The issue of retention is very serious in the Mongolian Mission, as well as in other Northern Asia-Pacific Division (NSD) territories. The retention rate is said to be around 30%. One of the reasons may be due to the nomadic nature of the Mongolian people, as some have said. Recently, young members are said to be leaving the churches because of job opportunities that threaten Sabbath observance.
The NSD Retention Project is trying to raise the church retaining power of its members by proposing ways to strengthen the relationship level, especially among new members, through two initiatives, Message Delivery and Small Group Initiatives. By these initiatives we are aiming to care, nurture, disciple, and train members. For this purpose, we invited a lay evangelist, Mr. Johnny Wong, to introduce his way of effective and active “Care Group” to our Retention Project Seminar that was held from May 12 to 16, 2013, in the MMF lecture room.
He brought five members from the Gateway Church in Australia to make the Seminar more practical and convincing to the attendees. They came to aid us at their own expense. What grace they showed to us all!
From 26 churches and companies in all the MMF, around 40 attendees joined the Seminar, and 21 churches were represented by their pastors, Bible workers, and lay members. Devotional life and basic training in starting a Care Group were well presented in a practical manner. The FAST Disciple Kit Program was translated into Mongolian to strengthen leadership training. (For more on the FAST Disciple Kit Program, go to www.FAST.ST.) We would like to give a big thanks to Pr. Nyamdavaa, Pr. Kuhn, leaders, and others of the MMF for making this Seminar a success. Great gratitude should also go to the staff of Johnny Wong’s group.
Teru Fukui, NSD Retention Project Coordinator