Statistician's Corner

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Welcome to the 2021 annual statistical return.

It's that time again, and I'm looking forward to hearing about the life of each of our churches as expressed in our annual statistics!  These assist our Bishop and Cabinet in planning for pastoral ministry across the conference, as well as providing a fascinating historical perspective.  This isn't only for chartered churches - we also want to collect statistics from new church starts. These can be very helpful in future to understand how churches grow and develop.

I would encourage you to check out the web site provided by GCFA - www.umdata.org - to explore the conference (and other conferences!) further.  Your help in providing us with the raw information is greatly appreciated.

For full details, check out our Guide to Statistics 2021.

Here are some of the highlights for the 2021 reports:

• Deadline. The due date for annual reports, in accordance with the Book of Discipline, is January 30, 2022. With the agreement of the Bishop and the Cabinet, we will accept 2020 returns until Tuesday, February 15, 2022. We hope that this will allow you time to fully close your church accounts for 2021 before entering data, as well as giving us time to respond to your requests for help while not delaying final data entry.
• Frequently asked questions updated!  Please take a moment to review our Frequently Asked Questions section, which has been revised this year.  You may find your particular question has already been answered!
• Electronic entry only. As in previous years, we request that all churches complete the statistical return online using the Ezra system.  You can obtain your initial access information for Ezra from our Getting Started page!  However, we recognize that online entry may not be possible in all churches – please contact me as early as possible if this poses difficulties for your church.
• Worship attendance in 2021. Please see our special page and the additional lines on Table 1 for how to record worship attendance in the light of the pandemic.
• PPP loans/grants. Please see the additional lines on Tables 2 and 3 for the correct place to record PPP loans and grants. There is a Frequently Asked Question on this topic too!

Pastors, as I’m sure you are aware, the final submission of the annual reports is your responsibility but I encourage you to involve others in your congregation in the preparation of the information. Sharing the stories told by the statistics, and perhaps especially the comparisons with prior years, may yield some interesting insights. Please ensure that all involved have access to these documents to help them.

Adrian Pell
Conference Statistician
Email: statistics@calnevumc.org
Phone: (530) 217-3550 [Availability: 6am - 2pm PT]

Useful information

• Getting Started
• Guide to Statistics 2021
• Tracking worship attendance in 2020 and 2021
• Notes on Membership
• Frequently Asked Questions