Reviewing Our Christian Acceptance Policy
Welcome Jason Lee to THC!
You've probably noticed Jason's face at church more these days.
That's because Jason has joined our church and will be taking the next church membership classes offered to become an official covenanted member like you guys.
Jason is a Christian. He had a unique situation where we was looking for a new church. My friend recommended him to try our church. He came and I sent him the article below which outlines why we want to be careful with which Christians we allow into our church. I then met with Jason to hear his story and ask him some questions about why he was looking for a new church, what he believed in core theological doctrines, what his understanding of church commitment was, and whether or not he could meet the policy in the article below.
Jason took a couple of months to pray and think about this and he recently decided to make THC his home church.
I wanted to take a minute to explain some key points to you members about the process of allowing Christians to join our church.
1. I want our church to grow in Christ-likeness AND numerically.
This is not an anti-growth policy. Actually, it's the opposite.
2. We would be wise to not just accept any Christian into our fold because:
A. We need to take the time to see WHY a Christian is leaving their previous church (in my experience a significant percentage of Christians who are looking for a new church are leaving their old church too soon).
If we simply allow other Christians to join our church without taking the time to understand WHY they've left their previous church we are preventing that person from growing spiritually. Usually people leave their churches with some kind of frustration but they never vocalize this to leadership.
I've been on the the receiving end of this. And I can tell you as a Pastor it is so disheartening when someone leaves the church without saying a word.
There have been many people who've come to THC with interest in joining and when I ask why they left their old one they will give a list of reasons and then I will say, "Did you bring any of these issues up to the leadership?" And almost always they say, "No." They were either too afraid or they didn't see the point or they simply didn't want to.
But we need to help one another by encouraging loving and honest dialogue.
Also, a person who leaves their church without taking the wise step of addressing leadership will likely continue to do that.
There have been at least a dozen times when I've talked with a newcomer to THC over coffee. And they explain why they want to join THC. And the vast majority of the time it's not a valid reason in my opinion:
- "I don't really like the Pastor's preaching style..."
- "The Children's Ministry is too disorganized"
- "It's too cliquey"
- "I'm too comfortable. It's the only church I've ever known."
- "There's not enough people my age or in my life stage"
None of these are valid reasons, in and of themselves, to leave a church in my opinion. Yet, these are the occurring reasons I've heard when newcomers want to join THC.
Each time I hear an answer like this, I gently tell the person that I don't believe that is a valid reason for leaving their former church and I will do my best to take the time and give practical wisdom in how they should move forward with addressing these issues with the leadership of their church.
This protects our church from absorbing a Christian with an unhealthy view of church commitment.
This helps the newcomer grow spiritually.
This helps the original church/Pastor grow and/or reconcile with this member.
B. We are trying to grow our church primarily through evangelism - we don't want to rely, solely, on "transfer Christian growth". From a Kingdom of Jesus perspective, the Kingdom isn't growing when a Christian leaves one church and joins another.
C. We need to make sure that a Christian who comes can fit well with our doctrine - There are different churches and denominations for a reason. Some Christians have strong doctrinal beliefs that they want to be more emphasized at their church. So we need to make sure that a coming Christian (who has valid reason for leaving their former church) can worship without being doctrinally stumbled by our style and theological persuasion.
This can only be determined when they sit with me and I ask them specific questions about their doctrinal preferences and leanings.
D. We need to make sure that a Christian can fully embrace our standards of commitment & the FC-model - We want to be a church reaching the lost and making disciples. We need all Christian hands-on-deck - invested and committed to their FC's... reaching VIPs.
If a Christian cannot commit to our standards of membership and the FC-model of church then it would be much better for them to find another church.
As you guys well know, I am constantly pushing the Christians to remain committed to their FCs. I don't allow you to jump from FC to FC. If you are a member you are expected to remain committed to FC.
To accept a Christian who can't be challenged to the same standard of commitment would be unfair to you guys and they would become a hindrance to our mission.
3. This is a Protective-Policy
These measures are not in place so that we can keep people from church. These are protective measures. They protect our church from unnecessary future hurt of newcomers wanting their theological preferences more emphasized and venting their disapproval. They protect us from opening our homes and hearts to Christians who then leave us because they realize that our church wasn't a good fit for them. And they actually protect the newcomer as well.
4. As your Pastor, I'm looking at the members who ARE committed...
I had coffee with a fellow Pastor friend of mine a few months back. He explained how he had these newcomers coming to his congregation. Their old church had closed down due to a church split and he was telling me how many were gifted in teaching, worship, and children's ministry.
He explained how he would rather turn his attention to these newcomers because the committed members were prone to complaining and grumbling.
He needed a time to vent to me, so I was sensing the Holy Spirit to cause me to just be a listener. But as I sat back, I realized that this is a very common temptation for Pastors.
Newcomer Christians are like "shiny-new-toys". They show a "newcomer joy" when they come. They are more prone to see the optimistic. They complement and say "thank you" more to the leadership. But! That's because they haven't been around the church long enough! lol
It's easy for Pastors to mistake this "newcomer joy" for spiritual maturity.
I made this mistake so much at my former church. I used to pray, often, for God to send me "mature Christians" to my church.
I'll never forget the "lightbulb" moment I had when I read the Great Commission passage on a particular day:
"Go... MAKE disciples"
I remember thinking, "Oh shoooot! I'm supposed to be MAKING disciples with the group God has brought before me... not just hope/pray for God to BRING disciples to me"
*facepalm moment.
I'll never forget the conversation I had with our own Kevin Park... we didn't have a Worship Leader at the time. We had my friends Chris & Carla Lopez coming and doing guest worship for us for months.
Kevin explained how he, as a member, wanted to step up and serve our church in this area. And I was ecstatic! I would rather have a current member serve in this area than have our church hire someone outside the church.
I've told Kevin before, "Kevin, I would rather have you do worship for THC than Hillsong."
And I stand by that. My attention is on the current members who are invested and committed, not the newcomers.
I've had some friends that have expressed interest in coming to THC. Some whom are clearly gifted in various serving capacities, but I've sent them the same article as below. A few of them told me they were shocked by that. Expecting some type of "friend-to-friend-treatment".
5. Lastly, I do want to say that I recognize that there ARE good reasons to leave a church:
- Doctrine of church is leaving orthodoxy.
- Church closes down.
- You move far away from church for work or school.
- Church split.
- Moral failings of leadership which make it extremely difficult to follow the leadership
- Abuse of power.
- Marriage with a person who attends another church.
- Sense a call from the Spirit to support a new church plant.
- Church not growing spiritually for a long time and making no attempt to grow. They prefer status-quo.
- No opportunities to serve
- Church not attempting to make disciples.
There are probably more reasons than this (this was just off the top of my head). We don't want to be such a stickler of the rules that we neglect to see the valid needs of our brothers and sisters who LONG for fellowship and worship with brothers and sisters who are in unique situations where joining THC is the appropriate thing for them to do.
I know this is a conversation with lots of nuance. There are particulars for each case. If you have any questions as a member simply let me know. I would love to bring clarity where I didn't communicate clear enough.
~~~
The next time you see Jason, give him a big "Welcome to THC!" He will be a member soon!
FYI - Jason will be going to the next ASK Meeting (not because he is a VIP) but because we want all newcomers to be filtered through the gospel as well as see what an ASK Meeting looks like.
He is currently part of the Ethiopia FC.
Article about THC’s Policy for Accepting Christians.
Love your Pastor.
That's because Jason has joined our church and will be taking the next church membership classes offered to become an official covenanted member like you guys.
Jason is a Christian. He had a unique situation where we was looking for a new church. My friend recommended him to try our church. He came and I sent him the article below which outlines why we want to be careful with which Christians we allow into our church. I then met with Jason to hear his story and ask him some questions about why he was looking for a new church, what he believed in core theological doctrines, what his understanding of church commitment was, and whether or not he could meet the policy in the article below.
Jason took a couple of months to pray and think about this and he recently decided to make THC his home church.
I wanted to take a minute to explain some key points to you members about the process of allowing Christians to join our church.
1. I want our church to grow in Christ-likeness AND numerically.
This is not an anti-growth policy. Actually, it's the opposite.
2. We would be wise to not just accept any Christian into our fold because:
A. We need to take the time to see WHY a Christian is leaving their previous church (in my experience a significant percentage of Christians who are looking for a new church are leaving their old church too soon).
If we simply allow other Christians to join our church without taking the time to understand WHY they've left their previous church we are preventing that person from growing spiritually. Usually people leave their churches with some kind of frustration but they never vocalize this to leadership.
I've been on the the receiving end of this. And I can tell you as a Pastor it is so disheartening when someone leaves the church without saying a word.
There have been many people who've come to THC with interest in joining and when I ask why they left their old one they will give a list of reasons and then I will say, "Did you bring any of these issues up to the leadership?" And almost always they say, "No." They were either too afraid or they didn't see the point or they simply didn't want to.
But we need to help one another by encouraging loving and honest dialogue.
Also, a person who leaves their church without taking the wise step of addressing leadership will likely continue to do that.
There have been at least a dozen times when I've talked with a newcomer to THC over coffee. And they explain why they want to join THC. And the vast majority of the time it's not a valid reason in my opinion:
- "I don't really like the Pastor's preaching style..."
- "The Children's Ministry is too disorganized"
- "It's too cliquey"
- "I'm too comfortable. It's the only church I've ever known."
- "There's not enough people my age or in my life stage"
None of these are valid reasons, in and of themselves, to leave a church in my opinion. Yet, these are the occurring reasons I've heard when newcomers want to join THC.
Each time I hear an answer like this, I gently tell the person that I don't believe that is a valid reason for leaving their former church and I will do my best to take the time and give practical wisdom in how they should move forward with addressing these issues with the leadership of their church.
This protects our church from absorbing a Christian with an unhealthy view of church commitment.
This helps the newcomer grow spiritually.
This helps the original church/Pastor grow and/or reconcile with this member.
B. We are trying to grow our church primarily through evangelism - we don't want to rely, solely, on "transfer Christian growth". From a Kingdom of Jesus perspective, the Kingdom isn't growing when a Christian leaves one church and joins another.
C. We need to make sure that a Christian who comes can fit well with our doctrine - There are different churches and denominations for a reason. Some Christians have strong doctrinal beliefs that they want to be more emphasized at their church. So we need to make sure that a coming Christian (who has valid reason for leaving their former church) can worship without being doctrinally stumbled by our style and theological persuasion.
This can only be determined when they sit with me and I ask them specific questions about their doctrinal preferences and leanings.
D. We need to make sure that a Christian can fully embrace our standards of commitment & the FC-model - We want to be a church reaching the lost and making disciples. We need all Christian hands-on-deck - invested and committed to their FC's... reaching VIPs.
If a Christian cannot commit to our standards of membership and the FC-model of church then it would be much better for them to find another church.
As you guys well know, I am constantly pushing the Christians to remain committed to their FCs. I don't allow you to jump from FC to FC. If you are a member you are expected to remain committed to FC.
To accept a Christian who can't be challenged to the same standard of commitment would be unfair to you guys and they would become a hindrance to our mission.
3. This is a Protective-Policy
These measures are not in place so that we can keep people from church. These are protective measures. They protect our church from unnecessary future hurt of newcomers wanting their theological preferences more emphasized and venting their disapproval. They protect us from opening our homes and hearts to Christians who then leave us because they realize that our church wasn't a good fit for them. And they actually protect the newcomer as well.
4. As your Pastor, I'm looking at the members who ARE committed...
I had coffee with a fellow Pastor friend of mine a few months back. He explained how he had these newcomers coming to his congregation. Their old church had closed down due to a church split and he was telling me how many were gifted in teaching, worship, and children's ministry.
He explained how he would rather turn his attention to these newcomers because the committed members were prone to complaining and grumbling.
He needed a time to vent to me, so I was sensing the Holy Spirit to cause me to just be a listener. But as I sat back, I realized that this is a very common temptation for Pastors.
Newcomer Christians are like "shiny-new-toys". They show a "newcomer joy" when they come. They are more prone to see the optimistic. They complement and say "thank you" more to the leadership. But! That's because they haven't been around the church long enough! lol
It's easy for Pastors to mistake this "newcomer joy" for spiritual maturity.
I made this mistake so much at my former church. I used to pray, often, for God to send me "mature Christians" to my church.
I'll never forget the "lightbulb" moment I had when I read the Great Commission passage on a particular day:
"Go... MAKE disciples"
I remember thinking, "Oh shoooot! I'm supposed to be MAKING disciples with the group God has brought before me... not just hope/pray for God to BRING disciples to me"
*facepalm moment.
I'll never forget the conversation I had with our own Kevin Park... we didn't have a Worship Leader at the time. We had my friends Chris & Carla Lopez coming and doing guest worship for us for months.
Kevin explained how he, as a member, wanted to step up and serve our church in this area. And I was ecstatic! I would rather have a current member serve in this area than have our church hire someone outside the church.
I've told Kevin before, "Kevin, I would rather have you do worship for THC than Hillsong."
And I stand by that. My attention is on the current members who are invested and committed, not the newcomers.
I've had some friends that have expressed interest in coming to THC. Some whom are clearly gifted in various serving capacities, but I've sent them the same article as below. A few of them told me they were shocked by that. Expecting some type of "friend-to-friend-treatment".
5. Lastly, I do want to say that I recognize that there ARE good reasons to leave a church:
- Doctrine of church is leaving orthodoxy.
- Church closes down.
- You move far away from church for work or school.
- Church split.
- Moral failings of leadership which make it extremely difficult to follow the leadership
- Abuse of power.
- Marriage with a person who attends another church.
- Sense a call from the Spirit to support a new church plant.
- Church not growing spiritually for a long time and making no attempt to grow. They prefer status-quo.
- No opportunities to serve
- Church not attempting to make disciples.
There are probably more reasons than this (this was just off the top of my head). We don't want to be such a stickler of the rules that we neglect to see the valid needs of our brothers and sisters who LONG for fellowship and worship with brothers and sisters who are in unique situations where joining THC is the appropriate thing for them to do.
I know this is a conversation with lots of nuance. There are particulars for each case. If you have any questions as a member simply let me know. I would love to bring clarity where I didn't communicate clear enough.
~~~
The next time you see Jason, give him a big "Welcome to THC!" He will be a member soon!
FYI - Jason will be going to the next ASK Meeting (not because he is a VIP) but because we want all newcomers to be filtered through the gospel as well as see what an ASK Meeting looks like.
He is currently part of the Ethiopia FC.
Article about THC’s Policy for Accepting Christians.
Love your Pastor.
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