing group.

Our Coaches have years of experience running healthy Avenue groups. We expect group leaders to stay connected with the Coaches for the duration of your group, which will help you with your questions, determine your readiness for moving forward, start up, staying on course, unexpected issues, and personal concerns.

Coaching is for your benefit, for your needs and health as a leader, and for the overall heath of your group.

If you're serious about having a place of restoration for men, you'll take full advantage of the benefits we've created for leaders. These aren't bells and whistles that just sound good. They do good. We know from 20 years of experience.

Benefits of Registering Your Group

Here's what registering your group provides you, as the leader and the group:

1. A Coach for your group to help you along the whole journey of the group. When you have a problem, you're not stuck in isolation. You can call, text, or email your Coach and talk about the situation.
2. A Coach for you. That same Coach is concerned about your welfare just as much as they are concerned about your group members. Each Coach has been a group leader. Sometimes it's forgotten that leaders need help for themselves.
3. Community. We have an online Community for Leaders, called Leader's Central. Leaders can collaborate, share ideas, and problem solve together. In the Community, you'll find newbies to seasoned leaders, all supporting each other.
4. Online Directory. Your group is listed in our online directory. This is a benefit for every type of group setting and host. People in need can find us/your group through a web search. If you're an independent group, this is far more effective than trying to advertise your own group. For a church, this expands the ability to outreach to the community.

The Leader’s Guide is the blueprint for how groups form and function.

It is packed with practically every bit of information you will ever need to keep your group healthy. A leader should read through the Leader’s Guide for preparation, then follow the step-by-step guide to start their group. The Leader's Guide is a reference tool for the duration of your group, to find answers to situations and questions as they arise.

Email

If you are starting the group in a church, find out if they can easily set up a separate email for your group inquiries.

For leaders who are starting a group outside a church, we suggest that you create a separate email account just for your group, using any free email service.

We suggest using wording that identifies the group, rather than using your name, such as avenuemen@yahoo.com, or avenuespringfieldgroup@gmail.com.

Phone

If you don’t want to use your own phone number, you can get a free phone number through Google.

All of the fields that are required to be filled out are things you already know or personally decide upon. If you're undecided on an item, like your group name, you can choose something temporary and then edit it later. Many fields can be left blank until you've decided, such as start date. You will be able to edit your information yourself at a later date.

You have complete controI over who attends your group.

Private Groups

Our Avenue Groups Directory does not publish the street address of your group location. It only provides the city and state. A potential member must contact you as a first step, so no one will show up at a meeting prior to you having a phone conversation/screening, if you choose.

Church Hosted Groups

If a church is hosting your group, we have suggestions for the same precautions in our Leader Guide. The Leader Guide also includes questions for you to ask to determine if your group is appropriate for the inquirer.

While it’s not possible to know how many inquiries will go to a specific group, you have control over dealing with more inquiries than you can provide space for. If you have maxed out your group capacity, you can make a status change on your group listing to indicate that you are not able to take any new members until further notice.

Your group profile has fields for the day and time of your meetings, which minimizes receiving inquiries from people that it won't work for.