Pastor’s Corner March 2008

The following was published in our monthly newsletter, the Redeemer Report.

We must Assimilate!

No, I don’t mean the bad kind of assimilation, where the church becomes like the world like in Hosea’s day. I am referring to our need to assimilate newcomers in to the life and ministry of Redeemer. Developing an effective assimilation ministry is our biggest challenge right now as a growing church. A pastor who writes on this subject, Brian Magnuson, states-

“The goal of an assimilation ministry is to help new members move from simply attending to belonging. It is the difference between renting and owning. As leaders, we want our members to accept responsibility and ownership for the church’s ministries.”

This echoes the sentiments of Redeemer’s leadership quite well. God is bringing new families and individuals very regularly. several of our visitors have been introduced to Christ for the first time, some are newer believers looking to grow in Christ, and others are long- time followers of Jesus desiring to join our fellowship for a variety of reasons. Whatever the case, we must welcome them into the life and ministry of the body of Christ at Redeemer. This is what is meant by assimilation.

In talking with people about their experiences and reading on the subject, I have found the lack of an intentional assimilation ministry to be a huge roadblock for churches growing, providing effective discipleship, and having a greater impact for God’s glory in the culture. Very simply, many churches are effective at attracting new people, but stop short of assimilating their new members. To be honest, we have struggled with this ourselves. The result is often what is called the “back door” problem. Regular attendees and new members begin to lose interest and slowly slip away from the church. A strong assimilation effort will help remedy such occurrences, and more importantly, help people grow in Christ for the Glory of God.

We are working to implement a multifaceted assimilation ministry. Currently we have several systems in place to welcome and initially assimilate people: We have a Welcome Team that provides greeters, maintains the visitors notebooks in the pews, and offers further information at the visitor’s station in the narthex. We also have monthly Home Fellowship Group luncheons where visitors are invited and greeted over a meal. If a person or family comes to Redeemer for a month or so, they are invited to join a Home Fellowship Group. Newcomers are also invited to the Meet the Pastor class now offered the first five weeks of each Sunday School quarter. I encourage each member to participate in the welcoming effort with friendliness and joy.

We are now getting very close to launching the next phase of our assimilation ministry- a web-based church community building computer program. We have installed and have begun to implement a program that will serve to better connect all of our members by way of individual and family profiles. Every member or head of household will fill out a profile for each person. The key part of these profiles is the “My Fit” section where you will identify your gifts, abilities, and passions. Once every member has completed his/her profile, ministry leaders will be able to more easily recruit people for their area of ministry oversight using the provided information. Ministry leaders will be able to manage their ministries with this program and ministry participants will be able to plug in exactly where God has wired them to serve. Using this program will help to engage and mobilize the congregation for ministry and accomplish the goal of helping members move from simply attending to belonging, all for the glory
of God.

Please be ready to participate in the process of getting this community building program up and operational by filling out your profile as soon as we launch the program. Stay tuned for an exact launch date!

In the Lamb,
Pastor Tony Felich