The General Conference’s official statement on conserving church membership indicates three factors absolutely essential to keeping members in church. A member is weakened if they are missing even one of these factors, but if they are missing two it will almost certainly result in leaving the church. The three factors are:

• They must be able to articulate their beliefs
• They must engage in a personally meaningful ministry
• They must have friends within the congregation

We can see that none of these factors depend on one member alone, but are connected to the rest of the church family and to the church as an organization. A church that (1) preaches substantive messages about Christian beliefs, (2) offers diverse and appealing ministries and volunteer opportunities, and (3) has members who interact with each other as friends is a church that not only survives, but thrives! Let’s all pledge today to do what we can to keep our church a place where people love to come for worship and fellowship.

General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, “Conserving Membership Gains,”http://www.adventist.org/information/official-statements/documents/article/go/0/conserving-membership-gains (accessed 21 September 2019).