Service Registers and Statistics
There is another type of Register that is held by the Diocesan Archives—the Service Register.
It is a week by week, and in some parishes, day by day record of the services held in a church. Sometimes the volume can contain the record of services in more than one church, especially in rural areas. So what are the services that are recorded and how can they flesh out the lives of those who attended the services and who lived in a particular location?
The services have names that provide the clues, however, just to make matters confusing different names can apply to the same service. Matins and Morning Prayer are the same. Evensong and Evening Prayer are also the same and the word “Choral” can also be added to this service, indicating that parts of the service were sung, and often also included an anthem if a choir was present. These services were traditionally from the Book of Common Prayer and revised versions for New Zealand are found in the New Zealand Prayer Book He Karakia Mihinare o Aotearoa
The words Holy Communion, Eucharist and Mass are also interchangeable and refer to the service where bread and wine are consecrated. These services can be “sung” indicating not only the inclusion of hymns, but also of music associated with other parts of the service. With the development of the New Zealand Prayer Book, versions of this service were trialled and a record of this can often be found in the register with the words “New Zealand Liturgy”. From time to time the recognition of a particular Saint can be recorded and some parishes use the word “feria” to indicate a Communion service was held on a weekday with no particular remembrance.
The registers contain information about the attendance at these services. Depending on the location and the date, inferences can be drawn about the times when the services drew people together socially. On the West Coast evening services in gold mining towns were attended on Sunday evening when sluicing and panned ceased. In rural parishes increased numbers can be attributed to gatherings such as weddings, baptism and funerals and seasonal patterns. In many parishes the festival associated with their patron saint was a time to gather and for food to be shared.
Signatures, when they can be deciphered can be valuable clues about a family involvement in church affairs. Those who counted the collection signed the service register, as did the parish clergy. The clergy sometimes recorded the title of their sermon, and the actual calendar date is always alongside the record of the churches year. The change in the clergy signature can provide information not only about a visitor, when clergy took their holidays, and even when they left the parish and moved elsewhere. There are clues there about the size of the collections which in the past did not include that for Easter Day as it was given directly to the clergy.
Where does this information become statistics?
In the back of the Year Books of the Diocese of Christchurch[i] there is two pages of statistics which capture a range of information from every parish in the Diocese. Attendance numbers, communicant numbers and financial information from these registers that are included in those table. Counting dates have varied over time as have changes in parish boundaries. This makes comparison over the years difficult but trends can be seen locally and diocesan wide. Specific dates have also been included for the major Festivals of Easter and Christmas, providing an indication of a wider involvement rather than the weekly attendance.
| Parish | 1959 | 1969 | 1979 | 1989 |
| Addington | 161 | 123 | 49 | 65 |
| Akaroa | 329 | 139 | 387 | 367 + Banks Peninsula |
| Amberley | 192 | 186 | 134 | 114 |
| Ashburton | 671 | 632 | 528 | 281 |
| Avonside | 366 | 247 | 328 | 470 |
Examples of Communicant Numbers at Easter, the previous year.
[i] These are held in the Diocesan Archives and many are available on Pumotomoto https://kinderlibrary.recollect.co.nz