Reporting Inaccuracies??

It's hard to believe the reports filed each week show the true nature of our church.  When this project began, I believed in the idea that we could learn and grow from the numbers, but now it almost depresses me because there are things that cannot be reported in this "app"  without causing stress on the congregation, which is not the intent of the project.

For instance, there are small group dinners and Bible studies that meet each week in homes.  Do members really need to report attendance just for the sake of our reports at the end of the year?

There are members working in local outreach of which reporting staff is unaware.  Just for the sake of conference reports, do they need to report to the office their activities?  Do staff members need to seek out these people just to report to the conference?

Also, there are members received by transfer ... are they not worthy of report?

I was relieved, at first, that the new reporting forms for the Great Plains Conference would take much of this information for our annual charge conferences ... it saved me a lot of work.  However, for the reasons stated above, I truly believe there are a lot of things going on at Eastmoor UMC that cannot be "counted"... nor, as church secretary, am I always aware of.

We cannot put all the duty on our pastors for this information, either.  If we want the pastors to be available to the people, and have "accurate" reporting,we need to always be aware that this information is not all that's happening in a church, nor can all of it be reported (in other words, please don't add more forms to try to find out what is happening!)  This project has good information, but there are things that cannot be reported, and cannot determine the value of a church.

I would appreciate ideas that others are using to make this project less taxing on their congregations. --Ginny Lind, member and secretary of Eastmoor UMC