Flock Book
People Rarely Leave a Church All at Once. They Miss One Sunday, Then Two, Then a Month. Often They Are Waiting to See Whether Anyone Will Notice. If Nobody Calls, They Conclude That Nobody Cared.
What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?
Luke 15:4 (KJV)
Why It Is So Hard to Notice
In a Church of 50 You Can See Who Is Missing. In a Church of 300 You Cannot. From the Front, a Full Room Looks Like a Healthy Room. The Family Who Always Sits at the Back Could Be Gone For Six Weeks Before Anyone Says So.
Step One: Count Families, Simply
You Do Not Need a Complicated Register. After the Service, or at the Door, One Person Notes Which Families Came. Counting by Family Is Quicker Than Counting by Person, and It Tells You What You Need to Know.
Step Two: Set a Simple Rule
Agree on One Rule For Your Church. For Example: Any Family Not Seen For Two Sundays Gets a Call in the Same Week. A Family Who Is Away For a Good Reason Loses Nothing, and a Family Who Is Struggling Is Reached Early.
Step Three: Make the Right Kind of Call
The Call Should Never Sound Like a Telling Off. Do Not Say, “Why were you not in church?” Say, “We missed you. How are you all? Is there anything we can pray for?” Then Listen. You May Hear About a Sick Parent, a Lost Job or a Hurt That Needs a Visit.
Step Four: Give Each Call to One Person
A Job Given to Everyone Is Done by No One. Give Each Family to One Named Person, and Check at the End of the Week That the Call Was Made. Write Down Anything That Needs a Next Step.
Step Five: Welcome Them Back
When They Return, Greet Them Warmly and Make Nothing of the Absence. They Came Back Because They Were Missed. Let Them Feel That.
Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
Hebrews 10:25 (KJV)
How Flock Book Helps
With Sunday Check-in, You Tap the Families Who Came and Attendance Builds Itself. Families Not Seen For Two Sundays Come Up in Your Follow-ups, With Their Phone Number One Tap Away, and You Can Give the Call to Someone on Your Team.
