er of our membership it will not be an
easy task to reconstruct our statistical methods. But it is evident that
our missionary and evangelistic work will be greatly furthered when we
have exact information in regard to our parochial material. Our figures
should include every soul, man, woman and child, in any way related to
our congregations, classified in such a way as to show clearly in what
relation they stand to the church. A church that does not count its
members as carefully as a bank counts its dollars is in danger of
bankruptcy.

Church bookkeeping ought to be taught in the Theological Seminary. But
if the pastor himself is not a good bookkeeper, almost every
congregation has young men or young women who are experts in this art,
who could render good service to the church by keeping its membership
rolls.

Complete records are especially necessary in our great city with its
constant removals and changes of population. The individual is like the
proverbial needle in the haystack, unless we adopt a method of
accounting not only for each family but for each individual down to the
latest-born child.*
*In order that I may not be as one that beateth the air, I venture
to suggest a method of laying the foundation of records that has been
helpful in my own work. I send to each family a "Family Register" blank
with spaces for the name, birthday and place of birth of each member of
the family. The information thus obtained is transferred to a card
catalogue in which the additional relation of each individual to the
church and its work is noted. In this way, or by means of a loose-leaf
record book, available and up-to-date information can easily be kept.

When important records, such as synodical minutes, are printed, several
copies at least should be printed on durable paper and deposited in
public libraries where they may be consulted by the historian. Ordinary
paper is perishable. Within a few years it will crumble to dust. The
records might as well be written on sand so far as their value for
future historians is concerned.

Congregational histories, pamphlets or bound volumes, jubilee volumes
and similar contributions to local church history should be sent to the
publlic libraries of the city and of the denominational schools.

In search of recent information the author consulted the card index of
the New York Public Library. He found only nine cards relating to
Lutheran churches. And yet we wonder why our c