So, your church has asked you to fill the role of the church clerk? Welcome aboard, and thank you for accepting this important position! Even though much of your work takes place behind the scenes, you are part of your church’s administrative team.
Provided here are links to resources that will help you fully understand your ministry role. The responsibilities of the clerk include maintaining church membership changes and transfers, keeping accurate records, and serving as secretary for church board and business meetings, etc. Please keep in mind the role of clerk is modified from church to church depending on the needs of the church, and the availability of the clerk. Duties can be delegated to other church leaders. Many large churches have a team of one or more assistant clerks who help the clerk and work together to accomplish tasks.
There are two ways to manage the church’s membership records: Online in a membership software program called eAdventist. The Texas Conference is encouraging all church clerks to transition to working directly on-system in eAdventist, and it will soon be a requirement. To gain access, clerks must first go through eAdventist training, then submit a User Authorization form.
The other traditional method to manage membership is off-system. The clerk uses paper or pdf forms to report all membership changes to the Texas Conference, which we then enter into eAdventist on your behalf. These reports can be found on our Membership home page.
Clerks are required to send two reports each month by the 7th of the month to the Texas Conference (This is 12 reports every year, whether or not there have been membership changes):
Clerk’s Monthly Report for off-system churches / and if the church is an on-system church, a Membership Statistics Report is generated directly from eAdventist. Click here to submit your Clerk’s report.
Attendance Report – both Off-system and On-system churches send their average monthly attendance via paper reports, or email. All that is needed is the one average attendance figure, which is calculated by adding up the attendance each Sabbath for the entire month, then dividing by the number of Sabbaths the church met that month. The final figure can be submitted on a form or simply typed into the body of an email along with the month and complete name of the church and sent to membership@txsda.org.
Stepping Down? If you are stepping down from your church clerk duties and will be passing the baton to someone else, please be sure to notify the Texas Conference of this change immediately. Please provide us with the new person’s contact information (including complete name, birth date, address, phone & email) and give them our contact information, as well. You can reach us at: membership@txsda.org
Thank you for your service as church clerk. Your ministry is highly valued! Click here for instructions if you are an on-system clerk who is stepping down.
New Clerk Resources:
-Texas Conference Clerk’s Manual – English
-Manual de Secretarial – Español
-Quick Start Guide for the Church Clerk
-Transfer Process for Off-System Churches
-Sample Transfer Letter Instructions for Off-system Churches