Prior to my calling as Ward Mission Leader we were leading the Stake in Baptism but had a retention level of 25%. The Mission Leader would turn to the Auxiliaries after a baptism and say now they are your problem!
During my manning of the post, through much hard work on the part of many in the church, not because of me, we finished last year with 80% retention.
I have found there are many issues that cause poor retention.
1 how quickly and by whom are new member lessons taught.
2 how quickly a calling or assignment are given.
3 the quality of the home or visit teachers.
4 is the new convert activity's watched over by the Mission group in the Ward.
5 involvement level of the appropriate auxiliary.
6 are they taught what it means and helped to become LDS or just expected to know.
7 What state were they at when the Missionaries found them.
8 what is there intent on joining, many do not grasp what the gospel is about when baptized.
9 what is the state of the ward as it relates to Zion. Clickish, lots of back biting, or loving caring etc.
10 Are the lines of communication open and clear between the new convert and the leadership.
I could easily triple that number. Some things we do in our ward that help are.
1 we created a Mormon English dictionary to help explain many terms to new converts.
2 As mission leader I use 5-10 minutes of each Gospel Principle class to explain something about the church that was said in Sacrament that might not be understood.
3 My phone number, name and email are written on the black board each class and it is made clear they can call me if they have questions.
4 We stress communications every couple of weeks, that when something sounds wrong most often it is a misunderstanding of communications.
5 our Missionaries slowly pull back after baptism and we encourage Home and Visit teachers to step in.
6 we are attempting to start an assistant pool to put new members in so they are assigned for a short time to be things like an assistant teacher to learn what that calling is about.
7 we are also pushing with the agreement of auxiliaries to train new converts on things like how to give a talk, what a home teacher is, what an executive secretary does etc.
8 The biggest thing is we try hard to work together as leadership and to create plans for each individual new convert based on what they need.
9 I personally pray about each new convert whom I am responsible for, a period of two years after baptism.
10 never give up or forget about someone.
There are many things our ward does wrong, callings for new converts take months, home or visit teaching is not always selected with the best for the newest in mind etc. But we keep in mind that unless we have done everything we can to help new converts then the Lord will hold us accountable for what we didn't do when they walk away.
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