More than half of Oklahoma Conference members have disengaged from regular church life. In response, the conference has launched Oklahoma Reconnect, an initiative focused on prayer, personal visitation, and other intentional efforts to rebuild relationships with those who have stopped attending.
The initiative seeks to change how congregations respond when members drift away.
“The aim or vision statement is to realign church culture with heaven’s culture,” says Nathan Shires, executive secretary of the Oklahoma Conference. “Christ’s mission was to seek and save those who are lost.”
President Daniel Ortega says Reconnect is intended to move churches beyond discussing the issue and toward action. “We don’t want to just talk about the problem,” he says. “We want to do something about it.”
Local churches are invited to mobilize pastors, elders, and members to pray for and visit those who have disengaged and create opportunities for them to reconnect with the church community.
The first Reconnect training event will be held Sept. 29 at the Midwest City Spanish Seventh-day Adventist Church. Nearly 200 people are expected to attend and learn practical approaches to reconnecting with former members.
A second training, scheduled for Oct. 9-10 in the Tulsa metropolitan area, will focus on reconnecting with young people who have become disillusioned with or disconnected from the church. Grant Agadjanian, president of creative media ministries will be the speaker for the event.
“We invited a special guest speaker who is very passionate about this,” Shires says. “He’s spoken at camp meetings and conference events, and he’ll train churches, parents, pastors, and teachers on how to reconnect with children who have drifted away.”
The guest speaker will discuss approaches used in other conferences to help young people rediscover their relationships with Jesus, understand the Gospel, and reconnect with a church community.
“These are things he has seen applied in other settings, and they’ve seen many young people rediscover their relationship with Jesus,” Shires says.
There is no registration fee for the Tulsa-area training. Materials and lunch will also be provided, although a love offering will be collected.
“We really want everybody in our conference who cares about young people to be able to come and attend,” Shires says.
Churches that have begun applying Reconnect principles have reported that former members are returning and relationships are being restored.
“We’ve heard amazing testimonies of how God is working through churches that are being intentional,” Ortega says. “Now we look forward to hearing stories about our young people coming back to the church.”
Through Oklahoma Reconnect, conference leaders hope to help congregations restore relationships with former members and strengthen connections with the next generation.