God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people." The
captions of the five parts of Luther's Small Catechism proceed upon the
assumption of the family as a unit. It is true we are living in an age
of disrupted families, but it would seem that some recognition of the
family should be made in the statistical tables of the Christian Church,
especially when in the families with which we have to do, most of the
individuals are baptized members of the church and have not been
formally excommunicated. Until, therefore, we agree upon a common
standard, our figures will be the despair of the statisticians. A
reformation must come. Without it, we shall not be able to formulate
needed policies of church extension.

In view of the complicated character 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