The role of Pastoral counseling in Membership, retention in Ayetoro Ekiti Seventh-day Adventist Church in Ekiti State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study pursued the role of pastoral counseling in membership retention in Seventh - day Adventist church, Ayetoro Ekiti. Procedures followed in the pursuit of this study included an introductory statement that specified steps to be followed which led to the development of the program. Relevant literature examined included the Bible, the writings of Ellen G. White, other numerous counseling books and various Christian commentators and encyclopedia that are of vital importance to pastoral counseling in membership retention. After the need for pastoral counseling was established, Ayetoro Ekiti was briefly explored historically, economically, politically, socially and culturally to expose the need for pastoral counseling in the church. Preliminary results revealed an urgent need to regularly counsel, educate members and to design, implement and evaluate an ongoing program of the role of pastoral counseling in membership retention. The specific strategies for effective pastoral counseling in membership retention were designed, and the fourth chapter carries specific measures that constitute the strategy. The initial responses to the program implemented signal a need for strategic pastoral counseling in membership retention in Ayetoro Ekiti. The last part of the project is a brief recapitulation of the whole project with necessary recommendations that cannot be exhausted. Pastoral counseling is an instrument of healing, and communication of the good news of salvation. It is hoped that because of the program design and implemented by this study, Seventh-day Adventist Church, Ayetoro Ekiti will be transformed and impact the community positively.