Christian Vision for Men (CVM) is a registered charity operating throughout the United Kingdom and based in

Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...

. Its mission statement is to "connect men to

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

and the church to men". It works with over 2,000 churches, mainly by having its materials used by the churches men's groups to achieve its aims.

History

CVM was founded in 1989 by Max Sinclair. Until August 2006 it was known as Christian Viewpoint for Men, working alongside Christian Viewpoint for Women which is now known as Activate Your Life. In 2006, Carl Beech became CEO, taking over from Richard Meryon who went to work at the

Garden Tomb The Garden Tomb ( he, גן הקבר) is a rock-cut tomb in Jerusalem, which was unearthed in 1867 and is considered by some Protestants to be the site of the burial and resurrection of Jesus. The tomb has been dated by Israeli archaeologist G ...

in Jerusalem. Beech moved to the newly created role of president In January 2015, being succeeded as CEO by Nathan Blackaby. In 2009, CVM launched , a website to capture video

testimonies ''Testimonies'' is a 1952 novel, set in North Wales, by the English author Patrick O'Brian. It was first published in the UK under the title ''Three Bear Witness,'' and in the US as ''Testimonies''. Although the book's first English reviews w ...

. In 2010 it started , a simple list of twelve guidelines to help men live by Christian teachings. CVM gained mainstream press coverage in 2010 when it recommended churches to invite men to showings of

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

football matches.Alt URL
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Conferences

Throughout the 21st century, CVM has held annual weekend conferences, initially at conference venues such as the Royal Court Hotel in Coventry (until 2007). An experiment in 2008 saw two smaller conferences run, at Cefn Lea Christian Conference Centre, Newtown, Wales, from 11–13 July, and aboard the vessel, 'Black Prince', sailing Liverpool – Dublin – Liverpool over the weekend 10–12 October. The 2009 and 2010 conferences were held at Warwick Conference Centre. In an effort to make the conferences accessible to the maximum number of men, whatever their status and particularly their income, the format was changed in 2011 to "The Gathering", a weekend camp near

Highworth Highworth is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Swindon, England, about northeast of Swindon town centre. The 2011 Census recorded a population of 8,151. The town is notable for its Queen Anne and Georgian buildings, dating ...

, Wiltshire. The event has grown year on year. In 2016 The Gathering was attended by 2,300 men. One of CVM's regional events was reported in the press in 2011: "Kingdom Warriors", a conference at

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Irish ...

About

Under Carl Beech's leadership, CVM aimed to be more inclusive of a lower middle and

working class The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colou ...

constituency. Unlike many Christian events in the UK, there is a

beer tent A tent () is a shelter consisting of sheets of fabric or other material draped over, attached to a frame of poles or a supporting rope. While smaller tents may be free-standing or attached to the ground, large tents are usually anchored using g ...

at The Gathering. The Codelife system is also aimed at giving a simpler message than the intellectual sermons of most

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...

churches. CVM is a member of the UK

Evangelical Alliance The Evangelical Alliance (EA) is a national evangelical alliance, member of the World Evangelical Alliance. Founded in 1846, the activities of the Evangelical Alliance aim to promote evangelical Christian beliefs in government, media and societ ...

References

External links

*
The Gathering
{{DEFAULTSORT:Christian Vision For Men Chesterfield, Derbyshire Evangelical parachurch organizations Organisations based in Derbyshire Religion in Derbyshire Men's organisations in the United Kingdom Men's religious organizations