On October 4, McPherson First celebrated 93 people who worshiped with us on at least three of every four Sundays this summer. Their names ran at the bottom of that week’s email. It was the longest list this year. In the spring it was 67, and in the winter 68.
It’s easy to spend a summer noticing the empty pews. This list is one way we notice the people in them instead. We started it to celebrate worship attendance and to encourage people to check in and worship with us regularly. Here’s how it works, in case it’s useful where you serve.
Make checking in part of worship. Every Sunday, right after the invitation to give, we pause so people can mark their presence: in the blue notebook in their row, in the Church Center app, or at mcphersonfirst.org/next. At our later service the notebook is passed down the row. People worshiping online check in the same way, and their check-ins count.
Set the bar at three of every four. Once a quarter we run a Planning Center report of everyone who checked in on at least 75 percent of Sundays. The email says it plainly: “This isn’t about perfect attendance. It’s about recognizing the gift of your presence.” Missing a few Sundays doesn’t take anyone off the list.
Publish the names where people already look. The list runs at the bottom of the weekly email the first week of January, April, July, and October. The top of the email points readers down to it, and the section ends with a button to download the Church Center app.
Tie it to a promise. The section is headed “Practicing the membership promise of presence.” When people join a United Methodist church, they promise to support it with their prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness. The list gives one of those promises a name and a date.
Leave the door open. Each list ends, “Think you should be on this list? We might have missed your check-in.”
The count has limits. It only sees the people who check in. So a longer list could mean more people in worship, or more people telling us they were there. We don’t know which yet, and we haven’t heard much back about the list itself.
If you try this, start with the check-in moment. The list only works when people have a simple way to say they were there. And if your congregation has a good way of noticing faithfulness, I’d be glad to hear about it. If you were one of the 93, thank you for showing up.