Sessional Records: The Importance of Maintaining Complete and Accurate Church Records

Luke E. Brown

Extracted from Ordained Servant vol. 7, no. 1 (Jan. 1998), pp. 22-24


The task of gathering statistics from over 230 Orthodox Presbyterian local churches and mission works is met each year with a variety of responses. Most clerks of session promptly provide clear and complete information on their church’s membership, attendance, giving, etc. Others are slower in responding, but come through after a reminder or two. There have been some clerks and pastors, however, whose records are in such disarray that they seem to have difficulty finding and reporting basic information concerning their local church membership. One clerk a few years ago even questioned why we must keep a record of membership. In his opinion, the OPC’s practice of receiving, dismissing, and erasing members was a waste of time that session members could better spend in ministering to people regardless of whether they were members on the church roll. What about the matter of keeping good sessional records? Why is it necessary, and how can it be done well without spending an inordinate amount of time? To answer these questions, let’s consider first what kinds of records a session should maintain, and then we’ll explore some ways to do the work efficiently and well.

What are Sessional Records?

A session ordinarily keeps a wide variety of records. The primary records are those that are mandated in the OPC Form of Government, Chapter XIII, Section 8.

The session shall keep the following records: (1) minutes of the session’s meetings, including a record of the administration of the sacraments and changes in the membership of the congregation; (2) minutes of the meetings of the congregation; and (3) rolls of the members of the congregation, both of communicant members and of their baptized children, with the dates of their reception. Such rolls shall designate those members worshipping with a mission work. Births, baptisms, censures, restorations, deaths, and removals shall be noted on these rolls. The session shall submit its minutes and the minutes of the congregation to the presbytery for review at least once every year.

It is the clerk of session who has the duty “to be accountable for the recording of the transactions” [of the session and the congregation], to preserve the records carefully, and to grant extracts from them whenever properly required (FG XIX).

Other records of a session might include files of important correspondence, written reports on various matters, financial records, property and legal documents, and so on. Our attention here will focus primarily on the minutes and membership records.

Why Maintain Good Records?

Scripture provides little direct guidance concerning the matter of keeping church records, but it does contain certain principles and numerous examples that can be applied in this area. The practice of maintaining written records is common throughout the Bible, which is itself a written record of God’s creative and redemptive activity. Counting the number of people in particular, well-defined categories is almost taken for granted, especially in Old Testament Israel. One entire book of the Bible is primarily a record of Numbers! Records were carefully written and maintained so that future generations would know how the Lord worked with and through his people in particular circumstances of historical significance.

For a session, important actions must be recorded in written form (i.e., “the recording of the transactions”) so that those who follow will have a way of knowing what has been done, what decisions were reached and when, what policies or procedures have been decided upon, etc. Well kept minutes are even handy to help us recall what we decided only a few months or years ago!

In the parable of the lost sheep (Luke 15:3-7), although the focus is not on the particular number of sheep in the shepherd’s care, it is important to observe nevertheless that the shepherd knows that he is responsible for precisely 100 sheep, and he knows when one of them has become lost. He will go after the one that is lost until he finds it. Close is not good enough for him! If he knew only that he had approximately 95 to 100 sheep in the pasture, he would never have missed the one that wandered off. The apostle Peter exhorted the elders of the church to “shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion, but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly” (1 Peter 5:2). In their willing and eager service, surely they will be careful to know who are under their care.

Our Form of Government states that “the local church consists of a definite membership,” and that “the membership of a local congregation consists of communicant and noncommunicant members, all of whom have the privilege of pastoral oversight, instruction, and government by the church” (FG XIII, 1). A session that is unclear as to who is or is not a church member may also be having some difficulty providing the necessary pastoral oversight of all of its members.

Suggestions for Keeping the Minutes

Keeping clear and precise minutes, rolls, and other records is not an insurmountable task, but it does require discipline and practice to do it easily. It doesn’t come naturally to everyone; and we all have to work at it to some degree. When I was a clerk of session, I had the practice of taking rather thorough notes during the session and congregational meetings, and writing up the draft minutes a few days later from the notes. The wording of a decision or an action is always of particular importance. When a motion is passed or a decision is reached by common consent, write it down in your notes just as it should read in the minutes, rather than try to reconstruct it days or weeks later. If the action being considered seems unclear or incomplete, ask for clarification right then while it’s on the floor. Sketchy notes may be adequate for some parts of a meeting, but the record of transactions should be put on paper (or on the computer) right from the start.

It is good practice, and a general rule, that session minutes be approved at the beginning of the next regular session meeting. By that time they should be in written draft form. Minutes should never be ad-libbed by the clerk from his notes, to be cleaned up later for the minutes book! Session members have a right to know what the record will state concerning the actions they’ve taken. Minutes of a congregational meeting may be approved by a committee appointed for the purpose, or by the entire body prior to adjournment.

Any recent edition of Robert’s Rules of Order contains much useful information (about 8 pages!) on the keeping of minutes. Some examples: ordinarily the minutes “should contain mainly a record of what was done at the meeting, not what was said by the members.” The minutes should show “all main motions... stating: a) the wording in which each motion was adopted or otherwise disposed of ...; and b) the disposition of the motion ....” Often a session will reach a decision ‘by common consent. ‘ Such an action has the same weight as an adopted motion. In such cases, “when a question is considered informally, the same information should be recorded as under the regular rules, since the only informality in the proceedings is in the debate.”

Suggestions for Keeping the Membership Rolls

The membership rolls are not difficult to maintain with accuracy if a few simple definitions and rules are understood and carefully observed.

(1) The first rule is to read and understand the OPC Form of Government (especially Chapter XIII, Sec. 1, 2, 7, 8, and 9) and the Book of Discipline (especially Chapters II and V). Pastors and clerks of session, I call your attention particularly to BD II:B, which describes in full the provisions for receiving and enrolling church members (II:B.2), and for removing members from the rolls (II: B.3). These procedures are indispensable for guiding the session’s actions and for maintaining accurate church rolls. If these procedures are neglected or ignored, confusion and error will undoubtedly be the result.

(2) The second rule is to record in the session minutes all significant events or actions taken by the session with respect to church membership (assuming that the session takes the appropriate actions, which, of course, it should!) A clerk or a pastor who observes the first rule above will be able to insure that the session does take the necessary actions.

(3) The third rule is to establish and maintain an up-to-date written list of communicant and non-communicant members (i.e., the rolls). Some presbyteries (perhaps all) have a rule that this list of members shall be recorded in the session minutes book at the end of each year (probably to insure that such a list actually exists.) In any event, keeping the list of members up to date helps to insure that the session has taken all the necessary actions in regard to receiving and removing members.

One Final Suggestion

Make it a practice to keep all the sessional records organized in an orderly fashion. We all have our own system, whether or not it’s very systematic. Maybe it’s just a ‘file pile’ or a cluttered desktop. Hopefully, it’s a little better than that, if for no other reason than that you will someday need to pass it all on to the next clerk of session, poor fellow.

More often than not, the time and effort spent in keeping sessional records in good order are more than amply repaid in time saved by avoiding errors and confusion, and in the satisfaction of having done the job well as a willing and eager shepherd of the flock of God.


Luke E. Brown is a ruling elder serving on the session of the Trinity Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Hatboro, Pa. He has also served for the past eleven years as the Statistician of the General Assembly of our denomination.