Assimilation - Part 2

Today I am going to give several definitions of "assimilation" as related to the church specifically. These definitions come from some of the materials I have read recently.

Assimilation is the task of moving people from an awareness of your church to attendance at your church to active membership in your church. - Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Church

Assimilation is the process by which we welcome, receive, and incorporate individuals (families) into our community of believers.

Assimilation has three components: absorption, integration, and incorporation. Assimilation as absorption is to bring into the tradition of a group. Assimilation as integration is to coordinate or blend into a unified whole. Assimilation as incorporation is to unite into one body. - Robert Bast, Attracting New Members

Assimilation is the process of intentionally bringing, including, integrating people into the life of the local church with the goal of equipping and releasing them to serve both the local church and the kingdom of God. - Owen Facey, A Guide To Assimilation In The Local Church

Ron Jenson and Jim Stevens refer to assimilation as absorption. They define absorption as the process by which people are taken into the life of the church and by which a strong sense of identity and belonging develops. - Dynamics of Church Growth

There are many definitions and each is different. Yet they are all true. Each contains aspects that we would all agree are assimilation. Some of us probably look at these definition and resonate with them at many levels as I do.

The one I resonate with most is Owen Facey's. I particularly like the idea of "intentionally bringing." The other definitions seem to imply that the people come on their own or are attracted to the church. We as a church can believe if only we can find the right program, topic, buzz word or speaker etc. That not-yet-Christians will come to us. When I read Facey's definition I get the sense of going to the not-yet-Christian and "bringing" them. Look for more on this in a later post on assimilation.

Which definition do you resonate with, or do you have another definition?

Next post, I will try to identify the people groups we are assimilating.