Are we attractive enough for people to stay?

As we are gearing up toward the Year of Evangelism 2009, the main focus of congregations throughout North America this year is in building relationship with community, reclaiming and reviving our own pew, and reassessing or attractiveness quotient.

Recent Adventist Review article is quoting the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, compiled by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, that "of all Protestant families, Baptists, Adventists, and Lutherans have the highest retention rates." At the same time a comparative study, the American Religious Identification Survey shows that since 2001 there is a clear evidence of a dropout problem. Those raised in the Adventist Church and stayed in have dropped from 73% to 60%. Monte Sahlin, a director of research for the Ohio Conference says “the tendency of new generations of Adventists to not bond with our denomination is accelerating.”

How is it in our church family? Have our kids stayed? Where are the youth that were reared by this congregation? This year we are focusing on reviving the youth ministry and the ministry to our children. Churches rise or fall as their ministries rise and fall. A few successful ministries we can identify immediately: CHIP program, the Open House Community Outreach, Pathfinders Club; there is a new consistent beginning with the men’s ministry group. Things are developing in the traditional Sabbath School, children’s church, crafts club run by Viola and Mary Reeve, “Children’s Church” programming during the Sabbath worship hour organized by Lo Richards. The quality of our children program today determines who will be in our church a generation from now.

There are 78 youth ages 18-35 who were brought up in the Adventist family and still live in London (a very conservative estimate). Quite few of them are married now, some with children. Those who live elsewhere in Ontario and visit occasionally would add another 30 names. How many of them are committed followers of Christ? You know, they are your children.

Over the last few weeks the Sabbath School talked about discipleship under pressure, and the memory verse was from Jeremiah 12:5 "If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses? And if in the land of peace, in which you trusted, they wearied you, then how will you do in the flooding of the Jordan?" If now, in the time of ease the youth God given to us is not committed to run with the Lord, how will they cop with the pressure of the end-times?

I wish our retention rate would be at least 60% - we would have 50-60 youth leading ministries in the church. We know reality here. They are our children! What will we do for to connect our youth and children to God?

Our Church’s world-wide initiative Tell the World introduces 7 elements, starting with No.1 “Spiritual Growth.” When we grow spiritually ourselves, we have story to tell. When we grow ourselves, our children see it. When the spiritual transformation is evident in our lives, it attracts others. I’ll end my appeal this week with a Bible quote that Clara Baptiste brings before leadership team consistently: “What have they seen in your house?”