I hope we can tease apart the concepts of "knowing our community well" and "demarcating who is in and who is not." I've seen membership weaponized in the parish in multiple ways. Are you familiar with "centered set" vs "bounded set" and do you have any thoughts on implementing a centered set model in a binary software system?
this is the same comment I made on the repost (thank you for that!):
the point of the article is that using church management software makes it absolutely not a set binary model!
With the churches I work with, there are at least 10-12 ways of being a ‘member’ - from those who only wish to receive electronic communication to those who are slightly curious about Christianity to those who have sat in the pews for decades and are fully engage with the life of the community.
It’s not at all about who’s in/out. It’s about where people are on their walk with God and how the church can walk with them.
Father Cathie, this is genius if you can pull it off. (I can imagine a lot of ways for it to crash and burn.) If you feel called to write a book, this might be a great topic.
My first year at the parish where I’ve now served for twenty years, I took a brutally honest whack at the cushioned headcount of previous years. And did it again the second year. And have continued to require brutal honesty in my counting. So I’d add to your list: It keeps us from going too deep into denial, but makes us say out loud over and over again what our true field of ministry is.
one thing I think using digital tools for membership helps us with: we don't have to 'whack' members.
Instead, we can get curious - and reach out - and find where people are. Both literally, and in their spiritual journey. and we can categorize people accordingly. Maybe they no longer live close, but they want to keep getting spiritual missives from our community. Maybe they drop by every once in awhile and really need someone to reach out and create a way for them to ask questions about God. Maybe they just support the *idea* of church but don't want to take part. Maybe they've died and the church could offer condolences and prayers. Maybe right this second they need to hear a friendly voice...
Hi Cathie - I liked your posting this morning. Record keeping certainly seems to get in the way, but once a year doesn’t seem too onerous. I especially liked your questions about who constitutes a member. I found out a few weeks ago that baptism is required to take communion. Did I get that right? That brings up questions about infant vs adult, how does one determine the baptismal status, do children take communion? What are your thoughts? Floyd
the main point for me is to use digital tools to collect data, because we can do so much with it - most especially know our members and support them in their life of faith.
and yes - in the Episcopal Church we require baptism before receiving communion. although like I always say, we're not at the rail checking ids!
Rather, we come to the communion table to receive something (the Body of Christ), and also to do something (carry it into the world). we want people to understand - and assent to - the life of the church and belief in Jesus Christ, before we ask them to carry out the work of discipleship.
Infants are baptized in the Episcopal Church - and may receive communion. I've baptized many babies who then received a microscopic bit of wine-soaked bread after. Baptized children and adults receive communion.
How one determines baptismal status is by knowing if they are baptized. which is harder than you think! lots of people don't remember if they were baptized!
also, ideally, as people become members of a community, they are asked if they are baptized.
I hope we can tease apart the concepts of "knowing our community well" and "demarcating who is in and who is not." I've seen membership weaponized in the parish in multiple ways. Are you familiar with "centered set" vs "bounded set" and do you have any thoughts on implementing a centered set model in a binary software system?
this is the same comment I made on the repost (thank you for that!):
the point of the article is that using church management software makes it absolutely not a set binary model!
With the churches I work with, there are at least 10-12 ways of being a ‘member’ - from those who only wish to receive electronic communication to those who are slightly curious about Christianity to those who have sat in the pews for decades and are fully engage with the life of the community.
It’s not at all about who’s in/out. It’s about where people are on their walk with God and how the church can walk with them.
Father Cathie, this is genius if you can pull it off. (I can imagine a lot of ways for it to crash and burn.) If you feel called to write a book, this might be a great topic.
oh, I wrote a book. from now on it's Substack for me :)
but thank you.
and sure, there's a lot of ways for anything to crash and burn. That's true of anything worth our while, I think!
Bo sent me a link and I bought it. Can’t wait.
My first year at the parish where I’ve now served for twenty years, I took a brutally honest whack at the cushioned headcount of previous years. And did it again the second year. And have continued to require brutal honesty in my counting. So I’d add to your list: It keeps us from going too deep into denial, but makes us say out loud over and over again what our true field of ministry is.
one thing I think using digital tools for membership helps us with: we don't have to 'whack' members.
Instead, we can get curious - and reach out - and find where people are. Both literally, and in their spiritual journey. and we can categorize people accordingly. Maybe they no longer live close, but they want to keep getting spiritual missives from our community. Maybe they drop by every once in awhile and really need someone to reach out and create a way for them to ask questions about God. Maybe they just support the *idea* of church but don't want to take part. Maybe they've died and the church could offer condolences and prayers. Maybe right this second they need to hear a friendly voice...
Hi Cathie - I liked your posting this morning. Record keeping certainly seems to get in the way, but once a year doesn’t seem too onerous. I especially liked your questions about who constitutes a member. I found out a few weeks ago that baptism is required to take communion. Did I get that right? That brings up questions about infant vs adult, how does one determine the baptismal status, do children take communion? What are your thoughts? Floyd
the main point for me is to use digital tools to collect data, because we can do so much with it - most especially know our members and support them in their life of faith.
and yes - in the Episcopal Church we require baptism before receiving communion. although like I always say, we're not at the rail checking ids!
Rather, we come to the communion table to receive something (the Body of Christ), and also to do something (carry it into the world). we want people to understand - and assent to - the life of the church and belief in Jesus Christ, before we ask them to carry out the work of discipleship.
Infants are baptized in the Episcopal Church - and may receive communion. I've baptized many babies who then received a microscopic bit of wine-soaked bread after. Baptized children and adults receive communion.
How one determines baptismal status is by knowing if they are baptized. which is harder than you think! lots of people don't remember if they were baptized!
also, ideally, as people become members of a community, they are asked if they are baptized.