International Institute of

Christian Discipleship

PEv 06
How to Reclaim the Missing

General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists®

 Chapter One
Who are the Inactives?
1. The Inactive Member
TWO CATEGORIES

Inactive Unable
• The inactive person, chooses not to be
involved
• The unable person has no choice in the
matter.
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.
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”
The Front Door

The way people come into the church

(1)Biological Growth
(2)Transfer Growth
(3)Conversion Growth
The Back Door

The way people leave the church

(1)Death
(2)Transfer
(3)Reversion
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.
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
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
 Chapter Two
Why Did They Leave?
1. Internal Church-Related Causes
(1) Emotional
(2) Relational
(3) Theological
2. External Societal Causes
A. Unusable Causes
(1)Wealth and Leisure
(2)Overwork
(3)Public Events
(4)Social Action
B. Usable Causes
(1) The privatization of faith: separation of
religion from church membership
(2) The portability of faith
(3) The perforation of congregational life
(1) Localism
(2) Social status
(4) The privacy of extreme individualism
 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
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
 Chapter Three
How Do We Reclaim Them?
1. Detection
1. Attendance records
2. Inactive member team
3. Communication registration cards
4. “Rite of friendship”
5. Undershepherd plan
6. Active listening
7. The grapevine
8. Computers
2. Visitation
Can a congregation be motivated to
inaugurate such a ministry?

Why do active members resist being

involved in this ministry?
 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
(4) They are embarrassed
(5) They have anger towards inactive
members
(6) They are judgmental for fear of
relaxing standards
3. Action
(1) Write letters to the inactive
(2) Sending material with relationship-
building note
(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?
D. What do you do at the beginning of a
visit?
1. Relax
2. Be casual
3. Trust
4. Zeal
5. Pray
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
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.
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
H. Incorporation: Welcoming them
home

How can we actively

welcome members back
without embarrassing
them?
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
 Chapter Four
How do We Prevent Their Leaving?
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
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
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.
4. Provide open channels of
communication
5. Foster meaningful relationships
6. Designed assimilation
7. Pastors lead as servants
(1) Leadership in mission
achievement
(2) Responsiveness to
persons
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
International Institute of
Christian Discipleship
PEv 06
How to Reclaim the Missing

General Conference of Seventh-day Adventist ®