Member Status

While the Family Record is the building block of our ChMS, we recognize that an individual's relationship with their parish may differ from their family's relationship with the church. Our ChMS reflects this reality by providing Member Status options for an individual's Member Record that, in most cases, function independently from the Family Status option found in their Family Record.

The ChMS has a more limited number of Member Status options than Family Status options. Fewer Member Status options makes it a bit more straightforward to quantify a member’s relationship to their faith community. Below are the list of Member Status options within the ChMS alongside brief descriptors of each status. These descriptors are simply our team's perspective but they are open to interpretation! Please use the status options in the ways that make the most sense for your parish. What is most import is connecting with your parish staff to ensure consistency in how all staff members are using these status options throughout your database.

• Active – Selecting this option ensures the most functionality for this Member Record within the database. Consider this option for members who are regularly involved in your parish.
• Deceased - Consider this option for members who have passed away.
• Homebound - Consider this option for members who are unable to leave their homes but otherwise are or would be participating in your parish.
• Inactive - Selecting this option will impact some functionality of this Member Record within the database. Consider this option for members who were involved in your parish but no longer are.
• Seasonal - Consider this option for members who live elsewhere for part of the year and thus only participate at your parish during certain times of the year.

Family Status & Member Status

While Member Status globally indicates an individual's participation in their faith community, Family Status designates a family's connection to a particular church. In most cases, Family Status and Member Status function independently from one another. For example, changing the Smith family's Family Status to "Seasonal" will not automatically change Jane Smith's Member Status to "Seasonal." Likewise, changing Jane Smith's Member Status to "Seasonal" will not automatically change the Smith family's Family Status to "Seasonal."

However, there is one instance where a change in Member Status(es) does automatically change Family Status. When all member records tied to a family record have a Member Status of Deceased, the Family Status will automatically change to Deceased.

There are also some instances where a change in Family Status does automatically change Member Status(es).

• If the Family Record is connected to only one church database, changing Family Status to Inactive will automatically change all Member Statuses (of the Member Records connected to that Family Record) to Inactive.
  • The one exception is if a Member Record in this Family Record has a Member Status of Deceased. Marking the Family Status as Inactive will NOT change a Member Status of Deceased, but it will change all other (non-Deceased) Member Statuses for all other Member Records in the family to Inactive.
• If the Family Record is connected to only one church database, changing Family Status to Deceased will automatically change all Member Statuses (of the Member Records connected to that Family Record) to Inactive.
  • Again, the one exception is if a Member Record in this Family Record has a Member Status of Deceased. Marking the Family Status as Deceased will NOT change a Member Status of Deceased, but it will change all other (non-Deceased) Member Statuses for all other Member Records in the family to Inactive.