A Strategy for Retention of New Members in Ngoma Seventh-day Adventist Church, South Rwanda Field, Rwanda Union Mission

Abstract

The aim of this study was to develop a strategy that will be used as a model for solving the problem of membership retention in Ngoma Seventh-day Adventist Church. The strength of every church is its membership. Loss of church members always affects the growth of the church. It is indeed difficult for the pastor to singly resolve or manage loss of membership in the church. The possibility of becoming ineffective to solve the problem of the loss of membership has made the pastor depend on lay leaders who often are not well equipped with skills in the treatment of new converts. The Bible, Seventh-day Adventist sources and other materials on membership retention were reviewed. Questionnaires were given to selected church members to determine the training needs of the church elders and all church workers as well as the church members for membership retention. A training workshop was organized for church elders and all church workers as well as the church members. The study outlined the reality of the loss of new members and enumerated the probable causes of new members backsliding in Ngoma Seventh-day Adventist Church. It drew a suggestive strategy on how to prevent this backsliding of new members. At the conclusion to this study, the researcher discovered that the fact that Ngoma Seventh-day Adventist Church has a high rate of dropouts brought a necessity of looking for the new answer to the question: “How to retain new church members in Ngoma Seventh-day Adventist Church?” The study considered many challenges and causes of backsliding such as the lack of: proper follow-up, nurturing programs for new converts, bonds of friendship, effective visitation, and adequate fundamental instruction. The church planned a strategy which helped the newly baptized to stay in the church. The small groups program shows that there is hope. After the evangelistic campaign conducted in Ngoma Adventist Church, thirty-seven new converts were baptized. After three months of visiting and follow-up, all thirty-seven new members were still in the church and they were actively participating. Following the implementation of programs that are described in this study, it was concluded that it is possible to decrease the loss of members in Ngoma Seventh-day Adventist Church if there is proper planning, commitment, and dedication on the part of the leadership of the local church and the pastor.