InternationalMinister.com

Transition in International Congregations

One of the more difficult challenges for pastors and staff in international congregations is the frequent transition of members and attendees.  When members are at ministry, congregation or house church for a year or two, programming and even worship can be difficult.  From my experience one of the first and foremost falsehoods is:

Assume everyone you ask to serve will stick it out automatically … False! 

People stay in the game because they feel needed and valuable.  An experienced pastor or staff person is the one who can keep the vision and purpose before volunteers at churches and congregations as they go about doing ministry that God has equipped them to do.  It is the responsibility of pastors and staff to provide ongoing training and support. We must reinforce their job descriptions and its boundaries.  Good questions to ask are: “How can I better support you?  How can I make things easier for you?  What tools do you need?” 

We cannot “solve” the frequent transition of members and attendees in international congregations.  But we can make the transitions easier as pastors and staff when we drop the falsehood of assuming during their time with us that they will stay.  Yet, on the other hand, we do not want to be pushing them out the door.  Instead we practice better leadership by keeping the vision before us and stand ready to support our volunteers.  Remember that if volunteers have had a good experience in our ministries, congregations and churches, they will be able to better utilize their gifts to God’s glory in their future ministry homes.

“Are you short term or long term?” That is often a question that rings around the room during our fellowship at our international church.  In our international church, visitors are common.  “Short termers” are those individuals and families who intend to be in our foreign city for three years or less.  “Long term” seems to be the answer for those who have established careers, families or ended up never leaving.  Of course there are those who grew up in the culture and country that we “long and short termers” find ourselves.  We have a propensity to term individuals in that context, “native” without any pejorative meaning.

We may not be asking that question in the quite same way, if according to a recent New York Times article, the general trend continues (Please see: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/15/business/global/15overseas.html).  Since the financial meltdown of 2008-2009 companies in the US are shortening the length in which employees are spending overseas.  Scott Sullivan an executive with the firm that produces the annual Global Relocation Trends Survey, Brookfield Global Relocation Services, suggests that “short-term assignments, which typically last from several months to a year, have tripled in the last eight years.”  Sullivan further adds: “They’re cheaper because it doesn’t involve bringing the family.”

What are some ways that international congregations and churches have seen that effect?  In our situation that has translated into less families, more single individuals and thus lower attendance.  The repercussions run deeper because one of the difficulties of international churches is that leadership is constantly evolving as people come and go.  There is an international congregation that I am aware of, where the pastor has been there the longest of anyone, although serving for just 7 years.

What can pastors and staffs of international churches do under these current trends?

Integrate the newcomers and visitors quickly and give a joyous blessing when they leave.  In our international church we have used the services of first time visitors as scripture readers on the first Sunday they have worshipped with us and by the same token a mainstay in our Sunday school program announced after summer vacation that she, her husband and child would be leaving as soon as her husband has a visa.  Although sad for her, the young daughter and husband, we rejoiced with them in the time that we had together.

One of the ways that we celebrate leave taking of people, who have been with us, is that we have a goodbye song that our worship band leader wrote.  The lyrics emphasize that together we have found ourselves on a road taken together, that we have said goodbye to others before us, and now we say goodbye to them.

What does your international church or congregation do with the ebb and flow of short term, long term and native members?  What are some of the difficulties?  What are some of the joys?