Records Management Guidelines for Congregations*
Advice for Congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church
in America
Your Records Have a Life Cycle!
You create and maintain the records of your congregation
in order to have the information you need when you need it;
in the format from which you can most easily retrieve it;
and in such a way that partners working in your congregation,
today and in the future, can readily find the information.
As you set about preserving information for future reference,
plan for the entire life cycle of the records you are creating.
If you do this, you should never need to spend time purging
files going through old material to determine the potential
administrative or historical value.
Today, most of the records of your life together as a congregation
begin as digital files. Your financial records and parish
register may be kept in a database. Minutes, reports, newsletters,
sermons, and other documents are created using word processing
software. Correspondence is usually by e-mail. Much of the
information you use and distribute to parishioners is created
in formats to be read by a Web browser. Even the photographs
of your congregation’s activities are now in digital
formats.
These guidelines will address the ways in which you can
assure future generations that these records will still
be available for their use long after hardware, software,
and file formats have changed.
Consistency is important in the care of records. Any records
retention policy has validity, once accepted as the policy
of the organization, only as it is uniformly practiced.
It should be neither selectively implemented nor disregarded
at the whim of the custodians of the records. Never purge
records in the face of potential litigation. Information
that is retained in hard copy or in electronic files is
the property of the congregation. Such information is not
the property of the pastor or of officers of the congregation
to be removed, retained personally, or destroyed at will.
All staff members are custodians of the records they maintain.
Most of the records retained by a congregation for its
daily operation, legal protection, financial security, and
responsibility to history fit into one of the following
categories. For the well-being of the congregation, each
type of record has a specific life cycle and needs appropriate
care.
The Parish Register includes:
- Permanent roll of members
- Baptisms
- Confirmations
- Marriages
- Funerals
- Communion participation
- Pastors of the congregation
- ELCA-rostered lay workers
- Other professional lay workers of the congregation such
as organists and choir directors
- Rosters of officers of the congregation
Care
Never leave your parish register vulnerable to destruction.
Keeping a copy of the parish register, in the same or another
format, will provide security for it today. However, for long
term preservation you must select a format that is not dependent
on hardware and software, that quickly become obsolete, in
order to read it. For legal and historical purposes, consider
one of the following means of securing your parish register:
Maintain the traditional parish register in addition to the
electronic database. Once each year, print out, on acid free
paper, the necessary reports that constitute a parish register;
date them and care for them as you would the traditional parish
register. Have microfilm copies of your parish register made
at reasonable intervals. Scan the parish register onto CD-ROM
discs. Take digital photographs of the pages of the parish
register.
Retention
According to the Model Constitution for Congregations the
pastor is responsible for maintaining the parish register (*C9.12.).
Please refer to the document, Maintaining
the Parish Register. The parish register is a permanent
record and requires the utmost care. The parish register is
a hard-copy record. You may use an electronic database program
for managing the records that you maintain in the administration
of your congregation. The database itself does not constitute
a parish register.
Duplicate and disburse!
A duplicate copy, in one of the above formats, should
be kept at a remote location, preferably a bank safe deposit
box. Remember that digital information is not preserved by
accident. If these methods are used, you must commit to reformatting
the files as hardware and software change.
For additional information on the pros and cons of each of
these formats please see the document, A
Comparison of Microfilming and Scanning Technologies 
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Congregations use personal computers for maintaining databases
for the tasks of parish administration such as:
- Membership and other directories
- Parish register
- Accounting system
- Record of member giving
- Mailing lists
Two critical issues pertain to the SAFETY of electronically
stored data:
- Restoration of current information in the event of system
failure or loss; and
- Migration of entire databases to newer generations of
hardware and software as systems become obsolete.
Care
To ensure the easy restoration of your database in the event
of system failure, natural disaster, or human mischief, back
up your personal computer's hard drive at least once each
week and store the disks or tapes at a location removed from
the personal computer.
Limit access by means of password protection.
Make certain that the structure of each database is documented––identifying
the software, computer language, and report form––so
that you are prepared, when the time comes, to migrate to
a new generation of software or hardware.
Retention
A database, such as a membership management or accounting
system, is a constantly changing record. An early decision
must be made as to which reports generated by your database
are necessary as permanent legal or historical records of
the congregation. These should be printed out annually (see
Parish Register above).
As you update and purge information from your databases, consider
which records (i.e., transferred members, general ledger reports)
should become part of a subdirectory permitting long-term
storage and ease of access, and make certain that these directories
migrate to software and hardware upgrades with the rest of
the information in the database.
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These Materials, produced by the congregation to assist
its programs and promote its activity, document the life of
the parish and tell the congregation's story:
- Annual reports
- Minutes of regular and special congregational meetings
- Minutes of the congregation council and its executive
committee
- Minutes or reports of committees and of auxiliary organizations
for men, women, and youth
- Copies of yearly parochial reports sent to the synod
office
- Constitutions and bylaws
- Worship bulletins
- Membership directories with or without photographs
- Newsletters
- News releases and other promotional material
- Congregation histories
- Devotional material
- Curricula
- World wide Web site
Care
Most of these are created electronically, but used and preserved
as paper documents. Those documents that are also legal documents
should be protected by keeping another copy in an off-site
location. The World Wide Web site changes frequently. You
may wish to print out “snapshots” of this site
from time to time to preserve this record of your congregation’s
story
Retention
All of these documents tell the story of your congregation
and should be collected in the congregation’s archives.
If the congregation is disbanded, they should be moved to
the archives of the region or synod.
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Legal and Property Related Documents
Vital legal and property related documents may include:
- Charter or articles of incorporation
- Constitution and bylaws
- Tax-exempt status reports and documentation or the congregation’s
nine-digit federal employer identification number
- Deeds, titles, surveys, leases, mortgages, easements,
and blueprints
- Current service contracts
- Insurance policies (current and retired)
- Copies of letters of call to the pastors and ELCA rostered
church workers
- Other employment contracts
- Service contracts
- Documentation creating endowment funds and for bequests,
gifts, and endowments
- Minutes of regular and special congregational meetings
- Minutes of the congregation council and its executive
committee
- Personnel handbooks and employee benefit programs
Care
- You are advised to use copies of these legal documents
for administrative purposes and deposit the originals
in a bank safe deposit box.
- Keep all insurance policies, even though you may have
purchased a new policy from a new carrier. Send a copy
of your insurance policy to the synod office.
- Remember to update your constitution regularly and send
a copy to your synod office
Retention
With the exception of service contracts, these are permanent
records.
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Your financial records may include financial documents
such as:
-
- General ledger year end reports
- Budgets
- Treasurer's reports
- Annual audit reports
- Invoices
- Record of member giving
- Check register
- Canceled checks or copies of canceled checks
- Certificates of deposit or other evidence of savings
- Information on bequests, gifts, and endowments
Retention
You will have a financial management database that handles
all of your accounting transactions. Retention of financial
records refers to hard-copy documents.
Permanent...
- Annual audit report
- Treasurer's report and the congregation's budget should
be attached to the minutes of the annual congregational
meeting
- Information on permanent bequests, gifts, and endowments
Seven years...
- Canceled checks or copies of canceled checks
- Bank reconciliations
- Payroll administration records such as W-2, W-4 forms
and payroll registers
- Cash receipt journals
- Record of member giving (All records related to congregational
spending are open. All records related to member giving
are confidential and should be secured)
Three years...
- General invoices (For major purchases, you may wish
to keep receipts or canceled checks as evidence of ownership
for insurance purposes.)
No need to retain ...
Detailed guidelines for the congregation's treasurer and
financial secretary are found in Resources for Congregational
Treasurers and Bookkeepers.
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Files, containing some or all of these documents may exist
for the pastor, other rostered persons, employees, registered
seminary students, and volunteers:
- Letters of call
- Letters of application
- Job descriptions
- Resumes
- Letters of recommendation
- Background and reference checks
- Performance appraisals
- Contracts
- Continuing education documentation
- Documents related to compensation and benefits
- Emergency notification forms
- Health-related documents, such as worker’s compensation
- Correspondence
- Honors and clippings
Care
Right to privacy laws dictate that these files must be held
in strictest confidence. Keep this file locked at all times.
Retention
If information, including background checks and letters of
recommendation, attest to the employee or volunteer’s
fitness to fulfill a responsibility or perform a service,
it should be retained for 25 years. If information relates
to a worker’s compensation or other claim by the employee,
this should be retained. Similarly, if information relates
to a possible claim or lawsuit by others involving the employee’s
conduct or duties, that also should be retained. Only biographical
information and career history for rostered persons should
be retained in the congregation archives. All other material
should be destroyed upon completion of service.
As required, the file for a seminary student is sent to the
seminary after he or she has signed for its release. It is
not preserved in the congregation.
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When the pastor provides pastoral care to parishioners,
such as marriage counseling or personal spiritual direction,
the pastor may create a file containing
- Date and time of consultation and persons present
- Observation notes
- Tests, such as personality inventories
- Correspondence
Care
These files must be kept locked and in strictest confidence
as they involve a relationship at the highest level of trust
and are usually subject to the clergy and penitent privilege.
The parishioner should sign a release if any information is
to leave the file at any time. The pastor must use good judgment
in establishing the nature of each relationship and in creating
documentation of it. An understanding of the nature of this
relationship will determine the appropriate disposition of
the records.
Retention
If the relationship is said to be that of care of souls, the
pastor may decide what should be retained at his or her own
discretion. The principle of confessional confidences, which
applies to all ordained ministers of this church, is specified
by ELCA churchwide constitutional provision (7.45.).
"In keeping with the historic discipline and practice of the
Lutheran Church and to be true to a sacred trust inherent
in the nature of the pastoral office, no ordained minister
of this church shall divulge any confidential disclosure received
in the course of the care of souls or otherwise in a professional
capacity, nor testify concerning conduct observed by the ordained
minister while working in a pastoral capacity, except with
the express permission of the person who has given confidential
information to the ordained minister or who was observed by
the ordained minister, or if the person intends great harm
to self or others" (churchwide constitutional provision (7.45.)
in the Constitution,
Bylaws, and Continuing Resolutions of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America).
In all states, suspected cases of child abuse are required
to be reported to the authorities. Whether such reporting
requirements apply to pastors may vary. Consult an attorney
in your state for guidance on such matters.
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Correspondence, including e-mail
The pastor may have correspondence of various types:
- Ex officio as chief executive officer of the congregation
- Correspondence to and from the officers of the congregation
or the bishop of the synod
- E-mail messages to the congregation or select individuals
or groups
- Personal correspondence
Care
E-mail is especially vulnerable to loss. E-mail that represents
the policies, program, and ongoing life of the congregation
should be printed out.
Retention
The pastor's ex officio correspondence and the correspondence
to and from the officers of the congregation or the bishop
of the synod should be kept for the tenure of the pastor;
the files then should be appraised for permanent value. Only
letters with historical significance need be kept for the
archives of the congregation. The pastor's personal correspondence
should be maintained separately and removed from the office
by the pastor at the end of the pastor's tenure.
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Retention
The pastor and the congregation may agree to place manuscripts
of sermons commemorating special occasions in the archives
of the congregation.
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Such media records the significant events in the life of
a congregation. They also are a permanent record of its history
- Photographs and negatives
- Digital photographs on CDs
- DVD and Videotapes
- Films
- Audiotapes and CDs
Care
Digital files never survive by accident
Place photographs and negatives, properly identified (date,
event, names of persons), in the archives of the congregation.
Slides, films, and videotapes should be identified carefully
and retained in a manner that respects their fragility. Digital
photographs may be retained on laser discs, but remember that
file formats, hardware and software will change. Make prints
and negatives in order to preserve the pictures. Identify
the images! Audiotapes of weekly worship services frequently
are reused. Be sure to place sound and video recordings of
special services in the archives of the congregation
Retention
All of these visual media are permanent records of the ongoing
life of the congregation and should be placed in the congregation’s
archives
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Including:
- Resource materials received from the synodical or the
churchwide office for the support of the activity of the
congregation
- Hymnals
- Worship materials
- Curricula
- Minutes of the synod assembly
- Yearbooks and directories of the synod and the ELCA
Care:
Resource materials should be distributed to the members of
organizations and committees who can benefit from them. Current
materials may be filed by subject and kept in an accessible
location. Such materials seldom have long-term value and the
files should be culled annually. These materials are collected
in the churchwide and synod or region archives.
Retention:
The congregation may wish to include the minutes of the synod
in its own archives. Samples of hymnals and parish education
materials are important for recording the history of the congregation.
Other resource materials may be discarded when they have been
superseded by newer materials
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*This information was obtained from the ELCA website. This
same document can be found by clicking here.
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