MondayMorningInsight

“Our Outplacement Specialist Is Ready to Serve You”

Posted by: Todd
Posted on: Mon, December 11, 2006
Viewed 29
(64) comments so far

1. Expectations: transfers may consider their “last church” as God’s new default position and are perplexed when your congregation isn’t like that. Or, they may have left the last place over some issues they plan to bring with them.

2. Infrastructure: integrating transfers into the congregation consumes time, energy, and resources that could be invested elsewhere—like in evangelism

If George Barna is right, though, “More than 80% of the current growth registered by Protestant churches is biological or transfer growth – very little of the growth comes from penetrating the ranks of the unchurched.” William Chadwick’s book, Sheep Stealing deals with the same theme. So we’ve got a problem, and I lived it first hand in our congregation.

Now, let’s be clear. Since 50% of growth by conversion is considered world class, transfers are just going to happen. I’ve been one. Also, there are some advantages to this type of growth. Paul came to Antioch, for example, because Barnabas brought him. An infusion of Christian talent can be exactly what a ministry needs to get on mission.

The key for me, then, is attracting missional transfers, believers who want to live in a way that affords a credible hearing for the gospel in their community.

I want to suggest two factors that can attract missional Christians:

1. Culture: Every pastor knows that musicians are attracted to good music. I believe mission works the same way.

2. Outplacement Specialist: The back cover of every Sunday bulletin in our last church carried a paragraph about Daryl, our Outplacement Specialist. A student at my seminary working on a counseling degree, Daryl was responsible for much of the telephone follow-up for all of our visitors. But we also advertised that he would assist anyone who was not feeling like they fit into our congregation with finding another church more suitable to their preferences. We had some takers.

The existence of an Outplacement Specialist sends a couple of strong cultural messages. One is that we are unapologetic about our identity. Our culture and approach are simply not for everyone. The second message is that we do not view integrating transfers as the core of our mission and are delighted to help them find another church.

For discussion:

1. Should every church advertise the services of an “Outplacement Specialist”?

2. Transfer growth takes a beating all the time. Is it really as bad as many observers claim? Does it have benefits we overlook too often?

The last congregation that Jan and I pastored is located in a Midwestern city that serves as the home of our denomination’s national headquarters and several of our colleges. With large pools of believers (including thousands of Christian college students) in town, we faced the possibility of investing years of our lives filling seats with Christians who used to have a seat in someone else’s building. This seemed like a grim prospect for a couple reasons...

Comments

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Oliver on Mon, December 11, 2006

several people keep mentioning “fitting a vision” it sounds like “its my way or the highway” mentality. it sounds like get with the program or hit the road jack, and don’t let the door hit you on the way out. the vision shouldn’t change from church to church! jesus already gave it to us! i would just challenge everyone to ask themselve is what you are doing in your church truly God’s vision, or have we been building our own personal kingdom? if you are talking about more hype, corporate marketing, the latest ‘innovations’ (discredited fads), and more and more programs, people should be sick of that shallowness. Have we bought into the “Barna” circus and the warren wannabe’s? Let get a hawiaian shirt on and be cool so people will come to our cool church! meanwhile we discard centuries of doctrine and church history down the toilet. we have dragged the bottom of the barrel of ideas to try to stuff everyone into our pews, we compete church after church to try to outdo each other to pack em in. when will we learn that this is nothing more than a passing, empty, superficial attempt to mask our spiritually bankrupt, spiritually corrupt, morally difficient, theologically void, consumer driven, entertainment soaked, brain dead churches!
Peter Hamm on Mon, December 11, 2006

Oliver writes “the early church didn’t have programs”. I disagree. The early church had different people in different giftings serving in their gifting, according to their SHAPE, I believe. There were deacons (the serving of widows was DEFINITELY a “program”) and pastors and evangelists and people with gifts of hospitality. Our “programs” match people with those gifts to ministries where they can serve.

Then you write “i would just challenge everyone to ask themselve is what you are doing in your church truly God’s vision, or have we been building our own personal kingdom?” I am not building my own personal kingdom. I am in the middle of an exchange with a member who left here recently because he didn’t agree with our ministry philosophy and some of the things we say and the ways we say them. What am I doing about it? I am bending over backward to try and help him as much as I can to be successful in building the Kingdom in the church he’s going to… another church in our town that is starting a more “contemporary” service. We are, here at our church, all about Kingdom building.

Lastly, you write… “when will we learn that this is nothing more than a passing, empty, superficial attempt to mask our spiritually bankrupt, spiritually corrupt, morally difficient, theologically void, consumer driven, entertainment soaked, brain dead churches!” If you can’t say something in kindness (love is kind, remember) please refrain from saying it at all. That comment was really too much. But I suspect the blog owner here is going to shut you down soon, since you don’t seem to want to comment on the things we are talking about here.

Oliver, with all due respect, I don’t think MMI is the place for you. We talk about doing innovative ministry to today’s culture, and you seem very negative on anything but the home church movement. There may be a blog out there that would make sense for you to comment on, but I’m feeling like this ain’t it.

God bless you!

Peter
Earl Creps on Mon, December 11, 2006

So do I hear some of us saying that MMI needs an Outplacement Specialist?
Leonard on Mon, December 11, 2006

Olivers email is not even accurate. I think we just post around him till he gets outplaced.
Peter Hamm on Mon, December 11, 2006

Earl,

That is jsut the funniest thing! I nominate YOU!

Leonard, perhaps you’re right! (I find myself wondering if Oliver’s middle name is Ricky, or perhaps Ricky’s middle name was Oliver…)

http://www.mondaymorninginsight.com/images/smileys/wink.gif

Smile everybody! God is good all the time!
Todd Rhoades on Mon, December 11, 2006

Update from Todd:

Oliver has been outsourced. :(

I hate to do so; but it really serves no purpose to continue to let him post here at MMI. I hope he can get some help for some of his issues. We’ve all been there from time to time… hurt and tired out by ministry; and abused by those we trust. Some people can never make it back from that state (and it’s a long road… I know)… but I hope Oliver can work through all his feelings.

Todd
Daniel Zepeda on Mon, December 11, 2006

How our Lord must weep over us as we continue to leave him out of our Churches as we try and control all church activities and the thinking of our members and in so doing subvert the work of the Holy Spirit. The mission of the church and its activities has never changed from preaching Christ Crucified to the masses and allowing the Holy Spirit through the preaching and studying of God’s Word to transform the hearts and minds of people as he convicts us of sin and reveals to us the hidden mysteries of the written Word Of God and exposes us to the character of God through our resurrected Lord. The use of an “Outplacement Specialist” smacks of pride in that total control of the church and its members has been relegated to slavery by those in charge.

If we the Church of Jesus Christ would return to the anointed preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ by men and women inspired by the Holy Spirit as in times past, multitudes would be saved. Instead a majority of the clergy today have never known the Lord outside their theological training. They themselves have never met the true and living Lord of Glory beyond their intellectual knowledge of Him. If you don’t know the Lord how can you lead others to Him? Thus we are expecting the blind to lead the blind. Many of those that seek the clergy positions seek a living instead of fulfilling a call to preach. So the net result is that we find ways to do good works as if this would heal our need for the true presence of our savior and because we don’t know how to lead others to a true relationship with Christ we put them to work in our varies programs that have proven false time and time again.

Though I weep over the current condition of our Church and nation, I know that He who loved us will not abandon us to the idols we have made. But, will fulfill His promise to us and will rip away that hardness of heart, that has so blinded us and He will once again reveal Himself in great power and His mercy and loving kindness will lift up the church and it shall be triumphant for all of creation to see. Even now, I know that His Spirit is working to raise up a remnant of men and women young and old that have truly washed themselves in the blood of the lamb. A multitude that will not settle for fleshy entertainment, but who will seek audience with The Almighty until they are empowered by the infilling of the Holy Spirit to fulfill the great commission. When this happens there wont be a need for an “Outplacement Specialist” except to ensure that those elderly Ministers of the Word are well taken care of.
Daniel Zepeda on Mon, December 11, 2006

Wow Guys,

I hadn’t seen that there was a second page to this discussion. What struck me was the fact we treated Oliver rather harshly kind of like the sadducecees and Pharisees did Jesus when what he said didn’t match their ideas. Freedom of speech is to be guarded even when what is said may be offensive. Throughout history men in authority have tried to silence those of the opposition but thanks to our forefathers who were inspired by God did draft a constitution where everyone could be heard. We may not always agree with those of different minds, but if we only hear others who support our way of thinking, how will we ever be challenged to see different and new ways.

love ya all
Todd Rhoades on Mon, December 11, 2006

Actually, Daniel… if you had seen all of Oliver’s comments here over the last 2 days, I think you’d probably think differently. (He posted on multiple topics). We actually were, for the most part, very loving and kind. Some offered help and assistance. But Oliver was the voice of dissent. Everyone is welcome here; but if you make it a practice of getting us off-topic; or taking us off our mission, then I do step in. And I’ve had to do that (unforunately) a few times in the past month. While I hate to do it; it does make MMI a better, more amicable place for those who call it home. http://www.mondaymorninginsight.com/images/smileys/smile.gif

Thanks for understanding…

Todd
Wendi on Mon, December 11, 2006

Daniel,

I’m sorry to agree that Todd’s decision was the right one, best for the discussion and for Oliver. Do you not think that saying to this article’s author (and all of us who agree with him) . . .

[When will we learn that this is nothing more than a passing, empty, superficial attempt to mask our spiritually bankrupt, spiritually corrupt, morally deficient, theologically void, consumer driven, entertainment soaked, brain dead churches!”]

. . . is a bit more Pharisee-ish than those who commented to call him on his mean spirited name calling?

You’ve disagreed with this idea . . . strongly. But you called none of us names, nor did you call our churches brain dead. Your tone enables discussion.

But I’m wondering just how you think it would make Jesus weep for a church to have someone assigned to help a person work through the decision making process about whether or not a particular church is a good fit. I assume that there is more than one church in your town. You evidently chose one to attend and join in ministry with. How did you decide between your church and many others? If every single church had exactly the same DNA, we’d all just choose the one closest to our home (like the Mormons). But every believer must choose from among many great (and maybe some not so great) churches in a community. An outplacement person is simply someone who is an expert on the mission, vision and ministry philosophy. Who can help a person decide whether to fish or cut bait.

What was it in the article that you think Jesus would take such offense to?

Wendi
Tye Male on Mon, December 11, 2006

Do we think it is possible that Jesus outsourced people? Hmmm. I’d say that he did, but he did it by being incredibly missional. Even the religious leaders of that day complained to him that they had piped a tune yet he had not danced! Jesus was extremely missional.

Many of the comments would lead us to believe that a one size fits all mentaltity will work - not today! We live in a diverse world and the fact that our churches reflect that diversity is a good thing. (don’t read between the lines on that)

I don’t want to advertise an outsource specialists, but on occasion we have called people who have attended (even visited for the first time) and gave us comments about how they didn’t like this, that, or the other thing to let them know that we feel strongly about the direction our ministry is going and plan to do more of the same. That said, they probably would not be happy worshipping with us.

I guess I’m an outsource specialist when the need arises. Not because we don’t love everyone, but because they have been negative and dissenting from the get-go and will only cause problems down the road since they are so unhappy and it is in our best interest and theirs that they find some church where they can worship the Lord in spirit and truth.
scott on Mon, December 11, 2006

#1 “rightly dividing the Word”.... church doctrine varies where this is concerned .

#2 Do we encourage the “un-happy (immature) “ child of God to move or do we encourage them to confront the need to grow?

To#1… The differences in doctrine among the denominations ( Non-Denom’s too) are there for a reason. One believes in eternal security…the other does not. Another church believes God hand picks those who will be saved ...others hold to “Whosoever will may come”. Are we matchmaking immature christians to conflicting doctrines for the sake of “feeling good”?

Chrisitian growth is painful at times but neccesary to be “conformed to His image” They should be confronted with this reality before “pulling up stakes”

To #2…It has been my experience that most,not all, that leave a church do so out of un-resolved conflict. THEY DON’T MT. 18 IT!! They get their nose out of joint at the pastor or some other member and move on. The town that I minister in has many examples of those who have gone from church to church never planting roots and as a result have no “family ties” to a congregation. This can only be changed by pastors and others becoming involved and pointing out the “Hard Facts” of a walk with God! Romans 12:1,2
Gary Sweeten on Mon, December 11, 2006

The fact that most growth comes from inside is not a thing to deride but to encourage. The data about all kinds of growth needs to cheer us not cause us to jeer.

Christianity is growing at a phenomenal rate around the world. Approximately 17 million people become church members each year through conversion. About 7 million leave the church annually. (How can we slow this exodus?) This is a net of 10 million new believers added annually

Some 53 million children are born into Christian families each year, three times the number won to Christ from outside the church. About 21 million church members die annually. This is a net gain of 32 million people if the children are converted. When added to the 10 million new members it is a grand total of 42 million people added each year to the global church.

This is a rate of 115,000 people coming into the church each day, 365 days per year so about 27,400 people each day are new converts and 87,700 are babies born each day to believers.

Islam is growing faster because their birth rate is much higher than Christians. However, our conversion rate is much higher. The key is to agressively train our young people to reach out. The Mormons are doing it well and we can too if we want to.
Daniel Zepeda on Mon, December 11, 2006

Hi Everyone,

Thank you for sharing from your hearts. I know that the Lord has many children and we are different as we are many. We all have preferences and we usually prefer doing those things that coincide with our personal preferences and thus choose to attend a church that better ministers to us. But I wonder at what cost? If we the body of Christ fail to bring to maturity, the members of our churches in their relationship with Christ we remain in need of milk and are unable to fully meet the requirements of the great commission. Thus we hinder the full plan God has for our lives and churches. It is this transferring of people from one church to another that caters to their immaturity, and does not allow a person to grow under conflict and learn how to resolve problems in Christian love. One of the hardest things to undertake is discipleship of people especially those that are vocal and require proof before they get on board. The disciple Thomas was of this sort who required Jesus to personally show him his wounds.

I hope that we are able to look at ourselves objectively with that in mind and see if by taking those who seem not to fit in our churches and ship them elsewhere is the right thing to do. Would we not be better served by discipling these individuals to become mature members of the body of Christ? If we were to look at an average church congregation, I wonder if even the elders and deacons meet the Biblical requirements of their offices.

One thing we know as a fact is our Churches are not growing and we have failed to reach the unchurched. Why? Our nation as a whole is becoming morally bankrupt and the average Christian does not even know how to give the plan of salvation or fails to even share his faith. Why? I submit to you that the church today has lost something that the early church had an abundance of and that is the true manifest presence of God in the lives of those who were changed by a personal revelation of Jesus Christ and filled with the Holy Spirit. What we have today in a believer is far short of willing to give up everything material for Christ much less our lives. The reason for this is that we know about Jesus intellectually but we have never met him personally. Remember the rich young man and how he wanted to be justified and perfect and how Jesus told him to go and sell everything and give it to the poor. The young rich man went away sad because he was a man of great wealth. The lesson Jesus was showing us was that a true relationship with Jesus would cost us everything, and like the young ruler, many of us today are unwilling to pay the price.

I personally believe that it is worth our time to disciple someone into reaching a mature position in the Body of Christ and I am also aware of the time and sacrifice required and there are times when we must ask someone to leave a church, but those times should be few and far in between.
kent on Mon, December 11, 2006

Christians come to my church. Whether I like it or not, they are going to come. I hope more non-believers, how ever we now lable them, come than those who know Christ, but Christians are going to come. And because of our long standing consuymer mentality they come with expectations. Our church is not going to meet all those expectations. Some are going to come looking remold our church into their image. Some peopl;e are simply not a good fit. it has less to do with theology than simply human behavior. If I can help them to find a spiritual home where they can flourish and serve, then I am all for it. I do not know if “outsourcing” is the term I would want to use, but the idea is great.