said Robert Saler, pastor of Bethel Lutheran Church, Gary, Ind., and a visiting lecturer at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. “[It’s a way to say], ‘No matter what, we are praying for you and we are hoping that God is blessing your life.’ That has opened some doors.” It also helps diffuse suspicions
that “we just want to get you through the door,” he added. “You can con- vey, ‘We’d love to see you come back. But even if that doesn’t hap- pen, we still care about you.’ ” Members of Winds of the Prairie Ministries recently “adopted” inac- tive members by praying for them throughout the season of Epiphany, beginning with Baptism of Our Lord Sunday, and sending them cards after Transfiguration Sunday. “The idea came to us as we thought about God adopting us in baptism. We, too, wanted to ‘adopt’ and pray for those we haven’t seen much in the last few years,” said Julie Anderson, a pastor of the five ELCA congregations in the South- western Minnesota Synod that com- prise Winds of the Prairie. “We wanted people to know that we have not forgotten about them. We still consider them part of the family and would love to see them again.” • Be sensitive. While serving a con- gregation in Jamaica, Queens, N.Y., Smith recalls hearing how some members felt “shamed” when they returned after an extended absence and were greeted with questions such as “Where have you been?” and “Why haven’t you been here in a while?”
She advised: “If members
haven’t been to church in three or four years, don’t shame them—wel- come them. Let them know how happy you are to see them.” That same approach can go a long way with members who aren’t inac-
tive, just not-so-active, Everist said. For example, members who attend every Sunday might carry the bulk of the church’s responsibilities. “It is very easy for them to feel exasper- ated by those who don’t come very often,” she said. “And members, who perhaps for some good reasons may not come as often, may feel like they are being judged.” The role-play at Wartburg helps students see participation as more than an “us” and “them” issue, Everist said. “They become aware that all of us, at one time or another, have felt on the edge or rebuffed, so we don’t go for a while. As we become more aware, we become more open to listening,” she said. • Recommend. At times pastors might need to recommend a more suitable church for their inactive members, Vaswig from Mountain View Lutheran said. “Clergy some- times take it personally because we are human beings. But we really shouldn’t. … It’s not always about us.”
Stewart from LTSP added, “Pas- tors can say, ‘I may not be your best pastor, but there may be others who could be.’ We need to recognize that
sometimes we are not always going to be all things to all people.”
Letting go Despite best efforts to reach out, a time may come when a congregation needs to let go of inactive members, Vaswig said. “We have systems in place to
reach out,” he added. “If we make overtures in a variety of ways and they still don’t respond, then at some point we let things be. It may be that their inactivity is a sign of something else. Sometimes people have to take a hiatus from church.” (See
www.thelutheran.org/
feature/april for a related story, “Cleaning membership rolls.”) And even if they don’t come for months, years or decades at a time, inactive members can still sense the “deep value” in the church just by it “being there, doing what it does week to week,” said Saler of Bethel Lutheran. “That can be a tremendous minis- try in and of itself,” he added. “Even if the congregation never sees these people or hears from them … who knows what can happen down the road?”
Resources • “Caring for Inactive Members: How to Make God’s House a Home,” a
• “How to Shrink Your Church’s Inactive Member List, Church Effec- • The Other 80 Percent: Turning Your Church’s Spectators into Active
Participants by Scott Thumma and Warren Bird (Jossey-Bass, 2011). •Transforming Leadership: New Vision for a Church in Mission by
• You Lost Me: Why Young Christians are Leaving Church ... and Norma Cook Everist (Fortress Press, 2008). Rethinking Church by David Kinnaman (Baker Books, 2011). April 2012 25
six-hour course that equips parishioners to reach out in authentic, caring ways to people who are inactive or unchurched. Available from Stephen Ministries, a system for training and organizing members to provide Christian care to people experiencing a wide range of crises or life dif- ficulties (
www.stephenministries.org).
tiveness Nuggets: Volume 6,” The Parish Paper (
www.theparishpaper. com).
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