Energetically will I meet the enemies of my country. I shall defeat them on the field of battle for I am better trained and will fight with all my might. Surrender is not a Ranger word. I will never leave a fallen comrade to fall into the hands of the enemy and under no circumstances will I ever embarrass my country.

The parallel to the church should be obvious.  We too have an enemy who is much more crafty and fierce than any human enemy the world has known.  And yet most churches don’t have a “no man left behind” motto.  An assimilation plan is not complete until it addresses what to do when someone stops showing up to worship services.  If a soldier in the military went MIA, there would be a search for that soldier until they were found.  Yet in the church, we often let people be MIA as if it is no big deal.

When people stop showing up to worship services, there is a reason and it is usually not a healthy one.  Let me give one real life scenario.  Recently a couple at my church went missing.  No one noticed.  Though there is an MIA system in place it doesn’t get followed well.  After a few weeks, my wife I got a phone call from the couple.  They got horrible news about their pregnancy and stopped coming to church because because of the pain they were going through.  If the church had followed their MIA system, this couple would have been contacted in their time of need and the church would have been more responsive to caring for them.

Or consider this hypothetical situation.  A young married couple begins to experience difficulty in the marriage.  Because of shame, they stop going to church.  No one follows up on them and the marriage continues to deteriorate.  Three months later, the pastor receives a call from the wife asking for counseling because she has had an affair and is getting a divorce.  The church has let the enemy wound and potentially destroy a couple because they didn’t have an MIA system in place.  If you follow up with those missing, the story could be completely different.  After they’ve been missing for a couple of weeks, the church calls.  Instead of dealing with an affair and divorce, the pastor is now dealing with something much less damaging.  The potential now exists for a marriage to be saved and two Christians to be kept from the clutches of the enemy.

If you don’t have a system for those missing in action, work with your staff and leaders to develop one immediately.  Here’s my suggestion:

1. Track attendance.  Use a connection card each week for people to communicate that they were in attendance.
2. When someone has been missing for two consecutive weeks, follow up.  They should be contacted by their small group or ministry team leader.  If they are not connected in either of those ways, a staff member or elder should follow up.
3. Pursue them until they are found.  Adopt a “no man/woman left behind” motto.  Make sure that each person under your spiritual care remains connected to the Body of Christ.