One month into my first pastorate in Athens, Greece, an elder advised that three years’ experience there would equal ten years anywhere else. A high turnover church gives you lots of practice doing most everything.
In my present church in Seoul, 70 percent of the newcomers leave within three years. Here for a while on business, they bring plenty of ideas and energy to the church. But the constant flow of people erodes the traditional bases of ministry.
I see 500 visitors each year, yet our church has plateaued at 250 attendees. At first that discouraged me. I figured I’ve said goodbye to more than 1,000 regular attenders in the last ten years. While I haven’t put it on my resume, I’ve pastored a congregation of 1,000, just not all at once. This helps me keep perspective—I minister to a procession.
It took time for me to accept the church as a whole and not as two seperate parts.
Reaching the sojourners
The high turnover church has two constituencies with different needs. For the church to thrive, these groups must reach a comfortable balance—of power and ministry. Some of the implications:
High turnover requires high visibility. In most churches only 3 percent of people try a church due to an advertisement, while 65 percent come because of a friend’s invitation. This is not true in the high turnover church.
A survey of 20 such churches showed that 33 percent of first-time attenders came because of building visibility, a road sign, or advertisement. In addition, 25 percent attended because of a referral by someone who does not attend the church. One Kuwaiti Muslim began attending our church after reading that we were singing carols at Christmas.
Make the connections. We have not adopted the “anonymous” approach to visitors because we know that some people have worked hard to locate and arrive at our church. As newcomers to our area, they are looking for connections.
We offer multiple connections during peak turnover times. A concert, a retreat, and classes on parenting or singleness are some ways we help people connect. I invite all newcomers to my house for a barbecue each quarter. We hold a tour of the church twice per month. Our membership classes take place on a long Sunday afternoon rather than stretched out over a few weeks.
We develop our small groups for people who arrive at the same time so that they can share the adjustment process together.
You are not their pastor, yet. In the year since he had arrived in Athens to work for the embassy, Dave and his family had attended our church faithfully. One day he told me, “Your messages remind me of my pastor’s style of preaching.” I wanted to say, Who do you think I am? Becoming “my pastor” takes time. It wasn’t until Dave’s family was being transferred that he referred to me as “my pastor.”
My pastoral responsibility often extends for about a year until the short-termer is settled into a new parish. This involves long-distance counsel and recommendations for new churches to visit.
Newcomers are concerned about people like themselves. Getting new arrivals involved in reaching their highly transient neighbors is much easier than getting them involved in a project that benefits permanent residents.
In Athens, the long-term group hoped that we could move from rented facilities to the stability of our own building. The short-term group saw more pressing needs in staffing and outreach. Since the bulk of the financing came from the short-term crowd, the church couldn’t purchase property.
One high turnover congregation voted to meet perpetually in rented facilities, calling itself “The Church Without Walls.” This approach has appealed to short-term residents.
Reassuring the settlers
The newer members are the squeaky wheels in a high turnover church. But stability resides with permanent residents.
Limit short-termers’ commitments. One joy of high turnover is that concert pianists, brilliant worship leaders, scholarly teachers, and effective managers show up on my doorstep. However, if too many programs are placed into these capable hands, the result is a gaping hole when they depart.
Jill was passionate about networking, so she administered the choir, Sunday school, and volunteer recruitment. Virtually every program was filled by people she had enlisted. But when she left, it took two years for the church to recover. Now we limit leadership to one major area or two minor ones.
Encourage stable administration. Over time, I saw that some capable members didn’t readily step forward. It took a specific invitation. Kamal, a member for ten years, proved to be our most faithful treasurer, giving stability to a post previously served by a succession of one-year terms. His reluctance: “I was ready to serve, but there were so many others who were enthusiastic.”
Removing barriers
It took time for me to accept the church as a whole and not as two separate parts. The apostle Paul was not afraid to acknowledge the different groups in the church, yet he called them to be one.
Become the keeper of the flame. The high turnover church needs a sense of history. If you remain there for more than three years, you are the resident historian.
Our church is located in a cemetery where the first western missionaries to Korea are buried. I use the surroundings to remind the congregation of their past accomplishments, which builds a bridge between long-term and short-term groups.
We share our history in other ways. We have invited former pastors to speak. We give newcomers a small booklet about our history. We set up a lobby display of our history over the past 110 years.
Minister to the whole church. I must keep the needs of both groups in mind. Most programs change according to the strengths of the short-term members. Worship style sways according to the kind of talent that God brings. Fiscal planning is guided by the concerns of the long-term residents. My counseling crosses the divide.
I often preach on transience and unity. Many messages draw on the rich depictions in the Bible of people who were on the move. I frequently use statements that demonstrate our dynamics: “We are both an oasis and a launching pad”; “We may be in Seoul only one day or we may be here forever”; “We practice the Great Commandment and the Great Commission.”
I’ve learned to enjoy the procession.
It took time for me to accept the church as a whole and not as two separate parts.
David Pederson is pastor of Seoul Union Church 144 Hapchung-dong Mapo-ku, 121-220 Seoul, Korea such@nuri.net
Copyright © 1999 by the author or Christianity Today/Leadership Journal. For reprint information call 630-260-6200 or contact us.
