What Church Records to Keep
Record Keeping in the church might include:
- attendance records
- financial records
- historical records
- legal records
- personnel records
What records you keep and how extensively you compile them depends on what you plan to do with them.
So far in the Train Church Leaders Practicum we’ve considered that whatever record keeping you do should be to:
Measure Your Objectives
Keep a Pulse on the Body
Facilitate Ministry
Assess Growth
What Records Not to Keep
While there isn’t one definitive answer for what records each and every church should keep, I can say with certainty what kind of records you shouldn’t keep.
Love … keeps no record of wrongs. (1 Cor. 13:5)
We have all sorts of people in the church, including those we might call “sandpaper people” whose personality rubs us the wrong way. Some well-intentioned people make mistakes. And, then there are those who do us harm.
Some physical records we must keep for a certain number of years in the event of an audit. Other physical records we will keep indefinitely to preserve our church’s history. Too often we keep record of people’s idiosyncrasies, mistakes, and wrong-doing similarly … perhaps not on paper or in a database, but in our hearts and minds. Those, however, are the kinds of records we must deal with and then discard.
Just like hanging on to paper records we no longer need produces nothing but clutter, so it is when we keep record of wrongs. It isn’t only unbecoming for us as Christians, but it can adversely affect future decisions, attitudes, and treatment of others … sometimes even leading to divisions in the church.
Imagine if God would keep a record of all our sin and hold it against us! Instead, we read verses like the following:
as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. (Ps. 103:12)
Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. (Isa. 1:18)
I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more. (Isa. 43:25)
Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. (Mic. 7:18)
Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, (Acts 3:19)
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 Jn. 1:19)
Fellow believers, let’s make sure we are keeping the right kinds of records!
God bless you
Thank you. May God bless you as well.
Thanks so much for your inspired messages, may God continue to strengthen you IJN amen.
superb
God bless you
Wonderful peice there
If a church is no longer meeting, how long should its records be retained?
We are not qualified to provide legal counsel. You would do well to consult with a CPA or attorney familiar with your state laws. Of concern in keeping records in the case of dissolution would be keeping them long enough to clear the potential for any contractual or liability issues … until statute of limitations are up. As mentioned in this post, there are various kinds of church records and each type could carry a different disposal date. For example, if the church no longer exists, there’s probably little benefit in keeping attendance records. For the other records, you might want to consider keeping them for the length recommended for churches still meeting but, again, this is not legal counsel. The IRS generally will contact you within three years if needed but can be up to six. It’s often recommended to keep those kinds of records seven years after the financial year in which they were made. Personnel records generally should be kept at least four years. Historical records normally would be kept permanently but in the case of dissolution of the church, it may depend on a desire for preservation but the more legal records should undoubtedly be kept longer. But, again, you should consult someone like a CPA or attorney.