by During my mission I worked a lot with inactive members who hadn’t come to Church in many years. They were good people who for a number of reasons were distanced from the Church and didn’t feel like they belonged. Here are some things that I learned that will be helpful when you reach out to inactive members.
1. How to find inactive members – check the phone contacts and asking the members.
The best way to find less-actives is first to do your own homework. Look in the area book records, look in your phone contacts for NP (non-pratiquant, inactive) and wherever else you keep member records. Look for the names and numbers of people who haven’t come to Church make a list of them. Then ask the members about these people and their situation. Ask the members for anyone else that they know who doesn’t come to Church anymore. Then get their contact information and try to set up appointments with these people.
2. Reaching out to inactives – Be persistent
Inactives members can be are very hard to get a hold of. We had an inactive member in Douala called Michael who we had to call for weeks before he picked up. Be persistent with reaching out and trying to meet with inactive members. It is always worth it. This plays into the next principle.
3. They will know you are true disciples if you love them
Inactive members will feel your love and feel the Spirit calling to them when they see your efforts to visit them and try to talk with them. When you take the time to visit them, they will know that you are true disciples of Christ and that you love them.
4. Listen to them with love
To show inactive members that you care, you can’t just listen to them, you have to empathize with them. We have to listen with love and “mourn with those that mourn” (Mosiah 18:9) and always remember that “If one member suffers, all suffer together” (1 Corinthian 12:26). They have to feel listened to and have to get a lot of things off their chest. It’s important to listen with love and to let them talk a lot.
5. Visit them with Church leaders
Inactive members can be taught by the missionaries but it is more effective to teach them with the ward or branch leaders like Bishop or Elder’s Quorum President or Relief Society President. Doing this will help the leader to know where the inactive member lives and to allow the leader to also build a better relationship with the inactive member so they can have a long-term friend in Church.
6. Going deep in the doctrine
Since inactive members aren’t investigators, they about basic Church doctrine can be motivated by more profound Church doctrine. Don’t be afraid to go deep into doctrine because it can be a powerful motivator for them. In Douala, I was inspired during a personal study to teach the inactive members about the importance of sealing in the temple and how that allows us to have exaltation. We would read in Doctrine and Covenants 132 about exaltation with them. The Spirit was very powerful in those lessons and they responded with humility that they would return to Church so they could receive that blessing. Many returned to Church because of the Spirit felt in those lessons.
Less-Active member Success stories
Michael
We were in Douala trying to find inactive members and there was a contact in our phone named Fr. Michael NP (inactive). We called him probably like 4 times a week and he never picked up. Finally once, after saying a silent prayer, I called him and he picked up but didn’t set an appointment with us because he was too busy. Finally we set up an appointment with him after about a month of trying. We met with him and it turns out he was actually really down to earth and spiritual. We taught him about being sealed in the temple with his less active wife and he committed that day that he would go to the temple as soon as possible. He then came to Church that Sunday for the first time in 5 years, and brought his wife and children too. He was then called as a Sunday School teacher in the branch.
Paul
Fr. Paul was baptized in 2002 with his wife and was one of the founding members of the church in Douala. He was active until 2010 when his wife died in a car accident and then he stopped coming to Church. He hadn’t been to Church in 10 years when we started teaching him again. We taught him about the sealing power of the temple and the importance of the temple. That very first lesson, he said that he would do all in his power to prepare to go to the temple and to become active again. Two weeks later he came to Church with his fiancée and he is still preparing to go to the temple.
George
We were standing outside the Church building and talking to teenagers as they walked by. I talked to one of them and he told me he was a member of the Church and the funny thing was that he lived right next door to the Church building. He hadn’t come to Church in 3 years and was 17. We began teaching him and his friends. On Sunday mornings we would stop by his house and wake him up for Church. Soon Fr George was fully active and is now preparing for a mission. As a missionary, he will be able help even more people join the Church.
