Garrison: "a body of troops in a safe place"

Force: “to raise or accelerate to the utmost”

Garrison Force is a ministry of Christian Service Brigade that exists to equip men to grow as disciples of Christ and disciple-makers of others leading toward Christ. Our focus is to partner with churches and men’s ministries to reach men in their 20s, 30s, and 40s who are often disconnected from faith, relationship, and church life to engage them in an active walk with the Lord.
 

There are three different ways to attend or be involved in a Garrison Force workshop event:

• Live at the host church.
• Become a “regional hub” for a particular workshop event.
• Attend virtually by way of Zoom.  

There is a lack of discipled male that are involved in leading the church. Oftentimes, leaders that are in different ministry positions are lacking in presence, competency, and capacity. Unfortunately, this can lead to broken, ineffective, and unhealthy relationships, marriages, families, ministries, initiatives, patterns of behavior, habits, and much more. 

The end goal is to see men be fully involved and engaged with the Lord, others, and churches in their context of life, raising up active leaders for today and tomorrow because life is not a spectator sport.  

Currently, we are looking to use resources that we have available in the Brigade Shop (https://store.csbministries.org/), along with our growing catalog of additional program tools. We are also looking to join forces with friends of Brigade, volunteers, alumni, etc. to see what additional programs or workshops that can be developed to assist in discipling emerging adult men. Current examples include the following:

• Mentoring Out of the Box - Kits
• Mentoring Out of the Box - 1 x 1
• Dad - Kid Adventure Days
• Workshops addressing the needs emerging adult men may face.
• Local Leadership Trainings
• Beyond Breakfast: Developing an Active Men’s Ministry - Workshop
• Heard of Christ for Men

Christian Service Brigade also has additional programs that are under development that can also serve the mission of reaching emerging adult men in different church communities.
 

A “hub” host is a church that invites several nearby churches to join us so we can have a larger group of men participating together virtually from a location too far to drive to the
event. If this sounds interesting to you we can make arrangements with you to be a local “hub” host for one of our quarterly workshop events or an event specifically tailored for the needs of your church. If you are interested in being a local “hub” for a Garrison Force workshop event, please contact Jay Trainer (585-944-9441 or jtrainer@csbministries.org).
 

Garrison Force is looking to connect with both pastoral staff members and men’s ministry leaders. Christian Service Brigade thrives in partnering with the local church. Garrison Force, as a ministry of Christian Service Brigade, is looking to do the same in order to reach a population of emerging adult men who tend to be more passive in faith and church community life.  

Come when you can and leave when you must. We would love for you to be part of the entire program if possible, but if you can’t please try to come to different parts of the event that you would be available to come to in the first place. Please confirm with the local host church or “hub” church how many will be attending throughout the weekend.  

The target audience for Garrison Force is young adult men who are already husbands/fathers or anticipate this in the near future; seasoned men are welcomed and would be great for discussions and volunteers so young adult men can fully participate. 

• A lack of relational connections for men. Of 120,000 Christian men surveyed, 95% answered they didn’t feel they had a best friend. Source: “Got Your Back” Gary Yagel
• A lack of discipleship connections for men. Only six million men in the American church are involved in a discipleship group. Source: Washington Area Coalition of Men’s Ministries
• A lack of growth preparedness for men. 44% of men surveyed make comments aligning with feeling like a failure. Many men are turning online for training for preparedness in marriage and fatherhood. Source: “The Three Biggest Challenges of Christian Fatherhood” Mark Vander Lay Source: “You Are Not Alone” Imogene Smith & George Youssef
   

For every 10 men in the church… 9 men will have kids that leave the church; 8 men will not find their jobs satisfying; 6 men will pay only the monthly minimum payment on their credit cards; 5 men will have major problems with pornography; 4 men will get divorced affecting 1,000,000 children per year! Source: Becoming Man 

Christian Service Brigade is an evangelical men’s intergenerational discipleship program that partners with churches to bring up Godly men of today and tomorrow. Christian Service Brigade has been partnering with churches since 1937 and continues to have single-gender, intergenerational, relational discipleship as organizational distinctives and convictions within its methodology.
 

There are many programs, resources, and other elements available to both churches and individuals alike with Christian Service Brigade. The traditional programming offered has included Tree Climbers for boys in kindergarten and first grade, Stockade for boys in second and fifth grade, and Battalion for middle and high school boys and young men.