Member Care in Middle Age: Trends, Unintended Outcomes, Potential Solutions

Member Care/Health/Development (CHD) is well into middle age. We could say it has exploded into the Mission Ecosphere, and has become an integral part of most missions, as well as spawning many independent ministries, websites, and training programs. In many ways, this is a good thing, in that if people are the most important part of the mission agenda, then taking care of them should be important as well. As a long-term participant, and observer, I have come to see that there have developed a number of perhaps unintended outcomes as this movement has matured, and I wonder if they have led us away from our central purpose as church and mission. This Webinar will look at the current state of Member Care/Health/Development, examine five unintended outcomes, and end up by looking at five potential solutions.

Brent Lindquist, Ph.D., is a CA licensed psychologist and the President of Link Care Center, a 50+-year-old counseling and pastoral care Member Health center (www.linkcare.org).  He represents Link Care as a Mission Advisor for Missio Nexus, and coordinates Member Health Audits for association members.  He coordinates the online Missio Nexus cohort on Member CHD.  He also co-writes a blog “The Rock and The Hard Place” with Theresa Sidebotham which is the interaction between mission, Member CHD and legal issues (http://telioslaw.com/blogs/the-rock-and-the-hard-place-legal-and-psychological-thoughts-on-ministry).  Finally he is the Global Learning Architect for Member Health in the online Crosswired communities, where he also leads virtual courses (www.crosswired.com).