IMMIGRANTS

For the next few days I'm going to be talking about Immigrants and Natives. Not the kind of immigrant and native you're thinking of ... but the kind we have in church. (Please feel encouraged to make a comment over the next several days on this topic. You can view all comments after they are confirmed by clicking the "comment" link at the bottom of each day's blog.)

Sam Chand and Len Sweet talk about IMMIGRANTS and NATIVES. In churches all across America, we make pronouncements with authority - sort of like the Pope. As leaders, we know what we're saying and doing, and we know why. What we don't grasp is that those who are listening to our message have a different outlook and divergent values - and the message we SEND is often not the message they RECEIVE.

We can understand this better if we think in terms of "Immigrant" or "Native." Ask yourself over the next few days: "Am I an Immigrant or a Native?" (At the end of this series of blogs, we'll have a poll where you can identify which you think you are. NEITHER IS BAD.)

Natives - as the term implies - are those who have been in the church - particularly in ONE church - for quite some time. They have been there long enough to know the congregational history and speak about the hardships and victories of building the church to what it is today.

Someone said that anyone who is forty years old and/or has been in the church for at least ten years is a native. That isn't quite literal, but just a guideline. I know some 78 year olds who think like 28 year olds - and vice versa.

Immigrants, by contrast, come into a church and try to understand the language of a congregation, which is often like a foreign dialect to them. To fit in, they must tread carefully until they learn the sacred words and symbols.

The two groups can be generally characterized this way (and remember, we said NEITHER IS BAD):
Natives are: slower deciders, thinking thru change for awhile before moving with it, linear thinkers, fighters against chaos/instability, formal learners, book sponges.
Immigrants are: faster deciders, leaders of change, circular thinkers, promote chaos/unstability, learn by doing, TV and media sponges.

Which do you think you are SO FAR? To be continued ...

And be blessed.