INTRODUCTION

Now, Can We Heave A Sigh of Relief and Relax?

Picture three members making these statements at a committee meeting (ask three people to read):

"We surely took seriously the Lord's command to make disciples in the case of Mr. and Mrs. John Schmidt and family. Over a period of two years several of us worked very hard at calling, inviting sending literature, meeting at adult instruction classes, visiting when absent, baptizing the youngest child, and finally they were received into membership. I'm glad we're done!"
"We visited the Harold Anderson's 4 times over 12 months before they transferred their membership to us. We thought they would never join. Now we can turn our attention to someone else!"
"Only the Lord knows how often we tried to get that inactive Smith family back to church. Their return was the result of a lot of prayer, sweat, and tears. Thank God it's over!"

So, it's time to relax, to let these new members find their way in our church, and to enjoy the fruits of our labors, right?

Most churches work hard at gaining new members and regaining inactives. Several publicity, evangelism, and caring programs are created to meet the challenge. Yet, few programs are in place in many congregations to meet a similar challenge, namely, of leading the new or reinstated member into a continuing, responsible membership.

Or, Is It Time To Take A Deep Breath And Go To Work?

Less than half of an average congregation' 5 members are involved in anything beside worship (55-60% in growing churches, 40-45% in plateauing churches, and 25-30% in declining churches).

Two myths abound, namely, that voluntarism is declining and that women volunteer more than men. A 1988 Gallup Poll discovered that the percentage of Americans involved in voluntary, charitable activities is 48% (36% in 1986, 31% in 1984, 29% in 1982, and 27% in 1977). For men in 1987 it was 42% and for women 36% (2/3 in religious activities, 56% employed outside of home).

We praise God for our front-door gains in the LCMS (approximate yearly averages):

Non-member children confirmed 2,700

Adults confirmed/baptized 30,000

Adults reinstated/profession 10,000

But these gains are nullified by the back-door losses:

Released from membership 50,000

Of all children baptized in the LCMS, only 50-60% will be confirmed in our congregations. Few congregations have an accurate roster of all their children.
Nearly one-half of all Lutherans will leave the Lutheran Church for a period of two years or more in their lifetime (80% will return somewhere, sometime, not not necessarily to a Lutheran church or to the congregation they left).
Many of our congregations have experienced several years of declining membership in a row. While community and economic changes are a factor, often congregations do not make the transition from the "good ol' days" and work hard at keeping the members they have. Nor are new members aggressively won and assimilated. An unhealthy "koinonitis" affects the body.

An average of 39.6% of LCMS members worship on an average Sunday.
Few congregations monitor the membership of all their confirmed members.
1/3 to 1/2 of all members of Protestant churches say that they do not feel they are a part of the congregation.
In a Northern Illinois District survey, 57% of the responding congregations said they have no planned assimilation process for new or returning members.

What Did The Apostles Do?

We read about the style of ministry adopted by Paul and Barnabas in Acts 14:21-23 (note the 6 action words underlined):

They preached the good news in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. "We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God," they said. Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord in whom they had put their trust.

Their first responsibility was to make new disciples. They worked hard at it, using various methods in many settings.
As new disciples were won, they also became members of a worshipping, nurturing, growing, caring, sharing community we refer to as a Christian congregation. (People called to Christ were simultaneously called to other Christians.) Evangelism and incorporating new members were two parts of the same process.
Keeping the newly-won disciples in the churches was neither viewed as automatic nor seen as the responsibility primarily of the new members. Apostles took the initiative in these activities:

Returning to or monitoring the disciples

Strengthening the disciples

Encouraging them to remain true to the faith

Appointing elders

Committing them to the Lord

The Church

- In and Out

Solutions:

More doors in
An expanded bridge
Continued feeding
Involvement in the right ministry
Monitor and minister to those headed for the back door

Non-member children confirmed	2,700
Adults confirmed/baptized	30,000
Adults reinstated/profession	10,000