Recognize the discussion of purging or cleaning up rolls is a symptom of an underlying problem(s) and elevates the need to develop effective strategies for staying connected with church or class members.  Dropping persons or cleaning the rolls does not remedy the problem; it just removes any chance of future contact.

Use the following suggestions to develop your own ideas for reclaiming or reconnecting church or class members.

1. Plan a “blitz” focusing on rediscovering and reconnecting with inactive persons.  Set a definite time limit on the blitz.  Three months gives you time to cover a lot of ground but not so long that the intensive efforts are so overwhelming.  Make a commitment to make at least three attempts to contact each inactive person.  Make the three attempts three different kinds of contacts (personal visit, call, mail, etc.).  Remember to involve all age group leaders in coordinating your touches.
2. Use the Internet to search for updated information (addresses, telephone numbers).  Don’t overlook persons who work outside the home but may volunteer to use their lunch hours for research.  Many people move or change a telephone number, but are still in your church area.  Use search engines (such as www.anywho.com) to search by name, telephone number (or reverse searches by telephone number), state, city.  Assign this task to persons least likely to be involved in the high touch connections, but are great at surfing the Internet or just enjoy researching.
3. Build fellowship opportunities around your searches and reconnecting experiences.  Consider using a church member’s office with multiple phone lines to make calls or surf the web.   Provide churns of homemade ice cream or cakes for the volunteers.
4. Develop strategies built around mending hurt feelings that may surface when you begin making personal visits and calls.  Focus on how God is working in your church--especially by sharing life changing stories.  At the same time, you may also acknowledge churches and classes will never be perfect.  Remind visitors of the biblical model of reconciliation (Matthew 18:15-17) and their need to offer to accompany persons to speak with those with whom they may have differences.
5. Encourage and/or accompany persons to other classes or departments to find the one that best fits them and their life situation.  Focus more on building kingdom members than increasing a class or church roll.  The latter will happen if you focus on the kingdom mindset. 
6. Educate existing classes about the need to avoid sarcastic remarks when chronic absentees or inactive members return.  How would you respond to someone asking, “Where have you been--I’ve been watching for your name in the obituary.”?
7. Plan an informal dinner/dessert fellowship once a month to connect with inactive persons or couples.  There are several people who eat out on Sundays anyway.  Ask them to invite a guest once a month.
8. Watch for news or other postings in the newspaper related to inactive persons.  For example, birth announcements, weddings, funerals, job promotions, plant closings, etc. provide an open door for dialogue.  Just a 30-second connection may make the difference in showing you care. 
9. Reconnect through prayer strategies.  Instead of inviting people to come to church or Sunday School, call or visit with the sole intention of finding out how you may pray more specifically for the person or someone they know or love.  Be sure to share those requests with your class or church as is appropriate.
10. Connect people with similar life circumstances or stages.  Be strategic about whom you use to connect with the inactive persons.  Some persons becoming disconnected relates to their life stage or circumstance such as caregivers for older parents who live in another city and for whom they provide care each weekend.
11. Devise a ministry plan for meeting needs as you discover them.  Recognize ministry windows are not open very long and when they close, they may close tighter than before.  Many people will reconnect because they see you care through meeting ministry needs.
12. Build a reputation in your community for the church who cares.  Plan at least four servant evangelism activities in your community each year.  Design “care cards” to leave when ministering throughout your community.  Use the cards so people are constantly hearing or bumping into someone or something that shows them your church is serious about impacting the community around them.  Your church will draw inactive as well as newcomers to your church family. Click here to discover several servant evangelism ideas.

Remember the very discussion of whether to clean up or purge rolls indicates an underlying problem and elevates the need to develop effective strategies for staying connected with church or class members.  Click HERE to discover ways to focus on keeping people connected with your church and/or class, thus preventing the need to reclaim them.