The Journey to Manhood

For countless centuries, it was the task of the older men in a community to 'take' the boys out of the arms of their mothers and teach them how to be a man.

Somewhere along the way, older men in our world lost touch with their calling to steward the young men in their communities. As a result, the youth of today have developed their own forms of initiation. These initiations run the gamut, from something as simple as a skateboarding competition to things as serious as teen violence, drug abuse, and gang activity.

The young men in our communities are crying out for adult role models: mature, well-developed men who will make time for these boys as they walk their personal journey into manhood. This period of a young man's life is filled with uncertainty and fear. With the help of adult men who see him for who he is, a young man can become more conscious of his world...and of the tremendous potential that is awakening inside his being.

Recognizing Degrees of Progress

Besides the Inner Mentor Training (for mentors), Boys to Men Northwest produces three kinds of weekend events for boys and young men. They may sometimes be combined into the same weekend. For those boys who choose to stay with our program, these three weekend events as a series (perhaps combined with a number of staffings) constitute a complete initiatory experience in the traditional sense, although adapted to meet the needs of our modern society.


The earlier events initiate boys and young men into community. As the community sees them growing and developing qualities of the mature masculine, they are gradually gifted with tokens recognizing their mastery of those qualities; one token for each of twelve qualities.

When it is no longer fitting to call them "boys", our young men are called "Journeymen" in recognition that they have begun their journey to manhood. They may achieve the status of "Journeyman" after completing our Older Boys Weekend or perhaps after having collected all twelve tokens.

Once the twelve tokens are accumulated and a Journeyman feels ready to declare himself as a man, the final event initiates him into adulthood, at which time the community accepts him as a man, in the sense of being a peer, a full member of the community, shoulder to shoulder with mentors. At this time, it is expected that the new man begins a life of mission or service to the community, as the mentors have.

Experiences & Lessons Received from Our Weekend Events