A member register holds one record for each person in the church. The record shows the baptism, the profession of faith, the membership, the family, any office and the district. Reformed and Presbyterian church orders tell the council (the consistory or the session) to keep these records, and the details differ by federation. Record each fact with its date, and check the register each quarter.
Church orders differ, so this post compares several of them. Check each article number in your own church order.
Contents9 sections
What do church orders ask a church to record?
The Church Order of Dort (1619), art. 60, names one register: "The names of those baptized, together with those of the parents and witnesses, and likewise the date of Baptism, shall be recorded." Modern church orders ask for more:
| Church order | Article | What the council records |
|---|---|---|
| Church Order of Dort (1619) | art. 60 | The names of the baptized, the parents and the witnesses, and the date of baptism |
| GKSA Kerkorde (South Africa) | art. 60 | The names of the baptized and of the parents or guardians, and the dates of birth and baptism |
| Canadian Reformed Churches (2025) | art. 64 | The names of the members, and the dates of birth, baptism, public profession of faith, marriage, and departure or death |
| United Reformed Churches in North America (10th edition) | art. 50 | The names, and the dates of baptisms, professions of faith, marriages and deaths |
| Orthodox Presbyterian Church | Form of Government, ch. XIII.8 | Rolls of communicant members and baptized children with the dates of reception, and the births, baptisms, censures, restorations, deaths and removals |
| Presbyterian Church in America (2026) | Book of Church Order 12-8 | The baptisms, the communing and non-communing members, and the deaths and dismissions |
| Igreja Presbiteriana do Brasil | Constituição, art. 83 | The archives, the records and the statistics, and the roll of communicant and non-communicant members |
So a complete record for each person holds these facts:
| Record | What to keep |
|---|---|
| Baptism | The date of birth and the date of baptism, and the names of the parents or guardians |
| Profession of faith | The date of the public profession of faith |
| Membership | The start date and how the person came; the end date and why the person left |
| Family | The household, and the link between parents and children |
| Offices | Elder, deacon or minister, with the start date and the end date |
| District | The ward or district of the household, with its elders and deacons |
Communicant and non-communicant members
Most of these orders count two kinds of members. Communicant members made a public profession of faith. Non-communicant members are the baptized children (OPC Form of Government, ch. XIII.2; IPB Constituição, art. 12). Afrikaans churches use the words belydende lidmate and dooplidmate. Keep the two lists apart, because only communicant members come to the Lord's Supper.
Why does an accurate register matter?
- Pastoral care. Each household belongs to a district with its elders and deacons. A household that is not on the list gets no visit. Read the elder's home visit.
- The Lord's Supper. The consistory admits only those who made public profession of faith (CanRC art. 61; URCNA art. 45). The CanRC admits members of sister churches on a good attestation (art. 61).
- Transfers. The letter that goes to the next church can only be as correct as the register. Read the attestation.
- The statistics. The IPB council gives the church an annual report with its statistics (art. 83). The PCA takes a member whose residence has been unknown for one year off the roll, and out of the annual statistics (BCO 46-2).
- The assessment. In the GKSA, the synod assessment uses the number of confessing members of each church (Acta 2023:112). Read church finances.
- The review. The presbytery reviews the session's records at least once a year (OPC ch. XIII.8; PCA BCO 40-1). Church visitation is the continental practice. Read how to prepare for church visitation.
- The archive. The CanRC consistory takes proper care of the archives (art. 43). In the GKSA, church documents may not be destroyed, says the Handleiding by die Kerkorde (Handl. p. 280).
How do transfers work in each tradition?
The continental churches call the transfer an attestation. The Presbyterian churches call it a letter or certificate of dismission, or a letter of transfer. The rules differ:
| Church order | Article | The rule |
|---|---|---|
| GKSA Kerkorde | art. 82 | The council gives the attestation, signed by two of its members |
| Canadian Reformed Churches | art. 62 | A communicant member who moves to a sister church gets an attestation after announcements to the congregation, signed by two consistory members. For a non-communicant member, the attestation goes directly to the other consistory |
| URCNA | art. 64 | The member asks in writing. The consistory sends an official letter with the membership information and a testimony about doctrine and life |
| OPC | Form of Government, ch. XIII.9 | The clerk sends a letter. The clerk of the new church gives the date of reception, and then the name comes off the roll |
| PCA | BCO 46-1, 46-7 | The member presents a certificate of dismission. It is valid testimony for one year, unless a providential cause delays it |
| IPB | Constituição, art. 21 | The letter of transfer (carta de transferência) goes directly to the church authority that receives the member. It is valid for six months |
Record each step with its date: the request, the decision, the letter sent and the confirmation from the next church.
What goes wrong in a member register?
Each of these five errors makes the lists, the statistics and the letters of transfer wrong.
- Duplicates across generations. A father and a son with the same name share one record, or one person has two records. Compare the date of birth and the parents before you merge two records.
- Members who moved away years ago. They left without a transfer and stay on the register. The church orders set different limits. If a member does not transfer within one year after a reminder, the PCA session acts (BCO 46-2). The URCNA consistory may erase a membership after two years with no contact, with the advice of classis (art. 64). The IPB puts a member with an unknown address on a separate roll after one year (art. 23).
- Children with no family link. A baptized child has a record, but no link to the parents. The district list then shows a household without its children.
- Dates only on paper. The old baptism book holds the date, but the register shows only "baptized". Without the date, the register cannot count a year.
- An end with no reason. A record says "inactive", but not why. The reason can be a transfer, a withdrawal, discipline or a death. Record each end as a decision of the council, with its date.
A quarterly checklist for the register
Do this check each quarter, and give the result to the council.
- Look for duplicates: the same surname and date of birth, or the same email address.
- List the members who moved away without a transfer. Give the list to the council.
- List the members whose address has been unknown for a year.
- List the baptized children with no link to a family.
- List the members with "baptized" or "communicant" but no date. Get the dates from the baptism book and the minutes.
- List the memberships that ended with no reason.
- Check that each household has a district, and that each district has its elders and deacons.
- End the office period of each office-bearer who retired.
- Compare the number of communicant members with the last annual statistics.
- Check who can read the register. Remove the access of each person who no longer serves.
How does privacy law apply to the register?
Membership of a church shows a religious belief. Many laws protect that information with extra care, and the rules differ by country:
- South Africa. POPIA calls a religious belief special personal information (s26). A religious body may process the religious beliefs of its own members (s28(1)(a)). It may not give that information to third parties without consent (s28(3)).
- The European Union and the United Kingdom. The GDPR names religious beliefs as a special category of data (art. 9(1)). A not-for-profit body with a religious aim may process such data about its members, former members and regular contacts. It must use appropriate safeguards and must not disclose the data outside the body without consent (art. 9(2)(d)).
- Brazil. The LGPD names religious conviction as sensitive personal data (art. 5, II). Article 11 lists when such data may be processed, and the first ground is the specific consent of the person.
- The United States. The US has no single comprehensive federal data privacy law (Congressional Research Service, 2025). Some states have their own laws.
This is not legal advice. Ask an adviser in your country. For notes about members, read pastoral notes and visit records.
How does Reformeer keep the member register?
Kantoor, the office app of Reformeer, holds the register. It works for a church in any country, and its screens are in Afrikaans and English.
- The person record and the household. The record holds the names, the date of birth, the baptism and the confession, each with a status and a date. It also holds the contact details and the address on a map. Each church can add custom fields.
- Membership periods. Each period has a start date with a join reason, such as an attestation, birth or baptism. It has an end date with an exit reason, such as a departure with or without an attestation, "Left the denomination" or "Deceased". Reformeer works out the member status from the periods.
- Offices (ampte). Elder, deacon and pastor, with dated office periods.
- Edit review and the person timeline. A change by an officer or a member waits until a write-admin confirms or reverts it. The timeline shows who changed which field and when.
- Annual statistics and custom reports. The annual statistics count the additions and the departures by reason. Saved filters let you run the same check each quarter.
- Transfers. The new church asks, the old church releases the member, and the new church accepts. A church that is not on Reformeer gets the request by email.
- The import. The Reformeer team imports the export from your current system (Excel, CSV and similar) with you, in about 1 to 2 days. It is not self-service.
The database and the files are in Belgium (Google Cloud, europe-west1). The limits: the baptism record has no field for the place, the minister or the witnesses, but a custom field can hold them. The annual statistics use a church year from 1 April to 31 March. There is no withdrawal workflow: the office ends the membership period with the exit reason "Left the denomination".
Reformeer costs R995 per month per church in South Africa and $99 per month per church in the United States, with unlimited users. Read more on the office app and the prices, or book a demo.
Frequently asked questions
Does the church order require a member register?
Most modern church orders do: for example the CanRC (art. 64), the URCNA (art. 50), the OPC (ch. XIII.8), the PCA (BCO 12-8) and the IPB (art. 83). The Church Order of Dort (1619) and the GKSA Kerkorde name only the baptism register.
How long must a church keep its member records?
Church orders keep the records in the church archive, for example the CanRC (art. 43). The law of your country can limit how long a church keeps personal data, so ask an adviser about your own case.
Who may see the member register?
The council decides. Give each person only what the work needs. An elder needs the list of the district, not the whole register.
Published on 23 October 2026. Topic: Membership.