Running a church in Ghana

1

Keeping the membership register

What should a church register hold, and how do you keep it current?

For each member: full name, phone number, date of birth, the class or group they belong to, their membership category, and the date they joined. Record changes when they happen, a transfer, a death, a member who lapses, rather than once a year, and never delete a person: mark them archived so their history of baptism and giving stays with the church.

• GuideKeeping the church register: a guide for church secretaries

  What to record for each member, how to keep a register that survives a change of secretary, what the Data Protection Act asks of a church, and when a book, a spreadsheet or software is the right tool.

• GuideMoving your church register from a book to a computer

  Churches lose their records to floods, fires, and the one person who knew where everything was. Moving the register is less work than it looks, and there is a right order to do it in.

• HelpHelp: Members and the register

  Adding people, importing a register you already keep, classes, transfers and visitors.

• In FoldMember Management

  One register for your whole church, searchable from a phone, in your denomination's own words.

• In FoldGroup and Cell Management

  Bible classes, fellowships, cells and societies, each with its leader and its members.

• Free toolChurch membership form, free and printable

  A printable new member form for a Ghanaian church: names, date of birth, phone, residence, hometown, baptism and confirmation, class or group, and the Data Protection Act notice. A4, free.

• Works withFold and Excel: import your register, export it any time

  Bring a membership register from Excel or Google Sheets into Fold in an afternoon, and export everything back to a spreadsheet whenever you want. What the file needs and what happens to the columns Fold does not know.

• ComparisonChurch software vs Excel: when a spreadsheet is enough

  A spreadsheet is the right church register for some churches and the wrong one for others. The honest line between them, what breaks first, and what moving to software actually changes.

Words to know: Church register, Member type, Communicant, Catechumen, Adherent, Bible class, Home cell, Class leader, Transfer of membership, First-time visitor.

2

Attendance and pastoral care

How do you take attendance, and notice who has stopped coming?

A head count of men and women per service is enough for the statistical return. Marking who attended by name is what lets you notice a regular member who has quietly stopped coming, by comparing each person with their own usual pattern rather than with the congregation. That needs several weeks of named attendance before it says anything useful.

• GuideNoticing when a member has quietly stopped coming

  People rarely leave a church by announcing it. They come less, then not at all, and by the time anyone notices it has been four months. Head counts cannot see it. Here is what can.

• HelpHelp: Attendance

  Recording services, marking who came, and finding members who have drifted away.

• Free toolChurch attendance sheet, free and printable

  A printable attendance register for a class, cell or whole congregation: names down the side, five services across, with totals. A4, free, no sign up.

Words to know: Attendance, Usher, Elder, Presiding elder, Deacon.

3

Tithes, offerings and mobile money

How should a church record giving, including mobile money?

Count cash with two people present and record it the same day, by fund. For mobile money, give the congregation one merchant number or payment link in the church's name rather than a personal number, so every gift arrives with a reference and lands in the church's own account. Agree the month's total with the treasurer before it goes into any report.

• GuideHow to set up mobile money giving for your church

  A MoMo number on the projector is where most churches start and where the problems begin. The three ways to take mobile money giving, what each costs, what your members will actually see on their phones, and how the money reaches the church.

• GuideWhat mobile money actually costs a church in Ghana

  The headline rate is not the number that matters. For churches collecting many small offerings, the minimum fee per transaction can cost more than the percentage.

• HelpHelp: Giving and funds

  Tithes, offerings, funds, mobile money, and who is allowed to see any of it.

• In FoldDigital Giving

  Take tithes and offerings by MTN MoMo, Telecel Cash or AirtelTigo, with the money settling into your church's own account.

• In FoldFinancial Management

  Tithes, offerings, funds and the figures your circuit asks for, in cedis, without a spreadsheet.

• Free toolChurch offering count sheet, free and printable

  A printable count sheet for Sunday's offering: notes and coins by denomination, totals by fund, mobile money beside cash, and two signatures. A4, free.

• Free toolMobile money giving fee calculator for churches in Ghana

  Enter what your members give and see what the church receives after the 1.95 percent processor fee, per gift and per month, with the E-Levy gone since April 2025.

• Works withDoes Fold work with MTN Mobile Money? Yes, for giving and settlement

  Members give from any MTN MoMo wallet, the gift is recorded against their name, and the money settles to the church's own MTN number less a 1.95 percent fee. How it works, what it costs, and how to set it up.

• Works withDoes Fold work with Telecel Cash? Yes, for giving and settlement

  Members give from a Telecel Cash wallet and the church can settle to a Telecel number. Same 1.95 percent fee, same automatic record against the member.

• Works withDoes Fold work with AirtelTigo Money? Yes, for giving and settlement

  Members give from an AirtelTigo Money wallet and the church can settle to an AirtelTigo number, through Paystack, at 1.95 percent, recorded against the member automatically.

• Works withFold and Paystack: how church giving is processed and settled

  Paystack processes every mobile money and card gift made through Fold, charges 1.95 percent, and settles to the church's own account through a subaccount with a zero percent split. What that means and why it was chosen.

Words to know: Tithe, Offering, Harvest, Fund, Welfare, Mobile money giving, Payment processor, Settlement, Subaccount, E-Levy, Church treasurer, Society steward.

4

The statistical return and reports

How do you prepare a church statistical return?

Every denomination's return asks for the same five things in its own layout: membership, attendance, vital events, movement in and out, and income for the period. If the register, attendance and giving are kept as they happen, the return is a matter of totalling the quarter and copying the figures across, not an evening of reconciling three books.

• GuideHow to prepare a church statistical return, step by step

  What the quarterly return asks for, where each figure comes from, and the checklist that turns an evening of reconciling three books into an hour. Written for the society secretary who has to produce it.

• GuideHow to produce your statistical return without a spreadsheet

  Most societies rebuild the same return every quarter from a notebook, a cash book and someone's memory. Here is why it takes so long, and what has to change for it to take minutes instead.

• HelpHelp: Reports and returns

  The statistical return your circuit asks for, and the figures behind it.

• Free toolChurch statistical return template, free and printable

  A one page quarterly return for a Ghanaian church: membership by category, attendance, baptisms, confirmations, marriages, deaths and income by type. Print it or save it as a PDF.

• PageChurch statistics in Ghana, with sources
• PageHow churches in Ghana keep their records: 2026 survey

Words to know: Statistical return, Vital records, Baptism, Confirmation.

5

Branches, circuits and dioceses

How do societies, circuits and headquarters share records?

Each local church keeps its own register, because it knows its own people. The levels above, a circuit, district, diocese or national office, need totals and the ability to look, not to edit. Keeping that separation is what lets a superintendent see every society's figures without anybody being able to change another church's records.

• In FoldBranch Management

  Headquarters over regions over districts over assemblies, each keeping its own register, with figures that roll up.

• In FoldLeadership Management

  Give your pastor, secretary, treasurer and class leaders their own login, each seeing only what their role needs.

Words to know: Society, Circuit, Diocese, Presbytery, Session, Parish, Deanery, Local assembly, District, Congregation, Conference, Outstation, Superintendent minister, Presbyter, Catechist, Churchwarden, Vestry, Local preacher.

By denomination: Methodist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, Anglican, AME Zion, Baptist, Catholic, Assemblies of God, Adventist, E.P., ICGC, Charismatic.

6

Messages to members

How should a church text its members?

Send under the church's own sender name, keep each text under 160 characters so it costs one message, and only send what a member would want: a welcome, a receipt for their giving, a birthday greeting, a reminder before a meeting. A church that texts too often teaches its members to ignore it.

• In FoldCommunication

  Text your members from the register, in your church's own name rather than ours.

• Works withFold and Arkesel: texts sent in your church's own name

  Every text Fold sends, birthdays, thank yous, welcomes and reminders, goes through Arkesel with the church's own sender name. What a sender name is, how it is approved, and what a text costs.

• PageExample church text messages

7

Choosing church management software

How do you choose church management software in Ghana?

Ask three things before features: will it take mobile money and settle to the church's own account, does it speak your denomination's words and produce your return, and can you take your register out again as a spreadsheet if you leave. Try it for a month with your real register before paying, and compare against a well kept spreadsheet, not against nothing.

• GuideBest church management software in Ghana (2026)

  Every guide to this is written by one of the vendors, including this one. So here is the version that names what each product is genuinely good at, including the ones that beat us.

• ComparisonAsoriba alternative: Fold compared for Ghanaian churches

  Asoriba and Fold side by side for a church in Ghana: member app, branches, giving, denominational returns, pricing and data export, with who should choose which.

• ComparisonFaith ChurchCare alternative: Fold compared for Ghana

  Faith ChurchCare and Fold side by side: plans in cedis, member limits, WhatsApp and SMS, events, pastoral care, denominational returns and export, with who should choose which.

• ComparisonPlanning Center in Ghana: what works, and Fold compared

  Planning Center is free for its People database and strong for worship planning, but its Giving works only in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. What that means for a Ghanaian church, and how Fold compares.

• ComparisonChurch software vs Excel: when a spreadsheet is enough

  A spreadsheet is the right church register for some churches and the wrong one for others. The honest line between them, what breaks first, and what moving to software actually changes.

• PagePricing in cedis
• PageHow a church's records are kept private

Words to know: Church management software, Data controller, Data processor, Row-level security, Multi-tenant.

By role: church secretaries, church treasurers, class leaders, pastors, small churches.

8

Getting started

Where does a church start?

With the register. Bring it over first, from a book or a spreadsheet, check the classes and categories are right, and invite the people who will record attendance and giving. Attendance and giving can begin the following Sunday; the statistical return comes free at the end of the quarter.

• HelpHelp: Getting started

  Create your church, bring in your register, and get your team logged in.

• HelpHelp: Your team and access

  The pastor account, what each role can do, and inviting the people who help you.

• HelpHelp: Account, billing and data

  Your trial, what happens to your records, and your duties under Ghanaian law.

• PageGetting started with Fold