1. International Institute of Christian Discipleship PEv 06 How to Reclaim the Missing By Rex Edwards General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists®

2. Chapter One Who are the Inactives?

3. 1.The Inactive Member TWO CATEGORIES InactiveUnable

4. The inactive person, chooses not to be involved The unable person has no choice in the matter.

5. What makes a person “unable”? a.Physical limitations b.Emotional incapacity c.Special realities By contrast the inactive person could come, but chooses not to.

6. Two Ways to Grow a Church (1)We must bring people in the “front door” (2)We must keep people from going out the “back door”

7. The Front Door The way people come into the church (1)Biological Growth (2)Transfer Growth (3)Conversion Growth

8. The Back Door The way people leave the church (1)Death (2)Transfer (3)Reversion

9. 2. Former Members Two Groups: (1)The disenfranchised through weak relational ties. (2)The problematic because of constraints such as mental health, drug abuse, doctrinal conflict, etc.

10. A.Misconceptions about former members 1.“They” are all lazy 2.“They” have lost their faith 3.“They” are all apathetic 4.“They” don’t want to come back 5.“They” want to be left alone

11. B. Myths about former members 1.Quick and high-pressure evangelism 2.Method of conversion 3.Religiously superficial and were never really Adventist 4.Lower middle-class blue-collar workers 5.Singles and divorcees

12. Chapter Two Why Did They Leave?

13. 1.Internal Church-Related Causes (1)Emotional (2)Relational (3)Theological

14. 2. External Societal Causes A.Unusable Causes (1)Wealth and Leisure (2)Overwork (3)Public Events (4)Social Action

15. B. Usable Causes (1)The privatization of faith: separation of religion from church membership (2)The portability of faith

16. (3) The perforation of congregational life (1)Localism (2)Social status (4) The privacy of extreme individualism

17. Case Study: “Why I Left My Church” 1.Failed expectations 2.Non-acceptance and unrelatedness 3.Lifestyle conflicts 4.The withdrawing process 5.Emerging dissatisfaction

18. Three Stages of Disaffiliating 1.A discomfort stage a.Failed expectations b.Non-acceptance and unrelatedness c.Lifestyle conflicts 2. The Withdrawing Stage 3. The Exiting Stage

19. Chapter Three How Do We Reclaim Them?

20. 1.Detection 1.Attendance records 2.Inactive member team 3.Communication registration cards 4.“Rite of friendship”

21. 5. Undershepherd plan 6. Active listening 7. The grapevine 8. Computers

22. 2. Visitation Can a congregation be motivated to inaugurate such a ministry? Why do active members resist being involved in this ministry?

23. They resist being involved because… (1)They have numerous fears (2)They lack social skills (3)They don’t distinguish between results goals and process goals

24. (4) They are embarrassed (5) They have anger towards inactive members (6) They are judgmental for fear of relaxing standards

25. 3. Action (1)Write letters to the inactive (2)Sending material with relationship- building note

26. (3) Telephone contact (4) Personal contact A.Who visits: The pastor or layperson? B.Who do we visit first? C.How do you set the stage for a visit?

27. D. What do you do at the beginning of a visit? 1.Relax 2.Be casual 3.Trust 4.Zeal 5.Pray

28. E. What do you do in the middle of a visit? 1.Keep you MOUTH CLOSED and your EARS OPEN. 2.Keep the focus on feelings 3.Keep from in-depth issues of your choosing

29. F. How do you face antagonists? If the individual is a true antagonist perhaps the most caring, loving act– for everyone– is to let them go! Make one visit as part of an inactive member ministry. But if the individual is still spewing venom and it is likely that the Body of Christ will be injured, let go.

30. G. Ending Visit: To invite or not to invite (1)When time is right suggest the person accompany you to a low- profile event (2)Offer to do something besides church with the individual

31. H. Incorporation: Welcoming them home How can we actively welcome members back without embarrassing them?

32. Conclusion 1.A call by the pastor 2.Calls from members of the parish 3.Learn to listen 4.Attempt reconciliation 5.Find ways of helping inactives to serve 6.Don’t neglect the power of prayer

33. Chapter Four How do We Prevent Their Leaving?

34. 1.Emphasize quality worship (1)Worship is God-centered (2)Worship springs from the activity of the Holy Spirit (3)Worship is a corporate activity (4)Worship is the preparation of the church for its work and witness in the world

35. 2. Equip people for ministry (1)Internal: education and training of as many as possible in the congregation for real ministry (2)External: preparing the congregation for Evangelism

36. 3. Assess needs of the Congregation What is a needs assessment? A process of identifying and analyzing the gap between an existing condition and a desired condition.

37. 4. Provide open channels of communication 5. Foster meaningful relationships 6. Designed assimilation

38. 7. Pastors lead as servants (1)Leadership in mission achievement (2)Responsiveness to persons

39. Conclusion If the lost sheep is not brought back to the fold, it wanders until it perishes. And many souls go down to ruin for want of a hand stretched out to save. -Ellen White Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 191

40. International Institute of Christian Discipleship PEv 06 How to Reclaim the Missing By Rex Edwards General Conference of Seventh-day Adventist ®