There are two major caring ministries in the United States: Lay Pastors Ministry and Stephen Ministries. Most American churches have adopted one of these ministries, while some churches have both.
The main textbook of Stephen Ministries is Reopening the Back Door, written by Kenneth Haugk, the founder of Stephen Ministries. I have read and translated this book into Korean and have used it many times. Stephen Ministries has also developed an excellent Training Manual that focuses on caring for people who are currently experiencing a crisis. In that sense, it is primarily a crisis-care ministry.
The Training Manual identifies 33 reasons why people leave churches where they have attended for many years. This is a useful resource for understanding why people become disconnected from their churches. Among the major reasons are:
- A lack of meaningful relationships with others
- A sense that the church has become meaningless
- A hunger for belonging
When people leave the church, Haugk asks how we can care for them so that they may eventually return. Through caring ministries such as Stephen Ministries and the work of Stephen Ministers, the church can reach out to those who have left. That is why he chose the title Reopening the Back Door.
According to some statistics, about 40 percent of church members in the United States do not attend church regularly. In other words, a significant number of people are inactive. I believe this is not only a problem in the United States but also in churches around the world. There is always a danger that inactive people may eventually leave the church, whether sooner or later. Therefore, we need to remain alert and continue caring for them.
Haugk emphasizes that many churches close the back door too quickly when people leave. Instead, we should keep the back door open. We should give people time and space to think, heal, and eventually find their way back to the church.
There is another interesting book, Closing the Back Door, written by Rev. Myungseoun Hoon in Korea. His focus is on people who are likely to leave the church sooner or later. His approach is to help keep them within the church by caring for them before they leave. In that sense, the goal is to close the back door.
These two books present two complementary perspectives. One focuses on people who may leave the church and seeks to close the back door. The other focuses on people who have already left, perhaps only recently, and seeks to reopen the back door.
In terms of Lay Pastors Ministry, I believe we need both concepts: keeping and caring for people inside the church, and reaching out to and caring for those who have already left. Caring ministry should not stop when people become disconnected. We should continue to care for them, keep the door open, and let them know that there is always a way back home.