In almost every Bible study group, you will find people who attend sporadically at best. I have led several Bible study groups that included people who never attended the group study but were assigned to my group. To be fair, some of them were caring for aging parents or had other issues going on in the background, but not all of them. For some, their “want to” was broken, but they still wanted to be listed as part of a group to receive invites to parties and prayer updates. As frustrating as that may be, I was still responsible for encouraging them in their spiritual lives. Their inactivity did not excuse me from making an effort, nor did it exclude me from encouraging them to engage daily with the Bible.
Here are some actions to take that may encourage the rare and never attenders.
• Remember your goal. As hard as it may be, we have to separate attendance from the equation. Sure, I want people to attend the Bible study group I lead. But I can’t let their attendance be the goal. Too many times we settle for attendance when we need to focus on helping the people assigned to us to take forward steps in their spiritual journeys. Being involved in the group will certainly help, but so will personal daily Bible engagement. It isn’t about their attending our group as much as it is about our being accountable for their spiritual growth.
• Deliver resources to them. The adult group I lead uses Explore the Bible (I lead the team that creates these resources for Lifeway). The church provides everyone on my class list a copy of the resource. We get a new one every three months. This gives me a great reason to make a visit to those on my class list—including those who rarely or never attend! They see me at least four times a year. I’m not there to badger or guilt; I’m there to deliver a tool that will help them engage with the Bible.
• Contact them regularly. While every three months is a start, we need to go beyond that. Use email and other means to share insights gained, answers to difficult questions, and actions that you are considering based on the passage being studied. They know they were not there, so bringing that up is stating the obvious. Simply say something like, “Here’s a question that comes out of this week’s passage, and I wanted to make sure everyone got this answer.”
• Treat them like a regular attender. I realize we will have stronger relationships and probably be more in tune with the needs of those we see on a regular basis, but we still must treat everyone on our ministry list the same. If your group provides a meal for a group member who had a death in the family, at least offer it to those who rarely attend when they have a death in their family. It is critical that you are fair and remove potential roadblocks. If they feel ignored, they may ignore in return, and the only thing they really have to ignore is the regular Bible engagement you are encouraging.
We can easily focus on those we see regularly and forget that we are accountable for everyone on the class list. We can’t force them to drink, but we can at least provide them with the water.
What actions could you take to encourage those who rarely or never attend your group to engage with the Bible daily? How can you do this in an encouraging and supportive way?
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