The basis of the Member Registration Campaign stems for the simple fact that as good shepherds churches need to have a complete and accurate database of their members. Without the accurate and complete tracking of members it is not possible to know the true state of the flock. Unfortunately some church leaders are comfortable working with estimates or averages as far as membership information is concerned. If the shepherd in the parable of the lost sheep was the averaging type he would not have gone after the single lost sheep because 99 is a very very good estimate of 100. When people’s lives are concerned approximations, estimates, guesses or averages will not work.
The primary purpose of DiscipleSoft is to make sure that you as church leaders have access to complete and accurate information about your members. Without this information your ability to execute your dues is massively diminished and by the time you find out there are problems with some of your brothers and sisters it will be too late.
So this article will give helpful information to ensure that you build a complete and accurate database of your members within the 10 week implementation process. Completeness (at least 90%) and Accurate (members have provide full and correct information). If this process is done correctly you will look back as leaders and cherish your decision to value this exercise.
Please share this article with all leaders who are key stakeholders in the campaign so that you are on the same page on the process and its importance. Avoid the temptation to rush through the process because the results you want call for methodical and diligent execution.
Why Members Resist Member Registration
Any information collection initiative faces some resistance because people are naturally inclined to sharing less rather than more information about themselves, unless steps are taken to clearly explain the benefits of the initiative. We have observed that people would readily complete personal information forms from their employer, supermarket, bank etc., but would resist similar attempts from their churches. So there is major mindset change that your church members need to go through.
If the church is an important institution that is held in esteem and reverence then people should have no problem sharing their information with their churches. So your biggest challenge is to enlighten your members of the benefits of sharing their information with the church and that they are the ultimate beneficiaries of the initiative.
What if, even after explaining to your members the benefits to them for participating in member registration, they still do not want to participate. When this happens you know you have a problem in your church. We are living in a time, I am afraid where simple instructions by church leaders are often ignored. I am afraid many solid gospel-centered local pastors and Christian leaders are not receiving the honour and respect they deserve from those whom they serve. Why? I believe the answer (in part) is because we are living in era where church members have a diluted view of the importance of church leadership.
Consider Hebrews 13:17 “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.” This means when leaders have asked everyone to participate in Member Registration, the instruction should be obeyed with complete sincerity and commitment. As a matter of fact a Member Registration campaign is a good of testing the obedience of your members.
6 Keys Steps to a Successful Member Registration Campaign
When you are ready to kickstart the registration campaign we recommend you follow the 6 steps below to ensure campaign is successful.
Identify Key Campaign Advocates
The highest level of your leadership should put their weight behind this program, otherwise it will not succeed. The campaign should not be seen as departmental issue but rather a whole church issues, because when it’s done correctly the whole church will benefit. The Pastor should be seen as the main advocate of the campaign, he can choose few other leaders who will also champion the cause with him throughout the course of the campaign.
Make Announcements in Main Church and Church Groups
Once all the necessary preparations have been completed and your are ready to kick-start registration, the selected advocates (Pastor and his team) should make announcement in the main church. Depending on the groups that are dominant in your church, announcements should also be made by the group leaders.
The announcements should focus on the benefits and importance of member registration and how everyone needs to participate in it.
Print Enough Registration Forms and Distribute Accordingly
As part of the preparations towards the member registration campaign you should ensure that enough member registration forms have been printed. By the time announcements are made in the main church these forms should already be available. The registration forms should be distributed accordingly to the groups. You can download the registration form from our website include instructions on how to use it.
Collect Information through Groups First and Main Church Last
We believe that groups are the most effective platforms for the member registration process. Every church has dominant groups, for some its cell groups or church groups (men, ladies, youth and Sunday school or both, which ever is dominant use that for the registration campaign.
Given the significant role played by the groups the leaders of the groups are therefore a key stakeholder. In our experience it is virtually impossible to gather an accurate and complete database without total buy-in from leaders of these groups. Ensure that the group leaders have been brought onboard so that they start registrations as they go through their weekly meetings.
Allow the registration to proceed in the groups first before you start collecting information during the main services, unless if you are a small or medium sized church of less than 150 members. If your church is bigger than this, collecting information during the main service can be a disaster. You will end up sacrificing the accuracy of the process for the sake of speed. For church of more that 150 members, the the registration in the main service should only be done after a few weeks of registrations in the groups.
Continuously Capture Information using Pulse
As registration progresses during weekly group meetings the information can be conveniently captured into your member database using Pulse Mobile App. Pulse allows the groups to apply a capture as you collect strategy. Through this strategy, all collected forms for the day should be captured on the same day, for those without computers they can use Pulse. Before we had Pulse, forms will pile up if the group did not have access to a computer but with Pulse forms can be conveniently captured use a mobile device.
Continuous Progress Monitoring
Once registration has been launched progress should be monitored continuously and corrective action taken where necessary. This continuous monitoring includes the number of registrations forms disbursed and captured on the system.