Samenvatting

The main focus of this research was to explore possible reasons for the continuous
decline in the congregational membership of the Redeemed Christian Church of God- Jesus House
Amsterdam over the last three years. The central argument is that the church started on a ery
promising note with regular attendance rising up to three hundred in 2011. However, etween late
2011 and 2013, the church had lost 50% of its regular membership that left the hurch in a critical
situation. The research was guided by the following key question and sub- uestions: What are the
reasons why members of the RCCG-JHA are leaving the Church? What re the missionary activities of
RCCG-JHA in the Netherlands? Who are attracted to these issionary activities? What are the
expectations of those who were attracted to these missionary ctivities of RCCG-JHA? Can the church
live up to those expectations? Who is leaving the church and where are they going?
To ascertain the reasons for this decline in membership, a semi-structured interview
method was adopted. The interviews were carried out with ten former members of the church. It
is revealed in this investigation that the phenomenal decline in membership of the church was
probably due to inappropriate style of leadership and poor pastors-members’ relationships. It is
also revealed in this investigation that the leaders of the church accept the fact that several steps
were taken to prevent the decline from happening. But those efforts yielded no positive results.
Based on the above, the research proffers necessary steps that may be taken as a way of
attempting to arrest the situation. These include installation of a reconciliation committee,
restructuring of church offices, and good ministerial / social programs. To make these
recommendations more reliable, a personal theological is also given.
Overall, the findings in this research show that a greater number of those that left the church are willing to return to the church if things improve. On this note, the church may stand
the chance of regaining over 50% of her members if things improve and these recommendations
are taken seriously. This is also helpful particularly in developing strategies for making church
members stay longer and steps for reclaiming some of the former church members.