(Adventist University of Africa, School of Postgraduate Studies, 2014-06) Boateng, Adade
The study is aimed at nurturing newly converted members in the Seventh-day
Adventist church in Kumasi. The idea of nurturing was nurtured by the author after
observing carefully how many new converts become inactive or drop out completely
from the church shortly after they have joined the church. The research was done at
the Airport district of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Kumasi, Ghana with
special emphasis on the two newly established churches of North River and
Emmanuel Seventh-day Adventist churches.
A survey was conducted to ascertain the reasons of new members leaving the
church shortly after conversion. A program was developed and implemented and the
results analyzed. It was ascertained that after a year’s implementation of the program
the inactive and dropout rate of new members had dropped considerably for the whole
district. But with the two newly established churches of North River and Emmanuel the inactive and dropout rate had
dropped from 54.3% and 60% respectively to zero percent for both churches.
The study revealed that with proper nurturing programs put in place in the
churches, many of the new members will be retained as against the current trend of
losing more members than those who stay.