| dc.description.abstract | Statistical Reports of Lwalaba Station membership shows a deplorable loss of
members in its districts. It is sad to notice church members entering the church and
disappearing after a certain time.
Many churches which had a prosperous growth in membership have
experienced a decrease of church members year after year. This has been a great
concern for most church leaders because they cannot open new branches.
Basing on this fact, the study is meant to identify be the real causes of this
critical decrease of membership in Lwalaba Station, and suggest strategies that pastors
can use to stop this trend and effect church growth.
In the introduction of the study, a response to the issue was anticipated. Thus,
the following hypotheses were formulated: First, the decrease of church membership could be attributed to lack of personal spiritual growth caused by the following
factors: lack of personal Bible study, family devotion, and fellowship among church
members. Second, the decrease of new converts could be attributed to the following
causes: lack of new members’ training, non-involvement in church activities, lack of
visitation, pastoral care and counseling.
Findings revealed that the main causes of new converts backsliding are: (1)
Lack of private Bible studies, (2) Non-involvement of new converts in church
activities, (3) Lack of pastoral care and counseling, and (4) Lack of daily family
devotion and nurturing.
With the aim of providing a solution the following strategies were made in
order to maintain new converts in the church:(1) Equipping church members for
individual bible studies, (2) Involving new converts in church activities, (3) Increasing
house to house visitations for pastoral care and counseling, (4) Teaching church
members the importance of daily family devotion. | en_US |
