Is it ok to recruit folks to your church when they already have a church home?

[baptistchurchman]

I hear what ya'll are saying, but I also see another side of all of this.

People are not the Pastor's sheep they are God's Sheep. The pastor is the shepherd, but God owns the sheep.

There was a time that we weren't looking to move to another church. We were happy where we were. HOWEVER, a Pastor came along and invited us to his church. He wanted my husband to come on board, because my husband would be a blessing to the ministry. Again, the pastor knew we were happy where we were "planted".

After much prayiing we realized this recruitment thing was being orchestrated by God. We left the church where we were happy and joined the church that recruited us. We grew spiritually, emotionally and together by leaps and bounds---and it all started with a Pastor recruiting us. Going to that church blessed us tremendously. that move caused us to get closer to God & to do more in the area of ministering to people.

Our former Pastor got mad when we left. He felt like we were "hustled" from him. Instead of him recognizing the fact that we were growing in grace, prospering spiritually & emotionally, he choose to get mad. How selfish! He did not rejoice in our blessing. Now that's what's sad, we saw another side of him----hethought he was the one growing us---he forgot God was working through him leading us. He also forgot that we were dedicated the entire time we were at the church. So who actually was the "hustler, pimp". ---- The one who acted like he owned us.

The church is within people. They commit to a local congregation, but they are not obligated to stay there for life. God may call them somewhere else---and the method or Sovereign God chooses to move people from place to place is his will.

Now in this sense it seems like the pastor of the church in which you are referring to did NOT do anything wrong. It seems like this started as a meer invite and turned into a devine move of God. Now if a person invites you to their church to fellowship with them and then you find this is where the Holy Spirit is leading you, then that is the fault of no one. God had a devine purpose for the change. But when a person comes to you with the intention of trying to persuade you to leave the church where you are to come where they are, it leaves the impression that you think your pastor and your church is better than mine and that you think my pastor is incapable of feeding me like your pastor can. I believe that is not right........

      I mean I was invited to the church where I belong to. And I was holding membership somewhere else at the time, but after being invited there I realized this is where I needed to be. So I agree with Sister T, the flock belong to God. The pastor is just the undershepard. But I also believe that there are enough unsaved and unchurched folks out here to go around that people don't have to intentionally target after folks that are fine where they are.       

[Furious Styles]

I see Sister T's point. Often times Pastor's do forget who the real shepard is. The jealousy factor in this case has to be pointed out. In her case it seems to me that this Pastor extended an invitation under the direction of the holy spirit. The sister said that her and hubby grew spritually. She also said that God put them to work as well.. SO how can we judge that?

There are so many horror stories of people leaving a fellowship to soon or leaving when God tells them to so that they can grow or be used somewhere else. If God didn't ordain something the fruit will follow suit that proves otherwise. Most pastors are recruiting members so that can get that cheese... Let's call a spade a spade. There are pastors out there who make truly spiritual decisions. The cynic in me says that is few and far between.
 
There is a lot of jealousy and envy in ministry that most people would be shocked that is prevelant. Untimately it is up to the person and God where they worship. Pastors have a human side to.. Don't get it twisted.

[TheVeteran]

Now in this sense it seems like the pastor of the church in which you are referring to did NOT do anything wrong. It seems like this started as a meer invite and turned into a devine move of God. But when a person comes to you with the intention of trying to persuade you to leave the church where you are to come where they are, it leaves the impression that you think your pastor and your church is better than mine and that you think my pastor is incapable of feeding me like your pastor can. I believe that is not right........

Nope.  He wanted them to "come on board" as Sister T stated.

There was a time that we weren't looking to move to another church. We were happy where we were. HOWEVER, a Pastor came along and invited us to his church. He wanted my husband to come on board, because my husband would be a blessing to the ministry. Again, the pastor knew we were happy where we were "planted".

[TheVeteran]

The cynic in me says.......

ALOT 
    

[Furious Styles]

low blow veteran.

[TheVeteran]

low blow veteran.

Didn't you see the smiley faces afterwards?

       <---------------------

I'm just kiddin you man!

But if I offended you I humbly apologize nonetheless.  Seriously.

[BassFool]

Just a thought from a young brother in christ.

Well, when person in church "A" is asked to join church "B" and they even think about or entertain the idea, then for some reason they are not getting what they need from church "A".  From a higher level, if I have a sheep that is not getting everything they need from shepard "A" and they go to shepard "B" and get all they need, then I would think that was the better move. In addition, now that the sheep who are with shepard "B" are making a better connection with the lord, they might even bring others to the faith just by how they are growing themselves.  If shepard "B" never asked then those sheep would still be with shepard "A" unsatisifed, not getting what they needed and not growing.

[TheVeteran]

Just a thought from a young brother in christ.

Well, when person in church "A" is asked to join church "B" and they even think about or entertain the idea, then for some reason they are not getting what they need from church "A".  From a higher level, if I have a sheep that is not getting everything they need from shepard "A" and they go to shepard "B" and get all they need, then I would think that was the better move. In addition, now that the sheep who are with shepard "B" are making a better connection with the lord, they might even bring others to the faith just by how they are growing themselves.  If shepard "B" never asked then those sheep would still be with shepard "A" unsatisifed, not getting what they needed and not growing.

OR.

The person could've simply left on their own without being wooed by someone from another church trying to increase their membership.   

Anyone trying to convince someone to leave their home church is not using Kingdom Principles.  They're trying to build their own little empire.

Note:

Correct spelling: "Shepherd"   

[BassFool]

OR.

The person could've simply left on their own without being wooed by someone from another church trying to increase their membership.   

Anyone trying to convince someone to leave their home church is not using Kingdom Principles.  They're trying to build their own little empire.

Note:

Correct spelling: "Shepherd"   

Sorry for the spelling, so dependant on spell check I am just terrible.
Well, I think most people will stay if they weren't getting all they needed. Unless, something drastic happens like pictures of the devil appearing on the bulletin board or something.  They would just stay and be unsatisfied.  Scared to make a move or try something different that might make a world of difference in there christian walk.

[baptistchurchman]

Sorry for the spelling, so dependant on spell check I am just terrible.
Well, I think most people will stay if they weren't getting all they needed. Unless, something drastic happens like pictures of the devil appearing on the bulletin board or something.  They would just stay and be unsatisfied.  Scared to make a move or try something different that might make a world of difference in there christian walk.

I will say this. There are those who are just church hoppers. They want to go where the happenings are. You see. I hate to hear people say, "I'm leaving church A to go to Church B because church A got mess going on". Give church B some time and they gonna have some mess too. And before you know it, you'll find yourself hopping and hopping and hopping. I am a firm believer that we shouldn't worry about the grass looking greener on the other side because if we keep watering our grass it will get back green too..........

Some people don't truly wait on God to tell them which move to make. They just go where their heart tells them to. And the Bible says we shouldnt do that because the heart is full of deciet. Not only that I also believe that sometimes we can want something so bad that we fool ourselves into believing that God wants the same thing for them.   

[BassFool]

I will say this. There are those who are just church hoppers. They want to go where the happenings are. You see. I hate to hear people say, "I'm leaving church A to go to Church B because church A got mess going on". Give church B some time and they gonna have some mess too. And before you know it, you'll find yourself hopping and hopping and hopping. I am a firm believer that we shouldn't worry about the grass looking greener on the other side because if we keep watering our grass it will get back green too..........

Some people don't truly wait on God to tell them which move to make. They just go where their heart tells them to. And the Bible says we shouldnt do that because the heart is full of deciet. Not only that I also believe that sometimes we can want something so bad that we fool ourselves into believing that God wants the same thing for them.   

I am not trying to say people are leaving because of mess. I am saying that #1) If a person does not feel satisfied with what they are getting from the shepherd of church A. The milk, meat what ever you want to call it.  People will just stay because they don't want to be known as a church hopper.  Your decision should not be based on what people think of you. hopping or not. It should be based on the feedback you get from praying about it. By saying "Happenings" do you mean the choir is rocking the place or do you mean the word from the pastor is speaking to your heart and you are learning things you weren't getting before? I certainly, am talking about the latter.
I undertand your belief of watering your own grass. This is also why I say people will just stay and not do anything. This can turn into a very complicated discussion. Mainly, I think because most if not all comments have some degree of merit. It hard to say what is truly right and wrong. I am a yound brother in christ and just want to get an understanding. Now, One of my good friends of mine, whom I look up too. ( Don't know if he knows it or not) would say this.  "Is there any Biblical backing to what your saying? Show me some scripture to back this up" So, I ask. Is there any scripture out there that contradicts what I am thinking/saying. What about what your saying/thinking?  I am not trying to put anyones ideas down, I just want to get a better understanding as I am going through a derivation of this topic as we speak.
BassFool...

[baptistchurchman]

I am not trying to say people are leaving because of mess. I am saying that #1) If a person does not feel satisfied with what they are getting from the shepherd of church A. The milk, meat what ever you want to call it.  People will just stay because they don't want to be known as a church hopper.  Your decision should not be based on what people think of you. hopping or not. It should be based on the feedback you get from praying about it. By saying "Happenings" do you mean the choir is rocking the place or do you mean the word from the pastor is speaking to your heart and you are learning things you weren't getting before? I certainly, am talking about the latter.
I undertand your belief of watering your own grass. This is also why I say people will just stay and not do anything. This can turn into a very complicated discussion. Mainly, I think because most if not all comments have some degree of merit. It hard to say what is truly right and wrong. I am a yound brother in christ and just want to get an understanding. Now, One of my good friends of mine, whom I look up too. ( Don't know if he knows it or not) would say this.  "Is there any Biblical backing to what your saying? Show me some scripture to back this up" So, I ask. Is there any scripture out there that contradicts what I am thinking/saying. What about what your saying/thinking?  I am not trying to put anyones ideas down, I just want to get a better understanding as I am going through a derivation of this topic as we speak.
BassFool...

What I mean by happenings is... "I want to go to church A because everybody else in town goes there." Or, "I want to go to church A because it seems to be where all the big time folks go". you know stuff like that. or in Our church's case; our associate pastor just got his own church and a lot of our members have started going over there. Now from hearing this man preach time after time, I can see why anyone would want to go to his church. The man is just annointed. He is actually one of the greates annointed men of God that I know. However I think even he himself will find that some people left our home church to join his church because that's where everybody else seems to be going. And I think by him being a very smart man he knows that as soon as another popular church comes up or somebody over there makes them mad and don't let them sing their favorite song, they'll be hopping somewhere else.........

I just think some people make hasty moves based off of their emotions instead of really hearing GOD'S voice. And I think all of us can admit that we have made decisions that we just knew was God telling us to do something only to find that our decision was emotion driven.

[TheVeteran]

I just think some people make hasty moves based off of their emotions instead of really hearing GOD'S voice. And I think all of us can admit that we have made decisions that we just knew was God telling us to do something only to find that our decision was emotion driven.

Well said.

[jlewis]

I can see both sides of the coin.


Personally,  I don't believe in church hopping either, but I thik that if you as a church member find another church that meets you "where you are at" then you should not feel any remorse about leaving your current church.

Sometimes  if an issue arises within you church home  with leadership, it becomes very difficult to receive anything because now your mind is biased. But, the bible does say not to let the sun go down on you anger ( basically settle any disputes that you have with an individual, and let bygones be bygones).


Now after that, if you still feel led to move on, then you can do so with a clean conscience.


I also don't believe I need to seek permission from my current church home to fellowship with another church, as often as I so choose.  But I do believe it is important to participate in the life of my local  church, and that might mean attending worship service or some other church sponsored events.


If I join another fellowship,  then the same rules apply.  I should be participating in the life of that local fellowship, but if you want to visit with another part of the Body of Christ, then so be it.


Bassfool,    man holla back atcha boy !!

jlewis