41. Teaching for Higher Retention 

             Problem. or situation. During July 1980, the number of convert baptisms for the mission crossed the 500 mark for the first time (actual number was 585). With 204 missionaries in the mission at the time, this was almost 6 convert. baptisms per companion set, a considerable increase from the original 9 for the whole mission two years before.

This influx of relatively large numbers of new members created new challenges in retaining and assimilating them. As a mission--as mission president and as missionaries--we understood that real progress included retention. Unless our converts remained active and were assimilated into the Church, the numbers meant nothing. President Kimball (Kikuchi, 1981) had talked about that many times: 

            May we emphasize again that numbers are incidental and secondary to OUR MAIN PURPOSE which IS THE SAME AS THAT OF OUR HEAVENLY FATHER--TO BRING TO EVERY SOUL THE GOSPEL WHICH CAN OPEN THE DOORS TO ETERNAL LIFE FOR MAN (p. 19)

From the beginning strong, active members, not just numbers of baptisms, had been my goal and vision. Also, it was evident to me that the activity of their converts had an important effect on the missionaries' vision. To see their converts remain active and grow and develop in the Church was a major motivating and vision-building force to them. To see them stop growing and fall into inactivity, on the other hand, was a discouraging, vision-eroding influence.

In order to understand our situation at this time, Church activity in Japan in general must be understood. For several years prior to the time the Tokyo South

Mission was opened in July of 1978, the activity rate[1] of Japanese members of the church had been in the low to mid 20 percentages (Inouye, 1981). Since these rates were based upon total membership from the time the Church was established in Japan, the areas where the Church had been established the longest (such as the Tokyo-Yokohama area and the Kobe-Osaka area) had slightly lower rates. For example, in the two Japanese member districts under the mission, the official activity rates for July, 1978 (the month my mission began) were 20% and 23%; the official activity rates for the two stakes within the mission, the Tokyo Stake and the Yokohama Stake, were 20% and 22% respectively for that same month (Japan Area Statistics, 1978).

By the end of 1979, a year and half later, even with the significant increase in new converts, the activity rate for the units directly under the Tokyo South Mission had risen to 38%. The activity rates for the stakes within the mission had also increased somewhat (23% for the Tokyo stake, 28% for the Yokohama Stake) so that the combined activity rate for all the units within the mission boundaries was 31% (Japan Area Statistics, 1978; Mission Statistics, 1978-198l). By mid-1980 the activity rate for the Japanese units under the mission had increased to just over 41%, but the activity rates for stakes within the mission had begun to decrease. During the next several months the activity rate for the units under the mission also began to decrease. By the end of 1980, the activity rate for the units under the mission was 32% and for the stakes within the mission, 22% (Tokyo stake), 22% (Yokohama stake), and 21% (newly created Machida stake)[2]. We were losing ground. We were back to "average" in terms of the activity of our new converts. I did not feel that was acceptable. As well as the missionaries were teaching, I felt we should be able to retain many more. 

            Action taken. (8-80) PUT EVEN MORE EMPHASIS ON CONVERSION TO THE SAVIOR AND GROWTH IN THE GOSPEL. (Productivity label: Break down barriers.) 

From the time I was a missionary 20 years earlier, I had noticed the feeling or  attitude among missionaries that if new converts go "inactive," it is because they were not taught well enough before baptism. I had believed that myself. Certainly the thoroughness and effectiveness of the teaching were important factors. But I also concluded that the thoroughness and effectiveness of the teaching were not the only factors.

I began to see that the experiences of the new convert after baptism affected activity, too: a new convert's future relationships with Church members, with his own extended family, with his fellow workers, and so forth made a big difference. Since these experiences had not yet happened, it was difficult to know what would happen and how the new convert would react. President Kimball (Kikuchi, 1981) had commented on this: 

            ANOTHER THING WE REMEMBER, THAT UNTIL WE HAVE FOUND THEM AND CONVERTED THEM, THAT IS OUR RESPONSIBILITY. AFTER THEY ARE MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH, CERTAINLY IT IS AT LEAST PARTLY THEIR RESPONSIBILITY TO LIVE THE GOSPEL (p. 131). 

At the same time we felt that if we could anticipate some of the potential future problems, there would be many things we could do during the teaching. phase to help prevent them. So what we could do, we did.

The change was subtle. It was more an increase in the emphasis that had always been there than something new. It amounted to shifting our sights out further, from conversion and entry into the Church through baptism to things such as long-term activity in the Church, missions, temple marriage, and so forth. With this shift in focus, baptism was no less important but was thought of only as a step--granted, a major step-

along the path rather than the final destination or conclusion. With this shift in focus, the missionaries began doing different types of activities. First we tried to identify why people went "inactive" and why they didn't go inactive. What were the common differences in their experiences? We concluded that there were no identifiable differences in the way they were taught. There were no identifiable differences in how long they were taught. There were no identifiable differences in how they were contacted, or their socioeconomic background, or any number of other variables that we informally looked at. Even the missionaries who had taught them could not predict their future activity. Often those converts who seemed the strongest and most solidly converted went "inactive," while those who seemed less strong often continued to grow and develop and become real stalwarts.

Our only useful conclusion was that the experiences after baptism, not those before, were the key determinants of future activity. Such things as whether or not they prayed regularly, read the scriptures, attended Church, were given assignments (and were helped to fulfill them), developed personal relationships ("friends") at Church, and so forth, seemed to make the difference. I felt that our challenge was to determine what we could do during the teaching phase to positively affect those future experiences. We concluded that there were three things we could do to make a difference. 

1. CHANGE OUR FOCUS. The central focus of our teaching became future activity in the Church for our investigators, not just entry into it. Our teaching was directed at helping the investigator develop a personal relationship with the Savior, the habit of reading and studying the scriptures, reliance on prayer, and continual growth as a person and as a member of the Church. 

2. PRODUCE GROWING IN THE GOSPEL CHECKLISTS. We felt that in many cases the new converts simply forgot what they were supposed to do as members of the Church, so we developed a checklist to help remind them. It was in the form of a card on which the missionaries wrote a personal message to their new converts expressing their love for them, their testimonies, and their hope and prayers that the new converts would continue to grow in the gospel. We listed four categories of activities that would help them continue to grow in the gospel. These were DAILY, WEEKLY, MONTHLY, and OTHER: 

DAILY items were such things as prayer, scripture reading, gospel study, personal journal, keeping the commandments, etc. 

WEEKLY items included attendance at Sunday meetings, holding family home evening, fulfilling church assignments, participating in some form of missionary work, etc.     

MONTHLY items were attending fast and testimony meetings, fasting and donating fast offerings, paying tithing, doing home or visiting teaching assignment, reading the church magazine.

OTHER items were preparing to go to the temple, doing genealogy work, preparing for the priesthood and a mission, reading and following the prophet's counsel, etc. (See Figure 18.) 

3. MISSIONARIES CONTINUE TO PERSONALLY CONTACT, FOLLOW-UP, AND FELLOWSHIP NEW CONVERTS. All along we had been working with the members, encouraging them to follow up, fellowship, and generally assist the new converts, but they were not always able to do so. Besides being the ecclesiastical leaders, the members had many other demands on their time, such as jobs, families, community service, etc. So as the numbers of converts increased, many of them were not fellowshipped or otherwise followed up on.

Yet even if the members were unable to do the follow up, we could not sit "back and watch our new converts go "inactive." Many of the new converts were coming into the Small Units where the missionaries were presiding. In these cases, the missionaries had the primary responsibility of fellowshipping new converts. In both cases we decided that we must take the initiative and the responsibility.

The missionaries began contacting and visiting their new converts for as long as possible after baptism. They took on the responsibility of being "Home Teachers" to them. They reminded them of meetings and activities. " They continued to teach after-baptism lessons. They answered questions, introduced them to other members, and helped them with Church assignments. If the new convert missed a meeting, the missionaries called to see if there was a problem. In fine, they showed the new converts that they were needed, loved, and appreciated.  

Results of the action. Activity rates within the small units began to increase again. By the beginning of the next year, January 1981, we reached 50% activity of the members within the Small Units (Mission. Statistics, 1978-1981). From then until the end of my term as mission president in June of 1981, the activity rate in the Small Units averaged between 42% and 54%.

I did not have records of the activity rates in the growing number of stakes springing up within the mission boundaries. Because the missionaries were not the ecclesiastical leaders there, they were not in a position to do as much after baptism. An audit of existing sacrament meeting attendance records for 1980 showed the Tokyo Stake activity rate to be 22%, Yokohama, 22%, and Machida, 21% (Inouye, 1981). Thus, with the large numbers of new converts coming into the stakes, the overall activity rate there remained relatively constant. 

The increased focus on the retention of new converts had a significant effect on the missionaries. With confidence that their new converts were being. retained in activity--as well or better than before-missionaries were confident in bringing more of them into the Church.

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