Assimilation still key to lowering membership gap for Waco church

WACO?Although undergoing several changes since its inception, Waco Family Baptist Church’s unusual approach to addressing unregenerate church members still proves effective. First featured in the Dec. 18, 2006 issue of the Southern Baptist TEXAN, WFBC now ministers with a new name and a new pastor at the helm.

The plant’s new pastor, Todd Gill, has only served at WFBC for nine months, but said he remains committed to the founding pastor’s passion for assimilating new members into the life of the church.

At its inception, the church voted to outline a provision in its constitution to address inactive members.
Along with describing membership responsibilities and rights, the constitution designates members in three categories: resident, non-resident, and inactive. If a member remains inactive for a specific time period, the church membership committee transfers him or her to an inactive listing.

“We have not changed that portion of the constitution and bylaws, and that is something I would like to keep,” Gill said. “We’ve had some members we’ve had to place on inactive rolls because they were looking for churches elsewhere. As we visited and talked with them, we tried to help them find the place where God wanted them to be.”

In following up with inactive members, Gill says it is sometimes clear that God leads members to another place of service and worship.

“Because we love one another and because we are friends, it becomes uncomfortable at times,” he admitted.

However, Gill believes the approach to membership is both necessary and effective. The church has continued to maintain about 45 attending members, and since his arrival at WFBC, the church plant has assimilated 16 new members.

Recently, the church voted to amend its constitution with one change regarding church membership. Whereas inactive members were transferred by the membership committee to an inactive listing after three months, the revised constitution stipulates a new time period of six months prior to designating a member as inactive.

Although noting that the church may revise the time designation in the future, Gill said follow-up of inactive members should happen in the first three months.

“If we wait six months to know what someone is doing, then we are remiss in our responsibilities.”
Despite the difficulty of losing church members, Gill said the decision to move members to an inactive list is not a difficult one.

“[We have] members staying in contact and constantly pursuing inactive members,” he said, adding that the constitution establishes the protocol for dealing with absent members. “It is not a decision we have to toil over.”

Yet Gill stressed that members who are moved to an inactive listing become the recipients of intense follow-up.

“We are not writing anyone off. We feel that we have a responsibility to follow up and pursue them. If there is an issue, we have a responsibility to seek restoration,” he said, noting that the follow-up process requires wisdom. “There are also those points where you say ‘every Baptist in Waco doesn’t need to be a member of WFBC.’ We recognize God has other places for them to serve and other places for them to worship. And we want to help them be where God wants them to be.”

Still key to the church’s attempt to keep its roster clean is its commitment to assimilation. Since coming on board, Gill has led WFBC to model a family-integrated approach to ministry.

“We don’t have a youth department that separates from our adult department, because we want to keep families together,” he explained.

To further help in assimilation, Gill said the church gives jobs of service to younger members.

“Church members that are over 12 years old we consider adults. We want to give them responsibilities taking up offering and working in the nursery, and we expect them to act like adults.”

Gill said he hopes that allowing younger members to enjoy the privileges of full membership will improve member retention.

“If you have a job to do, it means you’ll be there to do it,” he said.

WFBC has also changed its approach to assimilation on the front-end of membership. While most churches offer an orientation class upon joining the church, Gill is taking a more personal approach. New members and visitors alike are invited to dinner where they are led through the church mission statement and ministries in a single session with the pastor.

“That gives them an opportunity to ask questions,” he said. “If you are talking personally with them, you can better check for understanding. With a church our size it has been more efficient and effective that way.”

The church has also incorporated a one-on-one discipleship program focusing on the basic tenets of Christian doctrine to aid in increased assimilation.

“We are seeing new Christians who are hungry for God’s Word and getting into Bible study,” Gill said. “As I’m doing that with new church members, I’ve had existing members say ‘I want that too’.”

The revised constitution and bylaws of Waco Family Baptist Church may be accessed online at sbcwaco.org.

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