Tuesday, October 12, 2010

New Member Progress Tracking

One of the official forms that the Church has to help with tracking new member progress is the "New and Returning Member Progress" form. "The bishop regularly reviews this form in ward council meetings to discuss the progress of each new or returning member. The ward council uses the form to plan specific ways to teach and strengthen new members from the time of their baptism and confirmation until they receive the temple endowment. The ward council also uses portions of this form in planning how to teach and strengthen returning members"
This form is explained further and is available on www.lds.org here

I thought it would be helpful to have something similar for Ward Missionaries to keep track of new convert progress. It has some of the same information as the official form, but I've excluded some of the information that isn't applicable for our purposes. I also added spaces for including additional information (such as what their calling is, which new member discussions have been taught, which additional principles have been explained by Ward Missionaries - family home evening, family prayer, accepting and serving in callings, etc.-, when member has received their Patriarchal blessing, etc.

There is also a place on the form I've made to put a photo of the new member (if appropriate and agreeable to the new member). I thought that this would be helpful because sometimes Ward members or newer full-time missionaries won't recognize the name of a new member being discussed and showing them a photo can help jog their memory. I try to be present at all convert baptisms and take a photo of the new member with the Elders before the service starts. I give the new member and the Elders copies of the photos and then I have one to use for our Ward Missionary records as well.

The form I made is just a word document. I'm still trying to figure out how to attach a word doc to this blog, so in the meantime here is here text:


NAME ____________________________
BAPTISM DATE__________

MEMBER SPOUSE? Y N N/A __________________
CHILDREN: ________________________________________
ADDRESS: ___________________________________
PHONE NUMBER:___________________________

HOME TEACHERS________________________________
VISITING TEACHERS_________________________________
CHURCH CALLING____________________________________

NEW MEMBER DISCUSSIONS 1 2 3 4 5

EXTRA TOPICS COVERED DURING NMD VISITS:
FAMILY/PERSONAL PRAYER_________________
PERSONAL SCRIPTURE STUDY_________________
FAMILY HOME EVENING_________________
HOME TEACHING AND VISITING TEACHING_________________
PRIESTHOOD BLESSINGS_________________
PATRIARCHAL BLESSINGS_________________
ACCEPTING AND SERVING IN CALLINGS_________________
CHURCH ORGANIZATIONS/AUXILLIARIES_________________
PREPARING TO ATTEND THE TEMPLE_________________
OTHER:____________________________________________________

RECIEVED AARONIC PRIESTHOOD______________
RECIEVED MELCHIZEDEK PRIESTHOOD______________
PATRIARCHAL BLESSING____________________
PARTICIPATED IN BAPTISMS FOR THE DEAD_________________
TEMPLE PREPARATION CLASS____________________
RECIEVED PERSONAL ENDOWMENTS _________________
SEALED TO FAMILY_______________________

This form is meant to make things easier for Ward Missionaries, especially those who are involved in teaching new member discussions. I can see at a glance what topics need to be covered and what the next "step" is for each individual.