How to Gain the Dormant Christians
I . Who are “the dormant Christians” ?
Basic information about the dormant Christians
1.Regional Distribution of Christians in region
The Asia-Pacific region includes 13% of the world’s Christians. The region’s largest Christian population with an absolute numbers is in the Philippines, a country that possesses an overwhelmingly large number of Christians (93%). Christians constitute a minority of the population in China (5%), India (3%) and Indonesia (9%), but because these countries have very large populations, their Christian minorities are large in number. Collectively, the 10 countries with the largest Christian populations in the region are home to 12% of all Christians worldwide. (pictutre 1)
Picture 1
Form : http://www.pewforum.org/2011/12/19/global-christianity-regions/
The percentage of the Dormant Christians
However according to a research of Barna Group, 70% of Christians are the Dormant Christians(picture 2). Usually in the local churches the percent of the Dormant Christians is about 70%. Therefore the Dormant Christians occupy a significant proportion of all the Christians worldwide
Pictute 2
From : http://worldtrend.churchnews.info/2015/03/what-millennials-want-when-they-visit-church/
The reason why they don’t like church life.
In Picture2, we see that 70% of the Christians are the Dormant ones, who do not attend)the church life. Among those who think the church life is not important, because they can find God elsewhere (39%), and one-third say this for the church life is not personally relevant to them (35%). One in three simply find the church life boring (31%) and one in five say it because they sense as if God is missing from the church life(20%). Only 8% say they don’t attend the church life because church is “out-of-date,” undercutting the notion of living the church life.
Picture3 shows another research of people in all kinds of backgrounds including Christianity—More than one-third chose the pointing finger (37%), and another one in six chose the bullhorn-wielding protestor (16%). In total, 52% of respondents view present-day Christianity as aggressive and critical.
Picture 3
From : http://worldtrend.churchnews.info/2015/03/what-millennials-want-when-they-visit-church/
II. What Dormant Christians desire When they come to Church
According to the research of Barna Group, half of young adults chose the image of a small Bible study group (48%). Most of the rest chose the image of being loved just like a growing flower (33%).The other two images of enjoying the church as the hospital and the health club were much less popular (12% and 7%, respectively).
III. How to gain the “Dormant Christians”
A .Preparing ourselves to have a proper relationship with God through Prayer.
Testimony : In Seoul Church of Daegu among the 581 saints on the list,239 saints regularly attends the Lord’s table and 342 were “Dormant Christians”, but after 33 days of prayer and 10 days of gospel preaching,137 the vital group performed ,to gain and shepherd 155 either new ones or backslidden ones this is 65 percent increase compared to the original number of saints.
B. Building up the vital relationships with them through Love
Testimony in a local church of China —They Love what the Dormant Christians love
Brother 1: A sister exceedingly loves her mother one day I heard her mother was ill. The hospital is extremely far from my home, but I went to visit her mother and took many precious present(s). She was very touched and immediately call(ed) her daughter and told her my visiting , by this way ,the sister were willing to open her home .
Sister1: I found some brothers and sisters were so busy with their work that they had no time for breakfast. Therefor)the next day I got up early to make Steamed stuffed buns which I sent to their working places one by one, after carrying out this matter for a few days, many of them were touched by my love and opened their hearts to me .
Sister2: I know a sister who loves the Lord, can not attend the church life regularly due to working overtime,She became a dormant Christian. However, under the sovereignty of God , one day, she was sick in hospital. During her hospitalization many brothers and sisters in the church went to visit her,and the burdened sisters took turns to send meals to her. Gradually the dormant sister was touched deeply by the divine love of God .After she left hospital, the sister became a very good functioning member of the body in church, and bore a lot of fruit in her working place. To the Lord be the glory.
C . Helping them to build up a relationship with God through the “Training and Exercise for a Church Life in the Homes”.
http://hosttraining.churchinmontereypark.org/en
The right place is at home.
Witness Lee: In Christianity there are big gospel campaigns in which thousands may be saved, but eventually these saved ones become orphans with no one to care for them. Very few pastors or preachers in Christianity still go out to visit people in their homes. In the old way, we preached the gospel in our meeting halls and invited the new ones to come to us. If some did believe and get baptized, very few picked up the burden to take care of them. This old way has to be condemned and abandoned. If we do not abandon the old way, we will not receive the divine blessing. We need to pick up the burden to go out to visit people with the gospel by knocking on their doors. When some believe and are baptized, we need to go back to their homes again and again to teach them. Some have asked, “We baptized many, but where are they today?” When I hear this, I would ask, “Where are the ones to go back to their homes to teach them day after day?” If a mother delivers a child and does not give any care to the child afterwards, the child will die.
Elders’ Training Book 09, The Way to Carry Out the Vision
ISBN: 0-87083-676-5
The burden of this training.
http://hosttraining.churchinmontereypark.org/en/godmanliving1/english/video/message1
The testimony of one local church in China in practicing the “training and exercise (ing)for a church life in the Homes”.
The percentage of the remaining ones in 2014 has increased 12.4% than that of the remaining ones in 2013.
The Introduction of the training.
It is a training and exercising conducted in your own home by yourself , specifically aiming at)bringing NEW ONES into the VITAL GROUPS.
The training and exercise (ing)consists of twelve weeks of commitment, during which the NEW ONES will be cared for and linked up with individual saints (your HELPERS). By the end, these related indivduals (HELPERS + NEW ONES) will become VITAL GROUPS.
The course comprises (of)2 elements:
A training session of once a week, with all the HELPERS and NEW ONES participating, going through topics for new believers,
20 minites 20 minites 20 minites
A daily practice between the HELPERS and the NEW ONES where HELPERS call up or meet up with NEW ONES in the principle of the VITAL GROUP.
http://hosttraining.churchinmontereypark.org/en
Training materials.
http://hosttraining.churchinmontereypark.org/en/download/all_en
