3 THINGS I’VE LEARNED ABOUT HOST HOMES FOR CHURCH LEADERSHIP RESidents
by Tirza Hortensius, Church Relations
At Leadership Pathway we help churches create space for young leaders to join their team for the long haul. This begins with a leadership residency that is two years in length. Housing is a big deal since they are not compensated fully.
We help a church through the process of finding a host home for their resident. We like to say that housing is a hurdle to get over, it is not a roadblock that should keep you from launching a residency.
This reminds me of when I lived in a host home.
In a previous life I was an au pair in the Netherlands. I was matched with a Dutch family with 3 small children & committed to making it work, as their full time childcare provider and housemate for 1 full year. I was so nervous while en route to their home, my mother began singing, "I Have Confidence" from the most notable musical, The Sound of Music. I still remember it clearly today, despite the experience being over a decade ago.
It also reminds me of when I recruited host homes for international exchange students. An adventurous & sporty couple in their 60s with no children, eventually said yes, and a young lady from Germany was assigned. She brought new experiences to their home - pom poms as a cheer team member, late night pick up from the movie theater and shopping for a prom dress!
These experiences taught me a few things that I believe are transferrable to our partner churches as they experience host homes perhaps for the first time in their ministries and organizations.
You can’t ask just once. Like any amazing opportunity out of left field, it will take more than one ask. Being a host home is not a simple yes or no decision similar to a simple purchase we may do every day. You must educate, ensure, support and start a conversation VS ask dead end yes/no questions to be a host home.
People will eventually say yes to the right ask. Our church residency program is two years in length. No one is going to say yes to a two year stay. They will say yes to a 3 month stay that they enjoy and turn into a two year stay. We see this over and over at Lp.
It’s about the experience not just the end goal. I bet if I asked a lot of international exchange students what they loved most about America they are going to first talk about Susan, Ted, and Margaret. The meals, the late night conversations, and the fun of learning a weird language with them. They may not reply immediately with something complex like “western democracy!”
My point here is that when I think back to being an au pair I do think about the people I lived with more than the job. We have to be open to the fact that the Lord will use these host home people in the process of the resident as much as He is using their boss.
The first host home is the hardest, but about 150 times we’ve seen it work out well. Kristin, our lead coach, says she can count on one hand the times it didn’t work out. To me, that sounds like a proven track record and process that can be trusted and makes residency possible for the resident and the churches hosting them.
Tirza Hortensius supports Lp in keeping the ball rolling with open lines of communication through the recruitment process. She has a background in recruiting and team management. She's an active contributor in the preschool leadership team at Anchor church in Tacoma & leads the women's connection team. She loves people - young and older! She enjoys exploring local places of interest, orca watching & trying to make babies laugh at social gatherings.
Connect with her HERE