Have you ever attended a church service and could hardly wait to return? While the message may have been inspiring, it probably helped that someone greeted you with a big smile, another person invited you to a Bible study and someone else asked you to stay for lunch and then sat with you.  This kind of evidence of caring is what really makes a church successful, leaders in the Seventh-day Adventist Church say.  While the words “church” and “caring” should be synonymous, some leave the church because they feel that no one cares about them, says Anne-May Wollan, director for Children and Women’s Ministries for the Trans-European region of the church.

How does this happen? “People can be in church and be oblivious of anything outside of their circle of friends, and that’s not caring,” notes Heather-Dawn Small, acting director of Women’s Ministries for the Adventist World Church. 

“The caring church must make sure that every member gets a chance to grow spiritually.  That’s fundamental,” says Carlyle Bayne, Sabbath School/Personal Ministries director in the Inter-American region of the church.

The local church has traditional ministries that focus on caring specifically for women, children and men.  However, Sabbath School is basically the church’s “war department”, Bayne says.  These small Bible study or Sabbath School classes that meet every week are the most elemental way for members to interact.

Not only does this give people a chance to better study the Bible and strengthen their faith, Bayne says, but it also gives people a chance to know each other, form friendships and learn each other’s needs and help each other.

Sabbath School is an opening to “troubling ourselves on each other’s behalf” as Wollan puts it. “Take time to listen, know people by their name, show an interest in them, let them know that you missed them when they did not come [to church], be helpful and smile,” she continues.

A recent story in the Record, an Adventist publication in the South Pacific, told of a church in New South Wales finding creative ways to welcome new members into the church.  The church baked a fresh loaf of bread and presented it to new members Lawrence and Sharon Smith and their children.

This was part of a larger church service that emphasized the lost art of “one another-ing.”  The service was spent examining the lives of the believers in the early church who shared everything they had so that no one was in need. The church believes that all people are important to God and therefore should be important to us, says Heather Haworth director for Children, Family and Women’s Ministries for the Adventist church in England.

The vast majority of new Adventist church members drop out within six months if they do not make at least six new friends in their congregation, is a statistic often quoted by church leaders.

Making new friends at church is especially important for those who have come from a very secular lifestyle, says Bayne. They understand that they can’t keep doing the things they were doing with their old friends such as going to bars and clubs, he adds. Bayne says it is important to provide not only acceptance but substitute social activities for these new members. These activities can include socials or get-togethers at church, camping out and getting new members involved in the church.  Give them an opportunity to utilize their unique skills for God, says Bayne. 

We must also consider single parent families, Haworth adds.  “The break-up of families means men and women are both vital in helping to be role models for the children/youth of dysfunctional families.”

“Our children are everyone’s responsibility and everyone needs to care and do their part,” Wollan agrees.  “No one is too old and no one has done their part and can retire from the work.”

“Churches need to make conscious effort to be caring,” says Small. She explains that her church, Metropolitan Seventh-day Adventist Church in Maryland, United States, has an “Agape” committee that is responsible for seeking out visitors and welcoming them and getting their contact information.

The Adventist Church in Britain is looking at ways to address the training of local church leaders so that it goes beyond pious platitudes and gets down to developing practical programs in their church, says Haworth. 

One of those opportunities came in February when Children’s, Family, Women’s and, for the first time, Men’s Ministries departments came together for a joint training weekend in Daventry, Northamptonshire, England. The theme centered on working together as a team. This was put into practice on Sabbath afternoon by church groups discussing how to address the needs of individuals and groups of people attending their church, by working together in a caring manner.