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Visitor follow-up critical to retaining members, research shows

by: Thom S. Rainer

Editor's Note: The following is the third and final installment of Chapter 1 in Thom Rainer’s book "High Expectations."

Previous Articles:
Churches learn to ‘close the back door,’ keeping new members involved 
Sunday school most effective tool for keeping church members, research shows 

High-expectation churches believe that assimilation actually begins well before someone decides to join a church. Indeed, when someone visits their churches, leaders make certain that the visitor is "touched" in a number of ways. This follow-up may involve a personal letter from the pastor, a telephone call, or perhaps a visit to the home of the person who came to church.

What do these actions communicate? First, they tell the members of the church that they are expected to make contact with those who visit the church. It is not an optional issue. Follow-up is imperative.

Second, these actions communicate to the visitor that the people of the church are involved in ministry. In other words, the prospect sees that membership carries with it expectations.

Many of the churches in our study gave us the names, addresses and telephone numbers of new Christians who had joined their churches in the past year. Our conversations with these believers yielded some valuable insights. Henry is a new Christian from a church in Tennessee. Although he understands clearly that salvation is by grace alone, he also understands the cost of discipleship better than many long-term Christians.

"When I accepted the Lord," Henry said, "I knew that I had not done anything to deserve being saved." He paused for a moment before continuing. "But I knew that being a Christian and belonging to this church meant that something would be expected of me. I learned that lesson when I received seven different contacts from church members when I first visited the church. I thought to myself: These Christians take their beliefs seriously. Their commitment inspired me to become a Christian and eventually to be involved in ministry like they are."

New member classes or prospective member classes have become so common that they are virtually considered a regular program in these high-expectation churches. The class is the most-frequently-used point of entry where the expectations of membership are articulated. Indeed, these classes were so common in the high-assimilation churches that their absence was a rare exception.

In our follow-up interviews, we discovered even further the importance placed on new member classes. Numerous pastors and church staff told us that these classes were minimized in the past. But today in these churches, the classes are critical. Corona Baptist Church in Chandler, Ariz., is typical in its approach to new-member classes among the high-expectation churches. At present the class is not required for membership, but the expectations are that prospective or new members will attend.

Since this issue is one of such importance, we are going to treat it with greater depth in two ways. First, the entirety of chapter 7 will address the new member class. Second, Charles Lawless is in the process of writing an entire book on the topic. The material we gathered on this critical issue is simply too massive to be contained in one chapter.

One of the greatest contrasts between the high-assimilation churches and the low-assimilation churches was the role of prayer in closing the back door. In the high-assimilation churches, prayer played a critical role in retention. The low-assimilation churches, however, did not rank prayer highly in the assimilation process.

The contrast can best be illustrated on the scale we introduced earlier in this chapter. As exhibit 1-9 depicts, the high-assimilation churches ranked prayer with an average of 4.77, closest to the point on the continuum called "essential." The low-assimilation churches, however, ranked prayer with an average of 2.98, "important," but not essential.

How did prayer fit into the process of assimilation? Though the approaches varied, one of the more frequent responses we received was that new Christians were taught to become involved in prayer from the beginning of their new birth. They were instructed, particularly in new member classes, to become involved in corporate prayer, and they were discipled to become men and women of personal prayer. Apparently, the new member or new Christian who is taught to pray is much more likely to remain active in the church.

The role of the church leader, with a particular emphasis on the pastor, is critical in the assimilation process. While not all pastors of the high-assimilation churches had identical leadership traits, they did have some common characteristics. For example, the most significant leadership "teacher" was their own successes and failures in ministry. These men were not afraid to attempt major tasks for God. Even if the attempt was a failure in the world’s eyes, the pastors viewed the experience as positive because of what they learned from it.

Indeed, they ranked their experiences as major influences over such other possibilities as seminary training, mentors, conferences, books or leadership experts. The implications of this influence are profound. We will examine more fully such implications and numerous other leadership factors in chapter 4.

The high-expectation churches were unapologetically conservative in their doctrine. In our follow-up interviews with various church leaders, we were told about their high view of Scripture. Indeed, a full 100 percent of the pastors interviewed used the word inerrancy to describe their understanding of the trustworthiness of the Bible.

But the church leaders were not content merely to affirm certain doctrines and beliefs; they were determined that the church members understand biblical truths. For the longer-term members, the teaching of doctrine came primarily through expository preaching and strong Sunday schools. For the new Christians who joined the church, the new member class served as the first point of introduction to basic biblical truths.

Get ready to discover the details of how churches reach people and retain them in active membership. You will meet leaders from nearly 300 churches who will take you beyond theory to that which is really taking place in effective churches. Some of your ideas may be affirmed by the study. But, if you are like me, some of your presuppositions may be challenged.

Throughout this book you will se the word expectation or the phrase high expectation. These words in varying ways describe the primary finding of the study. Churches that expect more from their members are more likely to retain them in active membership. This discovery is good news. God’s church is being taken more seriously by many churches. Membership means more than a walk down an aisle and a hearty "amen."

Indeed, the high-expectation church of today seems to have some of the characteristics of the first-century church. Membership means ministry. Salvation by grace results in works. And inactive membership is fast becoming a contradiction in terms. We thus take our first step into the inner workings of these churches by asking what methodology is primary. The answer is Sunday school. Perhaps that answer is no surprise. In the next chapter, however, you may find some insights into Sunday school that are surprising. Welcome again to the world of high-expectation churches.