The Generations Project

F ROM PROMISE KEEPERS CANADA

Promise Keepers Canada was founded in 1995 as an expansion of Promise Keepers based in Denver, Colorado. The ministry was established as uniquely Canadian with a separate Board of Directors, management team, and ministry plan.

Since its inception, Promise Keepers Canada has been known most for hosting major men’s conferences across the country. These events have allowed us the privilege to speak to tens of thousands of men about being the men God has designed us to be.

Several years ago, the Board of Directors agreed that we wanted to be an organization that was focused on being a ministry more than a movement. In other words, while major events are still important to us, they are not how we want to be defined. We believe the spiritual development of men requires a more consistent and focused presence and our energies are now directed in this way through a variety of ministry programs that are assisting men to grow as followers of Jesus.

What is the Generations Project?

Promise Keepers Canada believes that men are a significant factor in the physical, emotional, and spiritual well being of children and youth and are emphasizing a focused effort to help men create a legacy that will shape our families and communities for generations to come.

The Generations Project is a three pillar project that is designed to build men who will build into future generations.

We will not hide them from their descendants; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD, his power, and the wonders he has done.

- Psalm 78:4

Dear Friend, What is the legacy we will have as men to the next generation? What impact will they say their fathers and grandfathers had in their lives?

Will the children from father absent families believe that all men have abandoned them and should not be trusted?

Men are always having an impact in the life of the next generation. Some men will abandon their children – others will raise good and moral children, and others will have an impact that will echo for eternity by helping their children to know God and to follow Him. The Generations Project is an initiative of Promise Keepers Canada that will dramatically increase the impact of men in shaping our own families and the fatherless youth of our nation.

It is not an easy task, but it is a necessary one to bring hope and direction in a world that seems too often to be wandering aimlessly.

My prayer is that you will catch the vision of this project, and that you will be part of this opportunity to shape men who will shape future generations in our nation.

Sincerely, Kirk Giles President

The Problem: In Our Churches In 2012, a revolutionary report on the spiritual health of young people in Canada was conducted. Hemorrhaging Faith gave a glimpse for Christian leaders to better understand what is happening in the lives of young people who are growing up in the church in Canada.

The results are humbling and challenging: By young adulthood only 1 in 10 respondents raised in Catholic and mainline traditions reported attending religious services at least weekly – compared to 4 in 10 raised in Evangelical traditions.

This means that 90% of children raised in Catholic and Mainline traditions and 60% of children raised in Evangelical traditions will walk away from a weekly time of worship with a local church community.

Hemorrhaging Faith presented four key themes that outlined the reasons why youth were likely to be part of a church community, or not. The first of those themes was the role of parents. In particular, the father’s lack of spiritual faith played a significant role in the attitudes their children would take about spiritual issues.

The report highlights many testimonies where young people talked about their dad’s influence: “The whole like loving God, going to church kind of thing is just usually me and my mom, and my dad stays home.”

- Colleen

“Not really much, umm, [my dad] sometimes would come with us on Christmas, sometimes not, but definitely not every week. We wouldn’t really, yeah, wasn’t really a big part of his life at all.”

- Bill

“Simply, we were a churchgoing family, but not a family that truly believed or lived out according to how we believed. We simply went to church and we tried to do some religious things, but in the end we didn’t really – wouldn’t get it and it wasn’t passed on to me.”

- Jeremy

“He called himself a Christian but his life didn’t produce any fruit … He can recite Bible verses and verses from hymns, and he will also put them in birthday cards and things like that. Um, but I found that he behaved in a way that did not, in any way, reflect what I felt to be right.”

- Sydney

“He was usually the one who took us to church. Umm, and he’s kind of a guy, take it to church, keep it at church, go home.” - Devon

The Problem: In Society The news outside of the church is also challenging: In Canada, there are over 1.3 million single parent families – over 80% of these are led by a single mom.

Statistically, children from father absent families are more likely to drop out of school, join gangs, access drugs and alcohol, find themselves in prison, and even commit suicide.

These two realities have one thing in common-the impact men are having in the next generation.

What if there was a strategic way to help children and youth grow in Christ by strengthening men?

The Generations Project from Promise Keepers Canada is designed to build off the current foundation and operating budget of the ministry and provide three significant pillars to build spiritually healthy generations.

Pillar I

Blueprint: Church-based Discipleship Process for Men

Since 1995, local church leaders have consistently told us (and others) that the spiritual development of men is something that is missing or unfocused in the life of their congregation. Yet statistics and subjective stories continue to show that when men are growing as followers of Jesus, the trickle down impact to marriages, families, communities, and the local church is significant.

More men are needed to mentor fatherless children, and men are critical to the spiritual health of children and youth in their own families. To help accomplish both of these tasks, there needs to be a focused effort to grow spiritually healthy men who are going to have a godly impact in the world.

The problem is that most local churches do not know where to begin, how to stay focused, and what the key elements are in the spiritual formation of men. If we can consistently develop new disciples of Jesus and strengthen those who are already following Jesus, then we can begin to influence the trend of youth leaving the church and provide more manpower to serve the needs of a hurting world that is all around us.

Blueprint will provide an extensive framework and resource support for local churches in the discipleship of men. This project will give us the resources necessary to support local churches across Canada for many years.

our plan: 1. M ove local churches through a continuum that we have developed so we can measure and build their level of interest in the spiritual formation of men in their congregations and communities. As they show greater levels of interest, we are able to specifically engage them towards a focused strategy for their church.

2. P rovide a framework that can be adopted and adapted by any local church in Canada. Local churches are all various sizes and have a wide variety of capacity. We do not want to just give the church a program to run, but enough of a framework to build from and then allow them the flexibility and creativity to make it their own.

3. P roduce high quality video, event, and written curriculum to support this framework. These resources will both support leadership as they seek to implement the framework, and also provide content that can be used as they ignite and equip the men in their congregations to have a godly impact.

4. P rovide leadership training to local church leaders on how to implement this framework in the life of their church. We will focus leadership training in areas of the country where we have the highest levels of relationship with local churches. This training is key as it will primarily be equipping lay leaders in the local church. Our package will include live training, but then also a takehome resource that will have written and video elements of the live training so the leadership can consistently refer back to what they experienced live.

5. P rovide coaching support of local church leaders as they work to implement the discipleship framework in their church. Our Community Relations Managers are experienced men who typically have a pastoral background and understand the dynamics of the local church. They will be available to continue to support and coach leaders who are committed to implementing the process in their church.

Our hope is that hundreds (and perhaps thousands) of churches will implement this framework over the next several years. An average church in Canada has approximately 50 or 60 men in attendance (for congregation size of 150 - 200).

If 500 churches implemented this process over the next several years, then up to 30,000 men will be directly discipled and thousands more will benefit from the impact of spiritually healthy and focused men.

COST FOR THIS PROJECT:

$

200,000

Pillar II

establish the fatherless project (3 year project)

A Father to the fatherless, a Defender of widows, is God in His holy dwelling.

- Psalm 68:5

One of the greatest social needs in Canada is fatherlessness.

Statistics will over and over again show the physical, emotional, and spiritual benefits when a father is actively involved in the life of his child. In 2004, Canada had over 1.3 million single parent families – 81% of these families were led by women (source: www.imfcanada.org / Statistics Canada). see more statistics at promisekeepers.ca/fatherless The mission of The Fatherless Project is to challenge and equip men to be part of the solution to the problem of fatherlessness by mentoring a boy in need.

This begins by creating awareness and encouraging men to attend Fatherless Project Training Events. These are three-hour workshops designed to provide information for churches and potential mentors, and begin the training. Men that are interested in volunteering then continue the process with local agencies, like Big Brothers, that screen and train them further before connecting them with a boy to be mentored.

“Fatherlessness is North America’s HIV/AIDS epidemic.”

- Youth Worker, Edmonton

our plan: 1. C ast vision for The Fatherless Project to men and local churches across the country through a variety of promotional methods.

63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes -- 5 times the average

2. Call men to become part of the solution.

3. T rain men to mentor children and youth from father absent families.

- U.S. Dept of Health / Census

4. C onnect those men with volunteer mentoring opportunities through community agencies who are already working with children and youth from father absent families.

71% of all high school dropouts come from fatherless homes - National Principals Association Report

5. P rovide resources and training for community agencies to train young men who are becoming fathers but who do not have a father to guide them.

90% of all homeless and runaway children are from fatherless homes - “The Fatherless Generation�

COST FOR THIS PROJECT:

$

380,000

Pillar III

This is me tv (3 year project)

As young men are leaving the church environment, there is a void to help them move from being a boy to becoming a man, and there is an even greater void in assisting them to become godly men.

* There are 27 million wireless phone subscribers in Canada (www.cwta.ca) * In 2012, 83% of Canadians aged 16 or over used the Internet for personal use from any location, (Statistics Canada) * In 2012, more than half (54%) of Internet users downloaded or watched movies or video clips online, 39% watched television online, and 50% obtained music online. (Statistics Canada) * More than one-half of Internet users (58%) accessed the Internet in 2012 via a wireless handheld device such as a cell phone or tablet, up from 33% in 2010. Canadians aged 16 to 24 were most likely to use a wireless handheld device to connect to the Internet (84%).

our plan: 1. C reate a video magazine podcast that is targeted to young men between the ages of 18 and 30. (to be available 6 times a year) The content will equip young men to grow into godly men.

2. M ake the video podcast available on our own website plus other social media outlets so it can be promoted between friends for viral marketing and can be viewed at any time.

3. M arket the resource to young men online, through various Christian agencies, and through their fathers and grandfathers who are already connected with Promise Keepers Canada.

4. E ncourage fathers and grandfathers of these young men to utilize these videos as a talking point in their relationship with each other.

5. P rovide online mentoring to young men in response to what they are viewing.

COST FOR THIS PROJECT:

$

420,000

Promise Keepers Canada Overview Organization Name:

CRA Charitable Number:

Promise Keepers Canada BN #89826 6861 RR0001

2211 Brant Street PO Box 20099 Burlington ON L7P 0A4 Canada Mailing Address:

Main phone number: 905-331-1830 Fax number:

905-331-1832

Website address:

www.promisekeepers.ca

Facebook:

www.facebook.com/pkcanada

Twitter:

@pk_canada

Year founded:

1995

Mission Statement:

To ignite and equip men to have a godly impact.

Designated Gift Policy: Spending of funds is confined to programs and projects approved by the organization. Each restricted contribution designated towards such an approved program or project will be used as designated with the understanding that when the need for such a program or project has been met, or cannot be completed for any reason determined by the organization, the remaining restricted contributions will be used where needed most.

promisekeepers.ca