Master of Arts in Pastoral Theology

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Reclaiming Former Seventh-day Adventist Church Members in Ogun Conference, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria
(Adventist University of Africa, 2016-01) Olawumi, John Adesegun
Reclaiming former Seventh-day Adventist Church members in Ogun conference is a study that was motivated by the alarming rate of backsliders in this Conference. The Researcher developed a programme with a purpose to reclaim the backsliders. The study utilized the programme development method to conduct this research. This included an empirical study to find out the reasons for backsliding. It is a fact that people are leaving the church for many reasons but the majority of backsliders are leaving because of issues other than doctrinal teaching. A programme of reclaiming members was implemented and many backsliders were reclaimed. The result of this study established that reclaiming the backsliding ones required the involvement of all church members in the congregation. Hence, the study concluded that the duty of bringing back the former members is not a work that can be left only to pastors of the congregation. It is teamwork. It is recommended, therefore, that the church pastors and members strengthen the programme of caring and nurturing among other things in order to sustain the gains of this programme.