Clerk Verification of Membership Records

I am a new Ward Clerk. Our Bishop has asked that the Clerks verify news move in records before before giving the records to the Ward Council for discussion I've searched the Handbooks and find no explicit instructions regarding this topic.

rsteed wrote:I am a new Ward Clerk. Our Bishop has asked that the Clerks verify news move in records before before giving the records to the Ward Council for discussion I've searched the Handbooks and find no explicit instructions regarding this topic.

Because there are none. This would probably fall under "bishop's discretion". Ask him what he means by "verify new move in". I'm not sure how it can be done unless someone attempts to make contact. But I'd personally question if the first contact should be a clerk. You've got no idea what kind of situation you'd be walking into. I personally think it would be better if that first contact was a leader, or at least their assigned HT or VT. I think the message would be more likely to carry the right "vibe".

But ask your bishop. Perhaps by asking questions, you might lead him to a similar idea. Perhaps he'll consent to passing the information to a quorum or auxiliary leader and have them check it out before presenting to the whole council.

We did this in one ward where I was the membership clerk. About half of the new records were incorrect, and home teachers were frustrated getting assignments for people that didn't exist. So I would go out and verify them before passing them on to the ward leadership. It worked for us, though I agree with russellhltn that a leader would give a better impression. In retrospect, I suspect that at least a couple of people I contacted told me they weren't them to keep the Church off their back.

Another ward had the missionaries do the verification, which gives yet a different first impression. But since a lot of the records were not correct, it gave them a chance to make contacts with non-members.

Ultimately the bishop decides how new records will be verified. If having the clerks do it has been a tradition for years, perhaps he will be inspired to make a change. If he wants the clerks to continue, consider it a priesthood assignment; seek and expect inspiration while carrying it out.

Thank you, brethren, for the responding. Your comments were instructive.