Closing the Church's Back Door^©

Table Of Contents

Intentional Assimilation Effort (Seems like a lot of work.)

Honoring Visitors (Why can’t church members be honored?)

Cliques in the Church (My church is too friendly to be snobbish.)

Church Assimilation Team (CAT) and its Functions (Just what is needed, another committee.)

Computer Support of the Computer Assimilation Team’s Activities (How did Jesus’ disciples get along without a computer?)

How Church Members Can Help a Person Feel Welcome (Isn’t this what the deacons are supposed to do.)

Spending Time with a Visitors or a New Church Member (Another donation. Why can’t I just give a tenth and be done with it?)

How Church Leaders Can Equip Church Members to Reach out to a Visitor and a New Church Member (Just what I need, another monthly meeting.)


Go To Sunday School and Visitors Page

How can the “back door” that is identified with letting church members slip out of the church’s fellowship be closed? The back door can be boarded up, chained shut (Fire Marshall will not like this idea), painted over as a mural of Judas hanging himself, etc. Another idea is the church members will create an atmosphere that make people want to be a part of the church and its activities. This may not stop all people from leaving the fellowship of the church, but it has a good opportunity to reduce the desire for church members to look for the back door.

To assimilate people into the life of the church involves getting people to be active in the weekly and monthly activities of the church’s organizations. The people that can be targeted for assimilation into the church life can be visitors, new church members, fringe church members, inactive church members, etc. This article will use “new members” to identify any groups of people that need to be assimilated into the church’s life.

Inactive church members are a group of members that need to be revisited with the intent of getting them to again become active participants in the church’s life. They may be a tough group to assimilate due to the variety of reasons that caused them to become inactive. Too often the reason for becoming inactive includes strong emotional ties to the problem that caused the inactivity. For some people, overcoming the problem will be difficult if not possible. Patience, people skills, conflict resolution skills, and an understanding of the initial problem are some of the traits needed by people that will strive to recover inactive church members. The inactive church members may have been church leaders. They can become an asset to the church if they again become active church members. If an inactive church member is recovered, do not place them in a position that is associated with the original problem.

It is possible that for some churches an intentional planned assimilation of new members and visitors is not needed due to so few members and visitors available for assimilation. It will be better stewardship of the church members’ time and effort if the time and effort are invested in other church ministries. With this idea documented and hopefully it is not true for your church, lets us move on to discuss intentional assimilation efforts.

The intentional effort requires planning and the investment of time by church members to reach out to the new members. A family of four or five can be a challenge since the different ages of the family will mean that there are a variety of organizations that can provide activities and places for a ministry for the family members. “How is the family supposed to learn about what is available to each family member?” is a question church leaders need to answer?

The intentional effort requires planning and the investment of time by church members to reach out to new members. A family of four or five can be a challenge since the different ages of the family will mean that there are a variety of organizations that can provide activities and places for a ministry for each family members.

As people grow in their Faith, they will develop a different perspective toward their involvement in serving God. The possible change of attitude is a good reason that the church needs to a couple times a year have an emphasis on the church’s ministries to remind people of places of possible service. It is possible that a church member is leaning toward a ministry that is not currently available. Be sure the name of the appropriate staff or volunteer leaders is made available so the church member will know whom to contact.

By default the Sunday School class is the organization that is normally used to assimilate new members. The assimilation process, if one exists, normally starts after a person joins the church. The assimilation process should start the first time a person visits the church.

Keep in mind that a visitor or new member will be ignorant of many aspects of the church’s ministries’ activities. In theory, the church members will know about the ministry opportunity, but the new members will not have this knowledge. It is important to put this information in front of the people.

It is an honor for a church to have a visitor. It is a bigger honor for the visitor to decide to be a participating church member. If the person does not feel welcome, it is doubtful the person will become a member of the church’s fellowship.

New church members come from two groups of people.

      1. Visitors.

      2. Children born to church members.

Because some church members will leave the church for a variety of reasons, there is a need for the church to have new members joining the church just to stay even in numbers. Once a person visits the church, effort needs to be made to turn the visitor into a church member.

The visitor has taken the time and put forth the effort to attend the church service. It would be nice if the church class members treated the visitor as a “special guest.” The “special guest” attitude will influence how the church members relate to the guest.

How can a person be made to feel like he is an accepted member of the church? A simple but effective approach is to a guest is to be friendly and talk to the guest. The attention given to the guest will quickly help the guest relax and start identifying with people in the class. “Being friendly” starts when the person enters the church building. Can you imagine the atmosphere in a church that is full of truly “friendly” people?

Cliques, even if they are unintentionally, can be a hindrance to assimilating people into the church’s membership and its leadership. Read the article, “Cliques in the Church,” to learn more about the influence of cliques in the church have on the church and its membership.

The Church Assimilation Team will have as its purposes:

1. Incorporate a new church member into the weekly and monthly church activities.

2. Obtain information about each church member in order to assist the church member in finding a place of service in the church’s ministries.

3. Establish procedures that will assist church leaders in assimilating church members and visitors into the life of the church.

4. Establish and maintain a computerized system (when appropriate) that will be used to maintain data about each church member.

5. Establish procedures and appropriate training that will help church members reach out to visitors, new church members, church members, and inactive church members.

6. Prepare appropriate reports concerning church members participation in church ministries for church paid and volunteer leaders.

7. Encourage church members to invite church members and visitors to visit them in their home for a light meal once a month.

8. The number of members needed to staff the assimilation team will vary according to the size of the church and what the team will attempt to achieve.

CAT will develop a questionnaire that they will collect from each visitor and church member data about their ministry interests. The collected data will be used to involve the person in the church’s ministries. After the personal data is collected, the CAT will distribute to the appropriate church leaders the name of people that may be interested in participating in their ministries.

At least once a year, CAT will prepare a report that will identify church members that are not involved in church ministries. The report will be used to encourage the church members to participate in one of the church ministries.

CAT has responsibility of providing the necessary training for the church members that will be involved in the processes that are used to assimilate people into the church life.

Any small group can be an initiating point for assimilating people into the church. The Sunday School class is the small group through which the assimilating activities can be focused. Not all church members are members of a Sunday School class, but most church members that are classified as active members are associated in some degree with a Sunday School class.

The CAT will collect data about each church member. The data will be entered into computer software and reports will be prepared using the collected data. The software used can vary according to the membership size of the church and the computer programming knowledge level of the members of CAT.

One of the first things that need to be done by the CAT is to select the computer support software. The selected computer support will have an impact on how some of the work of the CAT will be done.

A Church Management System will normally have a module that will manage data about each church member. The understanding of how to use the module will be limited to how to enter the data and how to request the desired reports. This will be the easiest and quickest way to handle the church membership data due too there is no need to know any computer programming language. All sizes of churches can use a Church Management System. If the church uses a Church management System, the system will probably have a module that can be used.

A small church can use a spreadsheet to provide the computer support for the CAT. This will require a church volunteer that has a very good knowledge of the spreadsheet capabilities and MACROS.

Any size church can use database software such as MS Access, Corel Paradox, etc. if it has a volunteer that has knowledge of programming and the database software. This approach can allow for the customization of the software for the church.

It will be good to talk with the denominational leadership to find out which approach they will recommend. No matter which computerized support that is selected, it will be a good idea to talk with a church that is using that approach to find out what they have experienced.

●          “Be friendly” is a good approach to use with any person you do not know.

●          Introduce yourself to a person you do not know. Focus the conversation on the person. Ask questions to learn something about the person. Make sure you talk with the person the next time you see him at a church activity.

●          Invite the person to sit with you in the worship service or church activity.

●          Introduce the person to other church members.

●          Ask the person if they have any questions about the church or its activities. A guest does not know things about the church that church members know.

●          Invite the person to attend other church services and activities.

●          Make sure the visitor knows how to get to the church sanctuary, where to pick up his children, etc.

●          Take the initiative and spend time with the visitor outside the church building.

●          Develop a plan for church members to contact visitors and new members using the phone, e-mail, a web site page, letters, etc.

●          Invite the person and his family to eat with you at a fast food restaurant. You pay for the family’s meal the first time. This will be a surprise to the person and make him curious to know more about you.

●          Invite visitors and new church members to eat a meal with you at your home. The meal is to allow you to get to know them and them to get to know you. You can invite another church member family to eat the meal. Use your imagination to determine how you can develop your unique way to spend enjoyable and relaxing time with visitors and new church members.

●          Involve the visitors and new church members to participate in church-sponsored projects so they can meet and get to know other church members. People are inclined to say “yes” when they are asked to participate in a specific function when compared to them on their own volunteering. “Ask and you will receive” is a good motto to use.

●          Church staff sponsored get acquainted meals for new members.

●          Volunteer church leaders sponsored get acquainted meals for new members.

●          Provide training about reaching out to visitors, people that do not attend frequently, new church members, and church members.

●          Provide procedures and forms for obtaining data about visitors and distribute the collected data to appropriate church leaders for contacting the visitors.

●          Encourage church members to take the time to talk with visitors and invite the visitors to participate in other church activities.

 12-29-2004