THE NEW NORMAL: EFFECTS OF PASTORAL LEADERSHIP PRACTICES ON CHURCH MEMBERSHIP RETENTION IN AKURE CENTRAL BAPTIST ASSOCIATION, ONDO STATE.

This study examined the Effects of Pastoral Leadership Practices on Church Membership Retention in Akure Central Baptist Association, Ondo State in the wake of the new normal. The purpose of this research is to determine why new members keep joining Baptist churches regularly and are not being retained and how these new members and older members can be retained through pastoral leadership practices post COVID-19 pandemic. The analytical technique used in analyzing the data collected for the study was the simple percentage and frequency count method. The study's findings reveal that quite a good percentage of Akure Central Baptist Association's members observe that pastoral leadership practices like Welfare, visitation, and leadership expertise, among others, affect church membership retention.Findings revealed that 81 and 19 respondents representing 81% and 19%, agree and disagree, respectively, that leadership incompetence is one of the problems of church membership retention. While 65 and 35 respondents representing 65% and 35% disagreed that more Seminary education will lead to Church membership retention, 95 and 5 respondents representing 95% and 5%) agreed and disagreed that Welfare and visitation are core to church membership retention. 85 (85%) and 15 (15%) agreed and disagreed that a new member's class is perfect for church membership retention. In the light of the results above, the researcher gave leader and the Church must be purpose-driven for maximum productivity in pastoral leadership of ICT, turning attendees into members through new members' classes, developing them to become mature members and ministers among others.