Quarterly Report - Sacrament Meeting Attendance

[adoga]

My ward has roughly 20+ pregnant women. The stake president has requested that we include the unborn children in our quarterly sacrament meeting count (which increases the attendance by about 10%).

This was REALLY funny

[silus99]

Strange. I believe the attendance numbers are used mostly for budget allocation and to allow ward and stake leaders to direct their attention to issues in the unit such as low attendance of the members on record or a high number of members for the building size. I think in all three of these scenarios it does not make sense to count the unborn. They do not require additional funds from the Church for activities, they are not on the church records yet so the percentage attendance becomes somewhat meaningless, and they do not take up more than one seat on the bench or in a classroom so it does not help with decisions about building and ward size.

You always have sporadic variations for holidays, missionary farewells, visiting families, etc. but this is a case where it would change the average over many months.

That being said, the Stake President has the authority and is the one responsible for the outcome. If that is what he asks and the Bishop concurs, then that is what I would do. I may voice my concern over the issue, but in the end they are the ones held accountable for the policy.

[ulupoi]

A clerk in this situation should call Church Headquarters for clarification (and backup). Theoretically, his local leaders, also, wouldn't want to cheat, and if they do, they shouldn't be leaders. In the Church, if an order is illegal or unrighteous, it carries no authority (D&C 121:37), and it is our duty to oppose it. Any decent leader would want his people to oppose it.

[johnshaw]

boy, how might that affect fund raising?

[jfackerson]

I've had issues with our ward's "traditional" attendance counting method. As Clerk and previously as "Asst. Clerk for Mem Recs" we've always based our count on "number of sacrament cups used". Then we were told to add 10% for those in attendance who chose that day to not receive sacrament. In my previous ward, while also serving as Membership Clerk, I held a "golf counter" in my pocket, walked up and down each of two asiles, counted to 10, pressed "counter button" once and repeated process until all were counted. Counting from back of chapel or cultural hall could include "children's dolls" or exclude small children below bench top.

[ulupoi]

I suppose you could also get down on the floor in the back of the chapel, get a sight line under the pews all the way to the front, count all the feet, and divide by two.

[lajackson]

I suppose you could also get down on the floor in the back of the chapel, get a sight line under the pews all the way to the front, count all the feet, and divide by two.

You would have to add in a factor for the percentage of children resting on the bench without feet dangling. [smile]

[jfackerson]

Reason given to me for counting "Sacrament Cups Used" had something to do with my not wandering up and down aisles during post Sacrament talks. Maybe some have found that practice rather intimidating, as if we were looking for fugitives, illegal aliens or attempting to enforce some kind of "Sunday dress code".

[aebrown]

Reason given to me for counting "Sacrament Cups Used" had something to do with my not wandering up and down aisles during post Sacrament talks. Maybe some have found that practice rather intimidating, as if we were looking for fugitives, illegal aliens or attempting to enforce some kind of "Sunday dress code".

Although I've seen a variety of techniques proposed (including counting sacrament cups), I personally don't see how any of them fulfill the requirement: "Record the average sacrament meeting attendance for the last month of the quarter. Include in your count all individuals who attended sacrament meeting, members and nonmembers alike."

It says "include in your count" (not estimate). I've never found a clerk quietly counting attendance to be at all intimidating, but I'm not inclined to give credence to conspiracy theories. And even if the bishop proposes that an alternate method be used, I would hope that no alternative to counting is ever used before the alternate technique goes through a reasonable verification process. That would require doing an actual count as well as the estimate, and then comparing those numbers over a number of weeks. Just picking an alternate method out of thin air would be an abdication of the bishop's responsibility for accurate record keeping.

[drepouille]

On a related topic, we are required to count heads during each session of stake conference. There was one such priesthood leadership meeting in our stake when the stake clerk was trying to count heads, and the presiding authority asked him to do it from the back of the room, and not to walk up and down the aisles. Oh well, we tried.