Responsibilities of the Church Clerk

The Church Clerk (aka Statistical Secretary) is responsible to:

1: Prepare Church Board and Business Meeting minutes
2: Maintain Membership Records
3: Help prevent Missing members
4: Keep a list of Committees
5: Develop Church Directory
6: Prepare Church Bulletin
7: Union Paper subscriptions
8: Obituaries

Prepare Church Board and Business Meeting minutes

For more information, see Prepare Church Board and Business Meeting minutes.

Maintain Membership Records

eAdventist is the official membership records for all churches in the North American Division. An "online" church clerk can access their membership records in eAdventist and make changes to them. An "offline" church clerk sends changes to the conference clerk, who enters them in eAdventist on the church's behalf.

A person becomes a member of the local SDA church in one of three ways: (1) baptism, (2) profession of faith, (3) transfer from another SDA church. A person may leave in one of four ways: (1) death, (2) transfer to another SDA church, (3) removal (personal request or church discipline), (4) missing. Entering these changes in eAdventist updates the current membership list as well as preserving a record of the changes.

Help prevent Missing members

The church clerk has a unique opportunity to help prevent "missing member" situations. In a small church, it is easier to notice when someone is not attending regularly. A larger church may not notice until newsletters are returned by the post office.

If the church clerks takes note of people who are missing, he/she can send church bulletins with friendly notes and share the names with the pastoral staff. An alert church clerk can prevent a member from becoming "missing". If only a short time has elapsed, it may not be difficult to find the member and encourage them to return to active fellowship.

Members who have been missing for longer can often be found by asking other members who know them. Once found, invite and encourage them to return to church fellowship.

Keep a list of Committees

The church clerk should keep a list of all committees appointed by the church. He/she should also provide the chairperson of the committee with a list of the committee members, along with an outline of the task the committee has been asked to accomplish. "Online" clerks can track their Committees in eAdventist.

Develop Church Directory

The church clerk is responsible to have a church directory produced as needed - printed, duplicated or produced by a photo-directory company. It should include nonmember spouses, unbaptized children and regular attendees who are not yet baptized.

Since a directory is to promote friendship in the congregation, it's good to include a statement that "this is not an official membership list but a directory of church families."

Prepare Church Bulletin

In small churches where there is no church secretary, the church clerk may be responsible for the weekly church bulletin. However, it can also be delegated to another member with typing/computer skills.

Union Paper subscriptions

The church clerk ensure that each member receives a subscription (usually free) to the Union Paper. These subscriptions are tracked in eAdventist.

Obituaries

If the family of a deceased church member wishes to have an obituary printed in the Union Paper, the church clerk should send the following information to the conference Communication Department: full name, date and place of birth, date and place of death, names of survivors and their relation to the deceased. Also include important or interesting biographical information - degrees earned, books authored, dates and places of mission service or other denominational service.