While evangelizing we would see people converted. Sometimes, when we returned for another revival the church would be the same size. No convert remained. Some churches make converts but do not grow. This is not God’s will!
Does the previous paragraph define you? It doesn’t have to. What can be done to keep converts?
- Slow down. Disciples are the work product of the church. But making disciples is not assembly line work. It is like the unhurried work of a skilled craftsman. Church leader, slow down. Ask, “What is being done to keep converts?” If the answer is, “Little,” then slow further and design a sustainable approach to care for converts.
- Focus on a convert’s needs. Babies need a different diet – as do converts! Infants need much attention – so does a convert. Being unaware of the needs of spiritual babies means most will not survive.
- Welcome spiritual babies. A church can be a “closed set.” Such repels newcomers. Lack of retention is explained as, “Nobody wants to live right.” This is wrong! Babies don’t know how to live right. Remember dirty diapers and upchuck? Messiness happens in growing spiritual babies. Growing churches welcome dealing with the mess.
Tools are available to help you keep converts. The “Disciple-makers Packet!” at CarltonCoonSr.com can help. Don’t be like a church that Evangelist Samuel Chadwick spoke of. He had sent converts to a certain church. The converts soon dropped out. Chadwick blamed himself. Of that church, he said, “It was like putting a baby in the arms of a corpse.”
Don’t be a church that has revival – but never grows!
On the last Tuesday of each month (7:30 CST) join my Facebook Live Webinar at Carlton Coon Sr.