Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Membership Books
Anyone have thoughts on how to get UMC membership books back into order from a state of general chaos? My secretary and I have been kinda sorta working on this for three years now, and I need a better strategy. There has been no chronological roll kept. If I want to start one, where do I start? Do I include in the chronological roll members who have died? We don't have family cards. We don't have a preparatory membership list. Chaos! Add to this the fact that our oldest membership book is in German (St. Paul's was an Evangelical United Brethren Church once upon a time, and was very German), and you get an idea of the mess we are in. Help appreciated!!
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5 comments:
Arson is my choice. I'm just too chicken to do it here. I have the same problem. We have a membership of 312 with about 70 coming right now.
You could probably find someone prety cheap to start a fire in the church office that could be contained to a very small section of the office. Then come in just at the right moment and put out the fire before it gets out of control.
You look like a hero - excuse me - heroine. And the problem is solved. Ask everyone who attends if they are a member or not and start anew.
Can you tell I've thought long and hard about this..... :)
I know this isn't the answer you were hoping for, but I've got nothing better. I know just how you feel.
I have the same problem here. On the annual reports, we are listing almost 500 members, but I can only find about 300 actual names to go with that number. Perhaps you can embark on 3 year process where everyone on your mailing list gets a mass mailing requesting that they document their member status and future intention...did they actually join, if so, how? Confirmation, transfer, etc. This will lead to a paring down of the rolls, and eventually you can do a massive correction each Church Conference, once you have the actual paperwork. Then you can start afresh with the required "permanent, bound volume." You are not resposnible to correct the mistakes of the past, only to give an account of your flock of the present.
Yeah, these suggestions are kind of where I was going, too. Put all your current records in a humidity controlled storage bin and stash them somewhere in the attic. Then start from scratch.
Okay, a little late here but I'm a new mom of your beloved godson so I'm assuming all will be forgiven ;-)
The church I attended most often in Albany actually had the problem of the membership books. Many were missing and those that weren't were either illegible, falling apart, or too old to really matter anymore. They basically did what bobm suggested and asked anybody and everybody if they were members (and if they knew of any members who didn't attend anymore and how to contact them).
A whole lot of people who attended regularly but never actually joined all ended up joining at one time, in fact, just so they could be on the new permanent books ... and we had a huge party as only UMs know how to have!
this is worldwide chaos, with membership numbers not reflecting how many attend ...or who are ministered to (cell groups, homevisits etc)
it always raises its head at the charge conference but... well I wonder what is the point ????
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