The Northern Asia-Pacific Division (NSD) conducted its 3rd Retention and Reclamation Summit in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, from May 16 to 17, 2016. About 60 participants, mostly leaders of the church, were blessed by the inspiring messages and presentations given by guest speakers from the General Conference (GC), Dr. David Trim, director of Archives, Statistics and Research (ASTR); Pastor Myron Iseminger, undersecretary, and Dr. Jiwan Moon, director of Public Campus Ministry. NSD president Jairyong Lee and other NSD directors also shared their ideas and encouragement.
One highlight of the summit was the testimonies from the local fields. Pastor Chun WonBae (Mongolia Mission), Pastor Lee KiHo (Korean Union Conference), Pastor Chen Yu Chi (Chinese Union Mission), and Pastor Masaru Kobayashi (Japan Union Conference) shared their experiences in pastoral works related to retention and reclamation.
At the end of the Summit, Pastor Jairyong Lee challenged the participants to answer the same question Jesus had asked three times to Peter: “Do you love me?” If we answer Him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you,” then Jesus will give us this task, “Feed my sheep!”
A Consensus Statement
As the result of the NSD 3rd Retention and Reclamation Summit, a consensus statement was made with the full support of all participants. The statement was recommended to the NSD Midyear Meeting on May 20, 2016, and was voted to be recorded as presented below:
We, the participants of the NSD 3rd Retention and Reclamation Summit, have been well informed about the statistical facts presented by the office of Archives, Statistics and Research (ASTR) of the General Conference regarding the low and declining retention rate of the church. The NSD is not an exception.
We believe that it is a biblical imperative to seek the lost members of the church. God Himself says, “I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the crippled, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will watch over; I will feed them in justice” (Ezekiel 34:16).
Jesus Christ declares His mission, “The Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). This is because “one soul is precious, very precious, in the sight of God. Christ would have died for one soul in order that that one might live through the eternal ages” (Testimonies for the Church,Vol. 8, 73).
We realize, however, that there are challenges in retaining and reclaiming the lost. Unconducive personal relationship among church members has caused many members leaving the church. In addition, the lack of special attention to and understanding about young people in the church has made a church an unsafe place for this younger generation of the church.
The efforts of retaining and reclaiming members have been done mainly by the pastors only. Many who have left the church are being neglected and pastors cannot do the work alone.
We adopt the biblical principles as summarized in Luke 15 as our guidelines in developing strategies for reclaiming and retaining church members, based on the local context of the local churches. These principles are outlined in an initiative called SEEK 2020.
In line with the NSD Vision One Million 2020, with God’s help, the retention rate of NSD will increase up to 20% by 2020. Thus we SEEK:
Search until we find
Encourage until they return
Empower them to serve
Keep them until Jesus comes
We affirm that seeking the lost is a joined effort of God and His church. For this effort, the church must be prepared not only for seeking but also for welcoming the returning church members. God’s loving compassion in the hearts of our members is a prerequisite. Thus we go resolutely for searching, seek thoroughly, and welcome lovingly the returning members and celebrate the homecoming.
We support the recommendation of the world church on Nurturing and Retention:
1. All unions and conferences/missions in NSD to have a discipleship program: GC recommends “Growing Fruitful Disciples” (adapted to local contexts)
2. Adopt attendance counts as standard, so that pastors and elders can track the net retention rate
3. Adopt membership software for keeping records of members, to help pastors and elders be aware of those who are slipping away!
4. Specific training in nurture–retention–discipling to become part of ministerial education at all theology departments or seminaries in NSD
5. Implement comprehensive, practical training in conflict resolution and reconciliation at all levels: union and conference/mission employees and in local churches
6. NSD to hold conferences focusing on missions, retention and reclamation
7. Every union, conference/mission in NSD to appoint a Nurture and Retention
Coordinator and a Nurture & Retention Committee, chaired by one of the officers, and including but not limited the following key departmental directors as members: Children’s Ministries, Education, Family Ministries, Ministerial Assoc., Sabbath School & Personal Ministries, Women’s Ministries, and Youth Ministries
We suggest various methods and initiatives to be implemented in line with these recommendations, with Total Member Involvement. Thus training and equipping works are to be done for the church members by all the church departments in a collaborative way.
We are looking forward that when we meet again, we will not onlytalk about challenges and strategies, but to celebrate God’s love and glory for the multiplication, retention, and reclamation of His people.
By Richard Sabuin, NSD SS/PM Director