Expert explores myths of multihousing ministry

Posted: 4/28/06

Expert explores myths
of multihousing ministry

By George Henson

Staff Writer

AMARILLO—Churches interested in reaching multitudes who do not know Christ as Savior should engage in multihousing ministry but do it with their eyes open, said Jeff Parsons, multihousing director for Amarillo Area Baptist Association.

Parsons pointed out the need for multihousing ministries to transform into church starts on the properties by describing eight myths of multihousing ministry:

• Myth No. 1: We’ll reach the parents through the kids. “By and large, this doesn’t work. It has worked to an extent, but not consistently or persistently,” Parsons said.

Two factors play into traditional multihousing ministries not reaching adults, the first of which is that adults are not the primary targets. “Parents are not being reached because we have no intentionality to reach adults,” he said.

A second part of the equation is that the workers involved generally are doing so because they have a heart and gift for ministering to children. “Often these same people feel very inadequate in reaching adults,” Parsons explained.

• Myth No. 2: We do acts of kindness to build relationships. Enticing someone to become a Christian through acts of kindness, indicates a wrong motivation for doing good works, he said. “Our good works aren’t bait. If our goal is to glorify Jesus, then there is sense of fulfillment that is contagious,” Parsons explained.

“It rarely works that someone sees your good works and asks why you are doing them and becomes a Christian. Our motivation is a key factor. If our goal is to glorify God, people will recognize that and be drawn to him.”

• Myth No. 3: Residents will eventually come to our church. This is the hardest thing for many churches to grips with, Parsons said. Primarily due to feelings of intimidation and inadequacy, apartment dwellers won’t come, and if they do, they won’t stay, he said.

Parsons cited a study that said if apartment dwellers join a traditional church, the retention rate is 24 percent. For those who attend a church started on site at the apartment complex, the retention rate is 70 percent.

“Integration into existing churches is an unnecessary stumbling block. The solution is to plant churches where they live,” he said.

• Myth No. 4: Starting a church on a property is too complicated. Just the opposite is true, Parsons said. The plan he advocates involves reading a passage of Scripture and asking six questions about that passage: What in these verses encourages you? What in these verses challenges you? What would the world look like if everyone did what this passage says? What could you do to live out this Scripture this week? What is God saying to you through this Scripture? How can we pray for you to live out this Scripture this week?

• Myth No. 5: Attendance numbers should increase quickly. It is important to remember that small numbers are not a bad thing and have some advantages, he noted. Also, up to 95 percent of people who hear the gospel in a multihousing community would not have heard it through any other means, he said. That makes each individual who hears vitally important.

• Myth No. 6: My work will look like what I do at my church. “Simple or organic churches are valid, attainable and reproducible,” he said, with an emphasis on being reproducible. He said while the piano, choir and other things a traditional church offers are hard to reproduce in an apartment setting, a simple church easily is reproduced, and needs to be. “Jesus didn’t say, ‘Y’all come,’ he said, ‘You go,’” Parsons pointed out.

• Myth No. 7: I can fully have the American dream and fully be in God’s will. Pursuit of the American dream can leave little time for investing in the lives of others, he said. “We want to do the church thing, but we want to have all the possessions everyone else has—the nice vacation, the big house, the kids involved in all the sports activities,” but then “we don’t have time in our schedules to invest our lives in people who need to know Christ.”

“Prioritize your life to bring joy and fulfillment, not stress and frustration,” Parsons counseled. “If there is an overabundance of stress and frustration instead of joy and fulfillment, that may be a sign your focus is on the American dream and not on Jesus Christ.”

• Myth No. 8: A relationship with the lost isn’t necessary to reach them. “Going up and knocking on doors and sharing Christ is by and large not going to work, largely because there is such a negative picture of the church prevalent in the world today,” Parsons said. There is no substitute for becoming involved in people’s lives, he stressed.