Hi James, I will respect your post. But I did want to write a clarification of my first message. Rather than asking for opinion about doctrine or practices, I had hoped to gain a little insight about the historical and current methods of gaining and keeping membership alive. (For example, what do churches do when people drift away? i.e. contact them? leave them alone? Do CObs "advertise" to the community or to its old members?) Further, I had hoped to maybe find a small suggestion of how I, as an outsider (though not a member), might help to support a COB church that has struggled to keep open. We all know that in any endeavor, it's hard to keep enthusiasm high when we're doing a task alone (or in isolation) and how we can build each other up in any activity (not just in religious activity). I guess I hoped to learn more about methods used to ' grow a church' so I could be more supportive to the remaining members. I'm in another State so there's little I can do in-person. Please respond OFF-List to cageycat "AT" gmail.com if you have a comment about old or new ways to build membership, or ideas about how I could be the most helpful or supportive. ("Reply" is set to insert the List Address so please remember to delete that, or just open a new Compose Mail before replying to my email address.) I apologize that my question veered the conversation away from the List rules. Thank you, Judy On Tue, Jan 25, 2011 at 8:29 PM, James Shuman <[email protected]> wrote: > Friends and Colleagues, > > Although the first few messages on this topic were fairly acceptable, > the nature of the thread was such that it soon veered in the > direction that we have long asked our members not to pursue. > >