We average about 200 on a Sunday morning between the two services. My church shifted over to Planning Center about 4 years ago, and we started using the attendance function during COVID. There are 1 or 2 people at the "check-in table" in the narthex that record who attended services that day on iPads. Works fairly well. Search by last name or first name then select the family which will then allow you to mark a check box to show who from the family is there. We rarely have a problem with the software. The problem is usually iPads that aren't charged. The ushers also count, and there's always a small disparity between the usher's numbers and electronic numbers. I track the usher numbers to see how our attendance is doing and use those numbers to report congregational statistics.
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Jay Moore
Hope Lutheran Virginia Beach
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Original Message:
Sent: 05-23-2023 09:18 AM
From: Virginia Ranisate
Subject: Attendance
We keep track of attendance at worship services by having people sign the "friendship register," a book in each pew. Our ushers also count the total number people at each service (usually). This is hit or miss as people don't want to sign the book, forget or don't know they should unless the pastor mentions it.
We use Shepherd Staff attendance module and I've tried using the online feature with a tablet but it's slow to search through the people and add them. Maybe there's a shortcut I don't know about. I haven't researched it more.
In talking with friends who attend other churches, It turns out that many churches don't keep track of attendance.
Does your church track attendance and if so, how?
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Virginia Ranisate
St. Johns Lutheran Church
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