For several months a recruiter had been building a relationship with a likely volunteer, speaking persuasively about a career in the army. He had spoken of the war and the need for recruits. Mostly, however, he had emphasized the retirement plan. Finally, the prospective soldier decided to go to the headquarters building and enlist.
Other soldiers warmly welcomed him into the army, and he received a letter from the colonel congratulating him on his decision. The army scheduled a time for his swearing-in ceremony which made his enlistment official.
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The new soldier was convinced he had done the right thing, but he wondered what was expected of him. He was told to attend the weekly meetings, which always included studying the army manual and a speech by the colonel appealing to the troops. During these weekly challenges, the colonel emphasized that the war was raging and that every soldier must do his or her duty.
“Every soldier,” stressed the colonel, “is expected to engage the enemy.” Every soldier was also expected to give sacrificially to provide what was needed for victory.
Week after week, the private grew more frustrated in his effort to attack the enemy. He lacked the skills, training and equipment necessary. Often he wasn’t even sure who the enemy was.
In frustration, he finally stayed home from the weekly study of the manual and the challenge by the colonel. He anticipated that his failure to be present or accounted for would be noted and that the MPs would come to his home to investigate. None came, however.
The following week he stayed home again with the same results. In fact, it has now been a long time since he has attended the weekly meetings. The challenges no longer have the same effect on him as when he was a new recruit, and the war no longer has the same sense of urgency about it. He still considers himself a soldier, but he is no longer on active duty.
This parable is, of course, an analogy depicting what happens in all too many churches. The “backdoor” not only includes those who formally leave a church to unite with another, but also those who become inactive even though their membership remains.
How big is the backdoor? Let’s look at ourselves in the mirror. In round figures, according to the best data available, during the five years 2005 through 2009 (inclusive), almost 37,000 people were baptized into Virginia Baptist churches. Since not all BGAV churches send in requested annual reports, the data is admittedly skewed, but it is certainly representative of the whole.
Another 39,000 joined Virginia Baptist churches, mostly by transfer of letter. So in this five-year span, BGAV churches added 76,000 members. Worship attendance, however, increased by only 2,800.
What happened to the other 73,200? Some died, of course. If we assume a mortality rate of 1 percent (slightly higher than the national average of .85 percent), 20,000 died during those years. This leaves 53,200 who slipped through the back doors of our churches. Even if we assume that half this number left Virginia Baptist churches because they moved from the Commonwealth and joined Baptist churches in another state, we are left with a huge number of people who simply dropped out of Virginia Baptist churches.
If only half the drop-outs could have been retained and connected to ministries that utilized their skills, abilities, gifts and interests, ministries would have multiplied. In addition, the excitement these persons would have felt because they were making a noteworthy contribution to Christ’s Kingdom would have spilled over into the churches.
Connect members to ministry
It is generally agreed that church members who are actively involved in ministry of some kind are less likely to drop out or to look for another church. In Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, Ken Hemphill notes, “I think that our failure to assist believers in discovering and using their gifts accounts for much of the lack of involvement in most churches. Many members do not understand their unique giftedness nor their importance to the proper functioning of their church. … Most of the inactive people on our rolls become dropout statistics because they never became involved in the ministry of the church.”
When members are lost to the church because they never find their place of service in the body, two tragedies occur. First, these people become estranged from the church; and, second, their gifts are not used in ministry.
Lyle Schaller, in his book Assimilating New Members, reminds us that a church bears a moral responsibility to help new members find their places of service in the Body of Christ.
“It is un-Christian for a congregation to seek new members unless it is also willing and able to accept them into that called-out community. This is not always easy and rarely is it automatic.”
Consider once more the army recruit with whom we began. That an effective army could function so haphazardly is unimaginable. Yet, many Virginia Baptist churches (and others, too) have no strategic plan to help new members discover ministries for which they might be suited. Churches guide new members to attend Sunday school and worship, to witness and to give; but often they never connect them to a ministry that touches lives in Christ’s name. The “ministries” of many churches are limited to positions on committees or filling slots in the organization. While these positions may be important, becoming overloaded with these kinds of “maintenance ministries” is more likely to cause a church member to leave than to stay.
In our scenario, the colonel’s weekly admonitions may occasionally have taken a tone of chastisement for not doing what was expected — even though the expectations were not defined. The troops may have left the weekly meetings more discouraged than when they arrived. A book titled After They join: 10 Ways to Assimilate New Members, offers nine suggestions for involving new members and closing the back door:
• Communicate effectively the church’s mission objectives to all church members, especially to those just becoming members.
• Develop strategies which will enable the church to achieve its objectives. Positive planning provides the direction and framework needed to coordinate a unified effort of all church ministries.
• Acknowledge the gifts and potential of church members.
• Engage members in meaningful ministry (not just maintaining the organization).
• Provide training so people can perform in ways they can be proud of.
• Involve members in small groups such as prayer, study, ministries, evangelism and spiritual growth.
• Devise a method of noticing when people begin to falter in regular attendance.
• Check on people when they are not present.
• Reward people for their successes. Lacking the financial means of rewarding productive persons, the church can look for other ways to reinforce the good work of its volunteers.
Regrettably, our opening parable provides an all-too-accurate parallel to the way many churches receive new members. Fortunately, most churches these days are asking how to reach and how to keep their members.
Organizing the body to discover the gifts and ministry interests of new members and providing challenging ministries based on these gifts will help members find their meaningful niche in the church. When this is linked to the positive force of small-group accountability, we can almost hear the beautiful noise of a back door slamming shut!
Jim White is editor of the Religious Herald.