Faith Works 5-6-17

Faith Works 5-6-17

Jeff Gill

 

Keeping track of the Joneses

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One of the many staples of church life that's passing away, like mimeograph machines and filmstrips, is the pew pad.

 

Sometimes called the attendance register or the membership sign-in, it was one of those administrative rituals that, if you grew up with it, seemed like something Paul and Timothy and Lydia and Priscilla all had back in the dawn of Christian worship.

 

Of course, like many of those perennials now fading, it had a specific genesis, with the rise of literacy, the end of "pew rents," and a desire to keep track of people in general and members in particular . . . which was itself largely an outgrowth of the organization and systematization of American life springing from the two world wars, and the influence of military life on our whole culture, especially the managerial side of it.

 

They had a pastoral as well as a pragmatic side to them: no more would you have to wonder, after worship with 350 in attendance, "was Mrs. McGillicuddy in church yesterday?" You could check the register and see if she was present.

 

Sunday school attendance pins and church roster awards became a standard part of worship management, and those pew pads were the front end of the system. That's how you kept track, monitored well-being, shepherded the flock.

 

Today, with 90 year olds taking cruises, 80 year old couples traveling cross country multiple times a year, families with sports practices and events, and a general loosening of the obligation of worship attendance, most churches have backed away from the ritual of "pass the pad along the pew, then pass it back to the center aisle so we can see who we're sitting with today." Tracking attendance isn't what it used to be.

 

But at the same time, we do care as church communities, we do want to know if all's well or if it's just that all's busy. And we're back to those Monday conversations, but it's more about "when did you last see Mr. Jones? Three weeks ago?"

 

Yes, pastors get tagged occasionally, even in this day and age, with "you didn't notice I was gone!" And I've heard that complaint from folks who are often gone a stretch or two a year, but when they were sick and out a few weeks, no one called to check, nobody from the church came to visit . . . didn't churches and preachers used to do that?

 

(Deep sigh.) Yes, yes we did.

 

I'll admit to a ministerial caution myself; when you call or drop by (if you can catch people at home these days, a whole 'nother subject) and try to ask genteelly and hear "why, I was in church two weeks ago, didn't you notice? But I went to my granddaughter's recital in Poughkeepsie last weekend. Hmmpphh."

 

Folks today resist being "tracked," and I sympathize. I also sympathize, as a church leader, with those "in the back" who are tasked with getting up the deacons (or ushers as some churches call them) for collecting the offering or sharing communion. THEY know who's here and who isn't, and especially who said they'd be here, but "something came up."

 

Among clergy, it's a common conversation to say that church "average Sunday attendance" or ASA doesn't mean quite what it used to. If you averaged 100 a worship 10 years ago, and 20 died or left, and 20 new members joined since then, you might think you'd still have 100 ASA. But if folks who are "regular members" who used to be present four out of four Sundays now are three of four, your ASA may be 75, even though the number of giving units is the same on the treasurer's desk and the faces at events through the week are about the same. It's a numerical decline, but not necessarily a church decline . . . until it is.

 

So when do you start checking up on people, and how do you know whom should be checked on? That is a much trickier question today than it was in 1990, and I don't have a good answer. Our congregation has a body of elders, and we're looking at improving our "shepherding" of the church, where each one has a section of the membership and regular attenders they personally and visually keep track of (and check in with the pastor about).

 

But if the elders are more irregular in attendance . . . let's talk more about leadership next week!

 

Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and pastor in Licking County; he tends to be in church every week even when he's on vacation. Tell him about your views on attendance at knapsack77@gmail.com or follow @Knapsack on Twitter.