Assimilation of new church members

Chung Yuen Chan D.Min.

In response to the migration of Hong Kong people to Canada in recent years, this project attempted to build up a biblical theology of hospitality from the perspective of discipleship. The theology of exile was also engaged to shed insight on hospitality. The driving question for this project was: How could the Hong Kong background Cantonese-speaking churches in Canada embrace a new wave of Hong Kong diaspora through practicing hospitality as a journey of discipleship?

This project interviewed 21 Hong Kong background Cantonese-speaking churches in Canada to draw lessons from their experience in embracing the Hong Kong wave during the period between September 2021 and May 2022.

Based on the biblical exposition, a framework of “B.O.N.J.O.U.R.” (i.e., boundary, orienting our hearts and minds, nurturing a lifelong habit, juncture, open, understanding, and reframing) in conjunction with the elements of the discipleship base of the writer’s church (i.e., Word, prayer, worship and stewardship of time, finance and talents) was proposed as a criteria for evaluating our mindset and practices in embracing the migration wave. Recommendations in another framework of “P.L.O.W.” (i.e., preparation, leadership, optics and willingness) were humbly offered at the end to different churches of different sizes and different paces in welcoming the migrants from Hong Kong.

Stephen Bradley Watson

The purpose of the project was to equip selected adults of Marion First Baptist church, Marion, Arkansas with essential team-based assimilation skills. Upon completing research of team-based assimilation practices and skills, the project director developed four equipping sessions. The project director held the four equipping sessions with selected adults from First Baptist Church, Marion, Arkansas. Participants learned about selected team-based assimilation skills and how to put selected skills into practice when interacting with guests, regular attendees, and members of Marion First Baptist Church, Marion, Arkansas. Participants discovered the importance of welcoming interactions with guests in order to increase guest retention and assimilate guests and regular attendees into the membership and ministry of Marion First Baptist Church, Marion, Arkansas.

Brett Warren Self

The purpose of this project in ministry was to develop an assimilation strategy for Stone Ridge Baptist Church, Alexander City, Alabama. The project director conducted an internal assessment of the congregation of Stone Ridge Baptist Church including new members, regular attenders, and guests and identified assimilation deficiencies among the congregation of Stone Ridge Baptist Church. The project director researched three churches that possess effective assimilation strategies to identify best practices of assimilation. The project director recruited a strategy planning team, which consisted of seven members that assisted him in the development of an assimilation strategy using the assimilation deficiencies discovered and the best practices of assimilation identified. He presented the completed assimilation strategy to the leadership team of Stone Ridge Baptist Church for approval. The project director sought to increase his knowledge in assimilation and his skill in strategy development.

Robert Bradley Gowing

The purpose of this project is to develop a new member assimilation strategy for Dawson Memorial Baptist Church, Birmingham, Alabama. the project director formed a strategy planning team made up of church staff. He conducted surveys and analyzed membership data of the last ten years to evaluate the current assimilation and membership process, membership and, and trends in growth and retention. He researched new member assimilation strategies at selected churches, as well as literature about new members assimilation to determine best practices. Based on the surveys, analysis and research, the project director developed a new member assimilation strategy for Dawson Memorial Baptist Church with guidance from the strategy planning team. The project director presented the strategy to the staff coordinating team for approval and implementation.

MIchael David Blue

The purpose of this project was to develop a strategy for engaging people in ministries at Woodland Park Baptist Church, Hammond, Louisiana. The project's director researched various engagement strategies and surveyed the church laypeople to determine their value for ministry engagements. Next, the director created a ministry engagement team to develop the best strategy for the church with the obtained research. The ministry leadership team submitted the completed strategy to the church leadership team and obtained their approval. The desired result was to have a clear strategy the church could use to improve church ministry engagement for the current congregation, as well as to create a pathway for ministry involvement of future members.

Jeffrey Marshall Ayers

The purpose of this project is to equip selected ministry leaders of Sharon Church, McDonough, Georgia, in new member assimilation skills. The project director will research the field of new member assimilation in the local church to identify needed skills. He will then develop a seminar to equip selected ministry leaders at Sharon Church to use a variety of these new member skills. For the seminar to be highly effective, the project director will research curriculum writing methods and instruction planning, in order that the new member assimilation seminar will be encouraging and informative to the selected leaders who participate in this training. This project director's goal is that this training will well equip these church leaders to assist new members more effectively in better assimilating into Sharon Church, so that this local body of believers will be even more dynamic at ministering to and involving all people in their congregation.

Derek Clinton Crawford D.Ed.Min.

This Ministry Research Project focused on equipping pastors and church leaders of the Enon Baptist Association (EBA) to be more effective in recruiting volunteers to serve in the local church. The need was based on concerns voiced by local church leaders. To fulfill this project, the Project Leader invited local pastors and church leaders from the EBA to participate in a six-session training.

The Project Leader designed this training to give participants a biblical basis for service in the church by studying three different passages in Scripture. The writer provided participants with current resources utilized in churches to integrate service through spiritual gifts and ministry descriptions into local congregations. Throughout the training, he gave attendees opportunities to apply concepts discussed to their current ministry settings, allowing for practical application.

The Project Leader administered a pre-and post-survey to each participant. He used the scores to determine the knowledge of each person before and after the training to determine if any increase in knowledge had occurred. In comparing the responses between the pre-and post-survey, he determined the training increased participants' knowledge of recruiting volunteers for service in the local church.

Catherine E Smith

How can congregations prepare our young people for the challenges of an unknown future? I came into this project with three assumptions: the key to preparing our young people for the future lies in identity formation; the identity that will sustain them in the unknown is the one given to them in Baptism; and the best opportunity for churches to shape and nurture this identity is through the ongoing, life-long experience of congregational worship. Thus, this project questions how identity is shaped, what identity the young people of our congregations are currently being shaped in, what the content of Baptismal Identity is, and how congregations can best shape and nurture that identity through congregational worship. Identity, the project finds, is shaped as practices and liturgies of the various cultures in which we live, work, learn, play, and worship inform our understanding of who we are, who our people are, and what our hope and purpose are. The project investigates the various cultures in which our young people dwell and the faith our churches are largely teaching them; and then claims that the identity these cultures and faith instruction are shaping and nurturing in our young people will not sustain them in the unknown challenges of the future. Following a broad study of Biblical covenant history, creation in the imago dei, new creation in Christ, the covenant family of God, and the call to live out God’s relational purposes and redemptive plan; I propose a definition of the identity our young people receive in the waters of baptism which will provide the solid ground on which they will need to walk in the unknown future.

Nathaniel Jones Carroll

The purpose of this project was to develop a membership assimilation strategy for First Baptist Church, Haleyville, Alabama. The project director explored the field of survey development and analysis, resulting in the creation of a discovery survey. After analysis of the results, the survey provided a church profile of membership expectations.

The project director researched the field of membership assimilation resulting in a list of best practices from the annotated bibliography compiled. The project director researched the field of strategic planning producing an annotated bibliography and list of strategic planning producing an annotated bibliography and list of strategic processes discovered. The project director led a group of selected members through a chosen strategic process, discovered during the research phase.

The result of the strategic process was a membership assimilation strategy for First Baptist Church, Haleyville, Alabama. The project director presented the strategic plan to the deacon body of First Baptist Church, Haleyville, Alabama, for approval. Once approved by the deacon body, the strategic plan was presented to the membership of First Baptist Church, Haleyville, Alabama, for approval.

Kenneth G. Moren D.Min.

Churches in the United States, regardless of denomination, are retaining fifty-one percent of new believers. This disheartening statistic was unacceptable to me and the leadership of Family Christian Center of Patterson, California. Unfortunately, we also had the same dismal retention rate of new believers and no strategy to resolve it. Thus, the need became the impetus to train a small group of teachers for new believer retention. The ABBA teacher training program was developed as a response to the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19-20) combined with theoretical principles for Christian service (Attachment, Belonging, Becoming, and Assimilation).
Instruction for the ABBA program is biblically based and formulated from Paulo Freire’s five ideas of dialogical learning and Robin Alexander’s theory of dialogical teaching. ABBA is implemented in a repertoire of teaching that includes talk, teaching aids, technology and tests. This methodology was presented in two different workshops one month apart which included homework assignments for participants. Volunteers from Family Christian Center were trained to teach new believers in doctrine, Christian service and spiritual gifts in conjunction with an emphasis on retention in the local church.
Two important reasons for new believer retention: (1) for the growth and maturity of the new believer; and (2) for the assimilation of the new believer into the church to connect with other believers and actionize their Christian service. The ABBA program was designed for multi-denominational use with flexibility to accommodate the church’s teaching schedule. The Candidate’s project has demonstrated a successful pragmatic response to the new believer retention dilemna.