The idea is to help students establish a pattern and keep it. How students feel after their dropping out determines the possibilities of their coming back. There is a time to accept the fact they have dropped out of your ministry and that fact no longer be an issue. However, at this point, attempt to keep your relationship to them warm. If the circumstance of their dropping out changes, it will be easier for them to come back.
Any ministry has drop-outs.
Any good ministry has drop-outs. An extra strong ministry may have more drop-outs because students have been attracted for a wider variety of reasons. The issue is how we understand the problem and work with it. From Arliss Dickerson's book, Nine Shaping Principles of an Effective Collegiate Ministry . Reproduced with permission of the author.