Counting Heads or Keeping Good Sunday School Attendance Records

George Yates of SonC.A.R.E. Ministries has recently relocated to Kentucky. I have enjoyed getting to know George and his passion for the church and specifically for Sunday School. I have already had opportunity to utilize him in an associational Sunday School training event. And you will want to pick up his book, Teaching That Bears Fruit.

In a recent GROWING TIMES newsletter, George wrote an article entitled Attendance Records vs. a Head Count. That article set my mind to thinking about the issue of this blog post. Before you dismiss this post as irrelevant to your Sunday School, read further. Sometimes, attitudes are better reflections of realities in your Sunday School than practices. Allow me to give an example: just because attendance records are kept does not mean that those records mean anything or result in needed revolutionary response. In other words, the attitude may still only be “counting heads.”

Consider the following table comparing counting heads or keeping good records:

	Counting Heads	Keeping Good Records
Person Responsible	Sunday School Director or Secretary	Class Secretary; Care Group Leaders
Amount of Time	15 seconds per class	2 minutes for records; 5 minutes for care/reach plans
Records Available	Sunday School attendance totals	Class, member, prospect, and contact/care records
Assignment	None	Weekly contacts with absentees, members, and prospects
Follow Up	Casual; none planned	Weekly assignments and reports; records kept
Report Time	Worship or board of attendance total	Weekly report of contact results
Inreach Results	Absentees not contacted; attendance drops	Members and absentees contacted and needs met; attendance stable
Outreach Results	Uninvited guests occasionally attend or join	Prospects invited/welcome, attend, and join regularly; attendance grows

Where do your classes and Sunday School fall? Are you more on the counting heads side or keeping good records side? What can you do to move your class or Sunday School toward mobilizing needed ministry in response to keeping good records? Pray. Keep good records. Reach out. Care. Be revolutionary!