Leadership Journal

I sat in Lois Tyler's living room, watching her be uncomfortable.

"You have a nice church," she said, "but we just can't go there anymore."

Our church was in the middle of a building project. For eight months, we held worship services in a neighboring church at 2:30 on Sunday afternoons. The Tylers were not pleased.

"My husband cannot worship at that hour, and he will not."

I thought that was the end of it, but it wasn't. The Tylers didn't return to worship at our church, even when we returned to our building. But they did come to many other things, such as a weekly Bible study, monthly seniors' meetings, and many of our special events. The Tylers had become what I call polydomous Christians.

"Polydomous" is an adjective referring to creatures who live in more than one nest. Poly is from the Greek, meaning "much" or "many." Domous is from the Latin, meaning "home" or "domain." People become polydomous for many reasons, some of which are legitimate and healthy. As a pastor with some interest in bird watching, I was amazed to discover how much certain birds have in common with today's churchgoers.

In fact, using the bird-to-people analogy, I can list at least six types of polydomous Christians.

Magpies
The magpie is a bird with a reputation for chattering. This chatter is a mixture of whistles, scolding calls, and rasping sounds. Magpies also tend to carry off bright objects and take them home.

Sally is a Christian magpie. She has been a member of our church for decades. Yet, on any given Sunday, she can be found in any one of a dozen churches.

Why does Sally regularly visit so many different assemblies? She tends to carry shiny objects back home. Sally loves to know what's going on elsewhere. She is not really a gossip, but she likes having the inside scoop.

Sally actually has been helpful, alerting me to needs among my colleagues: "Pastor Bob's wife is very sick." And occasionally by tattling: "I saw the whole Finch family at First Free on Sunday. You'd better check it out." Magpies are the inter-church pipeline.

Hummingbirds
With the ability to hover in midair and fly backwards, the hummingbird is delightful to watch. Flitting from flower to flower, it drinks nectar at about a dozen slurps per second. Its tiny wings beat at tremendous rates (up to 200 beats per second), making its frenetic movement seem effortless.

Ted and Doris wander between Catholic mass, a nearby mega-church, and our local assembly. Bill visits a New Age group whenever the mood strikes. They are the hummingbird Christians—flitting, fluttering, floating from one church to another. They go to see the novel, attractive, and bucolic aspects of church life. Hummingbirds will dart away from nitty-gritty issues of ministry to sample sweet experiences elsewhere.

Mourning Doves The mourning dove is so called because of its mournful call, a sad yet beautiful sound. Like their feathered counterparts, mourning-dove Christians also sound a plaintive ...