How do you motivate people to hand something in when they are not employees?

Have you considered a reward?
Like a weekly draw for a pastry or cake?

Or ask the priest to announce it in end of the sermon ?

@RedDeerGuy1 I don’t know. I can bring your suggestion up tomorrow when we have our meeting but I have a feeling that most people would not really be motivated by that, especially when you weigh it against their dislike of writing. I don’t know what the answer is.

Could you get the bio info at the time the picture is taken? That seems more efficient than waiting to me. One and done.

@KNOWITALL we actually asked for both of them at the same time. A lot of people don’t need to have their picture taken especially for this but have something on their computer that they can send us right away. And they don’t seem to have a problem with doing that fairly quickly. It’s the bio that they seem to struggle with.

I have two ideas. Give them a deadline that’s like a week ahead of the deadline that you need it to be, so they have a few extra days if they are running late and need prodding.

My other idea is tell them that you can type it for them if they want to do it by phone, or if they want to come in. They can speak a narrative and you’ll type it and then you can edit it together. You can send them a few of the questions that might help them think about what they want to write, for example, “where are you from” “are you married and do you have children” and “what brought you to this church.” If they have other info they want to add, or more details like their personal philosophy, they can add it when you’re typing it.

@jca2 these are great ideas! I am definitely going to bring them up tomorrow in our meeting. I will say about the first one that, the problem is that often the pastor lets me know what Sunday all this is happening only a little bit in advance, so while I love your idea of telling people that the deadline is earlier than it actually is, it’s hard when I myself have very little notice to even start with the process.

And don’t worry, we’ll be discussing that aspect of it too.

Private people testing a church would find this intrusive.
Good luck with that.

Talk to a few of the people who have handed in late and try to find out (without chastising) what made it difficult or intimidating. Maybe the expectations could be revised to be less onerous.

Alternatively, perhaps they could write the bio in class. With a prompt, people can write a lot in five minutes.

Or perhaps there could be a brief questionnaire instead of a blank page, and then space to add anything if they want.

Some people are always going to procrastinate, but I think you are right to focus on the activity and not the date as the obstacle.

Tell them you have decided in your heart to join our church family, and all we ask is for you to give us this one thing by this date. Then remind them of 2 Corinthians 9:7, Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

Please, cheerfully give this on time.

@filmfann most of the time what people share is a bit about where they grew up, what their church history is, what they do for a living, that sort of thing. And I don’t think anybody has ever found this to be intrusive. It doesn’t get published online in any way and is only a way for people in the church to get to know the newcomers. Still, it is an interesting point and I might bring that up in the meeting tomorrow.

@kritiper I really hope you’re just being facetious. There is no way we would ever approach this issue by saying that, even in jest.

@Jeruba these are great ideas, but we will probably have to wait to implement them the next time around. I do think that people are really intimidated by having to write even a paragraph or two about themselves, and I don’t know why this never occurred to me before. It’s also probably somewhat of a statement about what our educational system focuses on nowadays.

@Acrylic I like this idea, but again this would probably require the pastor already having this conversation during the new member class itself, and at least this time around it’s a little too late for that. But a good thought for next time in the fall.

How about they simply aren’t included if they don’t respond? I like the idea of giving them a ‘fake due date’, and at the same time maybe (nicely) tell them that if they don’t get it in by then, that they’ll have to wait until the next time.

It’s possible that they won’t care if they’re not included. And maybe that’s why some don’t get theirs in on time – they either don’t care or they don’t want an 8×11 booklet put out about them. That is kind of intimidating, imo. A paragraph and photo in an 8×11 booklet which includes all of the new people is one thing, an entire one with just me is another. Or am I getting this wrong? Is it one booklet per new person/couple? or one booklet with all of them, each on a different page?

I like the idea about doing it in the class, so could you give them the stimulus of the questionnaire and have them do the bio right then? Could you put 15 minutes aside just for that – not at the end of the class because some will scribble anything just to leave.

@filmfann It’s the worst part of a new church for me. I don’t want an unnannounced visitation or phone calls either. Some make you fill out a card and stand up, it’s horrible.

@LifeQuestioner, with regard to having them write it in class, even a five-minute top-of-the-head rough draft would get them started and avert blank-page syndrome.

A question like “What brought you here?” and asking for a brief view of their background might do the trick.

Also, sorry, but you might have to consider the possibility that people just don’t want this. Are you sure these booklets are important to the established congregation?

@Jeruba I think most people like to have them, but anyway, my boss wants it done so it’s going to happen. But we can’t force somebody to send in a bio of course

Maybe someone asked this already on the Q, but why is the bio necessary? Is that commonplace in churches to have a booklet when new members join? A full 8×10 page per member? Maybe be flexible with how much space each person takes up.

When they join I would have a form with basic questions so the answers are simple, they can answer or leave blank anything they want, and then a space that’s optional if they want to add any information about themselves. I’d tell them up front you print the photo and bio in the new member booklet. Name, how long living in the area, where they are from, professions, kids, whatever is typical. Fill it in like a doctor’s form. If they prefer to opt out, I would tell them that’s fine, if they change their mind they can be included in a future issue.

I think if church is full of work that people don’t want to do, or and at an hour they dread getting up, or requires dressing in uncomfortable clothes, it’s a deterrent.

When I have been to churches people are always very welcoming and introduce themselves and try to include new people without anything in writing.

I’m not sure why the comment about secretary and administrative assistant. The title has changed over time, both can be used. Admin I think was a way to elevate the position and maybe more comfortable for men in the position, but we still call high positions in the US Secretary. We have Secretary of State as an example. Also, personal secretaries are paid very well. I used to know someone who had that job and she made $70k back in the ‘90’s.

@JLeslie it is not necessarily something every church does, but it is something that our church does. There is a rather intensive membership application that people fill out, but we would not want to just automatically include all that information. Hence the request that they put down a few thoughts that they would like to share about themselves.

If anybody ever said that they didn’t want to do that, we would certainly understand. By the way, our service is at 11:00 in the morning, so even this night owl doesn’t have a problem getting there on time. And we don’t really have a dress code although we would frown on people showing up undressed. If you are one of the ushers in any given month, again something that people volunteer to do, we do ask that you at least wear a shirt and tie, and pants of course! I know if somebody doesn’t regularly go to church, they may not understand that such things as dressing up a bit (or not), or coming to church in the morning, is something that we want to do, that we are usually excited to do. It is a chance to worship God and to fellowship with other people that believe as we do. So I understand that the average person who doesn’t go to church may see it as a chore, but believe me when I say it is anything but.

The comment I made about secretary versus administrative Assistant was just me being kind of tongue in cheek because I’ve had people tell me before that I shouldn’t refer to myself as a secretary, I should call myself an administrative assistant. I was simply pointing out that I don’t have a problem referring to myself as a secretary, but I really like what you said about titles like Secretary of State. If I ever apply for a government position, I’ll be sure to point out that I’ve already served as secretary before.

@kritiper you may certainly make a jest out of it, and I didn’t mean to imply you couldn’t, my point being that a church would never make that sort of joke.

@LifeQuestioner I don’t doubt for a second that many people enjoy going to church, so many of my friends are regular church or temple goers, and I can understand why they enjoy it, I was only commenting on having a lot of hoops that people need to go through can be a turn off.

I was not saying going was a chore, I was saying all the added things that can come with going, depending on the church, can be a chore.

I also think people should dress appropriately (I guess appropriately can be defined many ways, and for me I mean not wearing anything revealing).

Sorry for another post. I just looked up the application for the temple where I live and they have a section that says: To help us know you better, please provide some personal information you feel comfortable sharing with the Membership Committee. That seems worded nicely. Maybe add and comfortable sharing with other members or a box to check beside each question if they want it listed on their bio.

Here’s their form: https://www.templeshalomcentralfl.org/_files/ugd/65bb99_d82749b7feb045e4960180d91898a53d.pdf

@JLeslie I hear what you’re saying. I don’t think it’s too overbearing though. This is basically a one-time thing that we ask people to do when they join. But I would like to come up with a way to make it easier for people. I would also like to get a more streamlined procedure so that we are able to give people a bit more time to get stuff into the office.

I dress nicely, but I don’t wear a dress or a blouse and skirt anymore, although part of that is because with mild neuropathy in my feet, I can’t deal with flats even anymore. So I need sturdier shoe which generally doesn’t look that great with a dress or a skirt.

It’s funny, because a while back, in my monthly email reminder to those who were ushering the following month, I was asked to put in a few more sentences about not wearing ripped jeans or t-shirts. I asked the person who had sent me the email, one of the trustees, if that was really necessary to spell out. They said, oh, yes. So I’m guessing at some point probably one of the younger ushers dressed down a bit too much. Proving that what once would have been a given for us older folk, is maybe not such a given anymore.

I appreciate the link, but I think the information that the session wants to gather on members is to be kept private, for the most part. So we would still have to have something on the membership form where people star things that are okay to share or some such thing. But it’s a good thought. Just as one example of many, on the membership form, people provide their birthdays, year included. We would never want to include that because nowadays with somebody’s actual birth date, you can have a crucial piece of information for stealing their identity. In fact, we don’t even post people’s month and day of their birthday in the directory unless they give their express permission. So we are very mindful of the fact that people may or may not want their information published. And even then it is only as is distributed in the church.

The part on the form that I linked about sharing information with membership didn’t have anything to do with birthday or address. I didn’t think you would share anything like that with the congregation. It was asking profession, skills, hobbies, committees they are interested in, positions held in previous congregations, and space for other interests and comments.

@JLeslie yes we have all sorts of stuff like that on our membership form. When I’m talking about addresses and such, I’m thinking about the church directory. People do willingly post their addresses and phone numbers, even though they would have the choice not to do so if they didn’t want to. But again this is strictly kept in church.

I live in The Villages, FL, and they still print a phone book every year for the community. People can opt in or out. Name, address, phone number, and city they are from. It wouldn’t be hard for someone outside of The Villages to get their hands on one. It’s pretty thick. It seems like most people opt in. I don’t know the total count. I think there are 80,000 households now. Most people seem ok with sharing the information.

I like @Jeruba‘s idea the best of including it as part of your membership class with some easy questions for them to answer. That seems the least invasive or naggy.

Edit: I would definitely tell them in advance that this will be included in the booklet unless they specify not to.

I would suggest having the people come in and just talk to you about their lives while you type it up.

I worked for a church for a couple days. Kept waiting to burst into flames!

I’m a big fan of expectation of adults being adults. I would give the date I had to have the stuff on a note or send an email and ask them to make a note on their calendar as there wouldn’t be a reminder.

@Dutchess_III LOL.

@SnipSnip What if the adult doesn’t want to do it?

Okay, I’m not going to tag a bunch of people but I’m just going to give you a general response to how everything played out.

So we sat and met today and one big concession that the pastor and the assistant pastor made, which I was not expecting, was that even though we’re hoping people can publicly join either the first or second Sunday of May, we don’t have to have the membership booklets printed that day but rather we’ll have them printed later in May. This is huge because this is something the pastor has not seemed to want to go with before as an option, and I think I have to think the new assistant pastor for getting him to realize that it would have been impractical to pull it off otherwise.

However, I did take somebody’s suggestion on here, forgive me if I’ve forgotten whose it was, but I told him that it was too daunting when we sent a previously published membership book for people to look at because some people in the past have written almost two pages worth of stuff. So instead of sending out the membership book, we ask them to write no more than three paragraphs, we included a list of possible questions for them to answer, and we even came up sort of a rough outline that they could follow. We are also giving them until the end of the month to get everything into us, but at least if they’re not on time, we have some wiggle room.

This is great, because it takes a lot of the stress off of me. Knowing that there is not a set date that we have to have these printed by, although we have a tentative idea of when we want them done, I just feel like this huge burden has been lifted off of me.

To those suggesting that it be incorporated into the membership application, I kind of liked that idea, but I don’t think it was ever going to happen. There are some things at this church that the pastor and the Session are pretty set in their ways about, and although we do have some fresh blood now suggesting some innovations, I don’t think this was going to happen anytime soon.

I did let people know when I email them that if they had any concerns or questions about writing their bio they could contact me. If it comes to that, then I will offer the solution of them coming in and I will help them write it. I didn’t bring that up in the meeting today, and I’m not sure it would have been wise to offer it right off the bat, because I am just part-time and I do only have so many hours a week to get things done. I think it’s better to tell people they can contact me with any concerns and then I can always offer that as an option.

Thank you to everyone who made helpful suggestions. It’s one of the things I love so much about this site!

^^ Yayyy! So glad things worked out in a good way that reduces your stress.