Clean Your Church Rolls - This Week

Membership management is the foundation of the church militant’s ability to get things done. Strong membership management improves pastoral care opportunities.

Since the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod (LCMS) Rosters and Statistics requests annual statistics from congregations, there is a theoretical baseline requirement for each parish to maintain a membership roll. However, if you peruse a sample of statistical reports across the Synod’s churches, you’ll notice a lot of flat lines reflecting the end stages of congregational failure. Similarly, many churches have absurd attendance-to-member ratios, such as top congregations only achieving a 26% attendance to reported baptized membership ratio.¹

It’s 2025. Do you know who and where your sheep are?

Membership roll management is a discipline that should be among the top three items taught as part of the Practical Theology preparation for a young man. Without it, the pastor, parish leadership, the circuit visitor, the district, and the Synod are stumbling around in darkness. There is so much friction and inertia in the system that we estimate 20-30% of the Synod’s claimed membership is duplicated.

Poor roll management is also a red flag for potential waste, fraud, and abuse. Can congregational leadership easily and accurately answer questions about attendance, giving, transfers, and so on? If not, there is also a high probability that it cannot generate regular and trustworthy financial reports. There is possibly also mischief around eligible voters when contentious issues come up. It’s no way to operate a church.

The LCMS has many excellent resources related to member management that help avoid the reinvention of the wheel. Congregations should liberally help themselves to all of it.

Obstacles to adequate member care

1. Resistance: A common refrain is that the church should not be run like a business. While it is true that the church isn't a business, stewardship demands responsible practices—like maintaining a bank account and accurate records—to honor God's resourcing of your congregation. We are not yet in heaven with the holy angels, so please run your congregation like a steward responsible for someone else’s money. Member management is just as much a stewardship concern as money is.

2. Informality: The attitude that congregations are just loosely gathered voluntary associations is widespread. There is a grain of truth to it, but the American obsession with total autonomy transforms membership into a menu of consumer preferences. A good deal of it is that we do a poor job informing parishioners of their rights, duties, and obligations as members of the congregation. Instead, members come and go at will. It’s usually only an excommunication or voters’ assembly kerfuffle that excites everyone to realize that there is a governing constitution with membership-specific clauses. It seems new LCMS members are unaware that moving congregations is supposed to initiate a formal transfer process - nobody tells them.

3. Disrespect: It is both infuriating and disappointing to see how our pastors treat each other when it comes to members visiting at or moving to different congregations. Every visitor from another congregation should result in a courtesy phone call or note to the home church pastor to let him know where his sheep are wandering. There are too many cases where members complete a stealth transfer - they do not inform the original congregation, and they do not ask the new congregation to initiate a transfer - they are just the new faces. While individual members bear responsibility, pastors on both sides must model courtesy and make some effort to follow Synod guidelines, which require formal transfer notifications. However, the final accountability ultimately rests with the receiving pastor. Pastors, if you have received new “stealth” members, please have the courtesy, self-discipline, and respect to speak with the sending pastor and initiate a formal transfer.

4. Capacity: Church membership management software is ubiquitous, but it does require competence and constant attention to ensure you maintain accurate and timely information. It cannot be done annually or even once a month, but has to be at least weekly if not daily. Cloud-based products are best because you don’t have to rely on a church computer - and all the drama that goes with that - to manage your rolls. You can also simplify your task by using software that can generate Synod-compatible reports.

Reasons to clean your rolls

1. Efficiency and time management: A church with poor records is a church chasing its tail. Everyone’s time gets wasted all the time.

2. Pastoral care: How can a pastor know who is delinquent (attendance and the Lord’s Supper) without systematic tracking? How does a pastor keep track of contact information, especially in urgent situations?

3. Transfer discipline: Delinquency reports inevitably surface stealth transfers. Action transfers, but not before determining the circumstances, which may point to a more significant problem.

4. Communication: A sound membership management system encourages regular formal contact with parishioners, which can also help plan and manage congregation events.

5. Avoiding drama: households change and members die. Everyone knows a story about someone who left a church because a letter was addressed to a deceased family member, or an excommunicated/divorced/fired, etc., individual is still a member in good standing on the books.

6. Avoiding lawsuits: Poorly managed data could lead to a breach. Is your church prepared for the inevitable lawsuits? Have you discussed it with your insurer?²

7. Financial stewardship: Most member management systems are integrated with financial tools for giving analysis, reporting, and accountability. That’s critical for building a reliable, zero-base budget that is anchored in reality rather than flawed assumptions and optimistic fairy tales.

8. Skills management: Every church should have an activity and skills matrix to identify who is over- or underutilized. Some tasks are obvious, but many are not. Who is washing up in the kitchen Sunday after Sunday, and who is not? Who brings food to the potlucks, and who only consumes? Who puts a hand to a broom, and who does not? Who is responsible for a ton of admin, and who is avoiding any? The point is to spread the load and prevent member burnout.

9. Planning: Good data management provides valuable insights into trends affecting your congregation. Are you in a phase of secular decline or exciting growth? How are giving patterns changing?

10. Fellowship: LCMS congregations should have the courtesy to submit their (accurate) information to the Synod to help with overall planning and management.³ It’s critical (does your district do deep dives on its data?) to know where the suffering and thriving are occurring, which can stimulate appropriate helpful responses.

    1. Do you know who has your church’s Rosters & Stats login credentials? Are you submitting the requested information?

11. Responsiveness: Districts should provide their churches with annual, detailed, long-range statistical reports that demonstrate the district’s vested interest in its area of responsibility and accountability.

How to clean

1. Membership: Do you have good membership processes?

   1. What are the eligibility requirements for membership (e.g., profession of faith, transfers, baptism, communicant changes, attendance thresholds, voting restrictions, etc.)?

   2. What process is followed for taking individuals and families into membership? (e.g., doctrine classes, membership rights and obligations discussion and documentation, constitution and bylaws communication, expectations for financial and non-financial contributions, expectations for receiving pastoral care, etc.)?

   3. What process is followed for removing individuals from membership?

2. Data rules: Have clear standards and start by answering basic questions, like:

   1. Who is responsible for collecting data?

   2. What data is collected?

   3. How is personal information safeguarded?

   4. How is data verified and kept current?

   5. Where does the data reside? Who has access to it and why?

   6. Who authorizes changes?

   7. Do you need cyber security insurance?

   8. Who is responsible for data entry?

   9. Who has overall accountability for data management?

   10. What regular reports are required, who prepares them, and who receives them?

   11. Who is responsible for reporting to Synod Rosters & Stats?

3. Roll rules

   1. At what point does a member become delinquent? How is that information communicated to the pastor?

   2. How are shut-in visits tracked to avoid gaps (and drama)?

   3. How long will a chronic delinquent be tolerated before being removed?

   4. How are visitors managed (LCMS vs non-LCMS, seeker vs wedding guest, etc.)?

   5. Do you have checklists for data and task-intensive events like transfers, baptisms, confirmations, weddings, deaths, funerals, etc.?

Resources and tools

1. Church and school administration

2. LCMS document repository

3. Guidelines for Constitutions and Bylaws

4. LCMS Rosters & Statistics (thoroughly out of date with COVID info - let’s fix that LCMS)

5. Guide to church membership management software

6. Church management software options

   1. Planning Center: A modular, cloud-based church management software (ChMS) designed to help churches organize operations, engage members, and streamline administrative tasks. It offers a suite of integrated apps that can be customized to fit a church's specific needs, with core features available for free and additional modules starting at affordable pricing. Pricing is scaled to use and membership.

   2. Church360° Members (from Concordia Technology Solutions): An LCMS-affiliated tool designed for Lutheran congregations, it handles membership rolls, attendance, communication, and transfers with Synod-compatible reporting for rosters and statistics. Integrates with financial tools like Church360° Ledger for stewardship. Ideal for LCMS due to its focus on doctrinal alignment and data export for annual Synod submissions. Pricing starts at $10/month per user; free demo available.

   3. Servant Keeper: Comprehensive for tracking members, skills, attendance, and giving, with volunteer management and event planning. Includes a skills matrix for load-balancing (as emphasized in the essay) and robust reporting for delinquency or trends. Popular for growing churches; offers desktop and cloud versions, with pricing from $49/month. Highly rated for beginners and includes cybersecurity features like data encryption.

   4. ChurchTrac: Affordable and user-friendly, with tools for membership directories, check-ins, transfers, and custom reports. Supports delinquency tracking and communication via email/SMS. Free for basic use (up to 100 members); premium starts at $5/month. Excels in small congregations and integrates with online giving platforms.

   5. One Church Software: All-in-one for rolls, events, volunteers, and finances, with mobile apps for real-time updates. Features trend analysis for growth/decline and automated reminders for shut-ins or delinquents—pricing from $29/month; strong for efficiency in pastoral care.

   6. Realm by ACS Technologies: Robust for mid-sized churches, including membership, giving, and group management. Offers pathways for spiritual development, tracking, and compliance with privacy laws. Starts at $30/month; integrates well with accounting for zero-based budgeting.

   7. SteepleMate: Flat-pricing model (even free tier) with no feature limits, covering attendance, communication, and skills management. Emphasizes support and simplicity; good for avoiding "tail-chasing" inefficiencies. Free for core features; premium at $99/year.

   8. ChMeetings: Easy-to-use for membership, events, and reporting, with checklists for baptisms, weddings, and transfers. Mobile-first design; free for small churches, premium from $10/month.

   9. SimpleChurch CRM: Focuses on contact management, follow-ups, and volunteer scheduling. Includes tools for avoiding drama (e.g., household updates) and giving analysis—pricing from $19/month.

Let’s go!

In 2025, with so many good tools and handy guidelines readily available, there's no excuse for stumbling in the darkness. Start today: Audit your rolls, align with your church constitution and bylaws, work with the Synod, and take up the whole mantle of the modern shepherd.

☩TW☩

1. Rite, Ritual, Ceremony, Symbolism, Performance, and Entertainment in the LCMS

2. For example, California churches need to pay attention to CCPA compliance. The California Consumer Privacy Act grants California residents rights over their personal information. This includes the right to know what data is collected, the right to delete that data, and the right to opt out of its sale, among other protections.

3. It’s required, but there are no consequences for rebels.
2016 LCMS Convention in Bylaw 1.3.4.3: Congregations of the Synod, to enable the Synod to plan current and future ministry efforts and to lend accuracy and integrity to the Synod’s delegate representation and voting processes, agree to provide annual membership and statistical information to the Synod.