When computers were stolen recently from the Gilbert, Ariz., St. Anne’s Catholic Church, church leaders found themselves in the position of informing some 7,600 parishioners that their personal information was no longer safe. According to the Associated Press, the computers include databases of names, addresses, phone numbers and ages of all registered parishioners as well as bank account numbers for about 3,000 parishioners who write checks to the church on a weekly, monthly or annual basis.

Security is a large part of what is an overwhelming decision about church management software. (One Internet directory lists some 56 brands) However, the problems technology creates may be solved by technology as well with the influx of what IT and business people have long known as "ASP," and what churches are now learning about as a place for church data where rust does not corrupt and thieves cannot steal.

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ASP equals access

Atlanta management consultant, Jennifer Schuchmann, said she has seen churches use an application service provider (ASP) effectively.

"The advantage to a Web interface is accessibility," she said. Members can interact with the database personally with many programs, and church staff can use the Web to work from remote locations, i.e. from home to the hospital with an updated visitation file in hand via Palm Pilot, or laptop.

"Small churches especially like that," said Cindy Streett, product manager at ACS Technologies, one of the larger providers of church management software. The company recently added Web-based software to their offerings. Streett said for churches that don’t have an office and for pastors who have second jobs, the ASP option fits well.

Companies such as Church Community Builder offer only Web-based church management systems. Spokesperson Rachael Peaslee said their "Web-savvy" customers find two main appeals to their virtual services. "The first is the availability of accessing the program from any computer." Because of that volunteers can work from home, Peaslee said. The second main appeal is that the church can interact with each other. "It’s almost an intranet service for the church," Peaslee said. "We were definitely one of the first companies to offer that."

Church Community Builder has been in business for three years. They serve about 200 clients on the Web. "From a community aspect I think it’s a great tool for churches. More people can access the system. We’ve opened up the doors to all kinds of opportunity," Peaslee said.

On the edge of the ASP trend may be William Griep, whose vision for Web-based technology extends a bit further. He offers his clients not only the appeal of a Web interface they can access from anywhere, but he wants to combine that technology with what is essentially a virtual IT department, all for a cost lower than other companies offering only ASP or IT support.

"We’re looking at it as offering not just software, but IT service. It’s a broader approach," Griep said.

His company, Cohesive Teamware, began in February to offer clients software on demand. Targeting small- to medium-sized businesses that have little money and less IT staff for software, Griep has now extended his market to churches.

"Most churches don’t have IT staff on-site," Griep said. Churches that use volunteers appreciate the Cohesive service because it saves them money they may spend otherwise on maintaining or upgrading existing machines. "We provide that ability on our machine," Griep said. Maintaining hardware is an additional cost.

"What we can do is basically provide all the structure of a network on our servers and not only do you get the benefit of utilizing your machines that may be donated in what we call zero-deployment cost, you get our management of the network — we maintain everything. We do all the security, several levels of virus checking and backups, and these services are all-inclusive.

For $25 to $150 a month, Cohesive’s clients, now numbering around 50 users, have both physically and virtually secure systems. Cohesive also monitors client accounts for unusual activity that may signal the breech of a password, much like a credit card company monitors unusual spending patterns, Griep said.

The security of Cohesive is appealing to Thurman Ross, a member of the finance committee for Body of Christ Church in Raleigh, N.C. Ross said the 300-member church has management software (People Driven Software) and financial software (Quickbooks) as well as their own hardware and network, but they have no disaster recovery or backup.

"We’re looking for something we don’t have to rely on the church administrator to do," Ross said. They are also looking for a solution that does not entail buying more hardware and constantly having to upgrade software.

Peaslee said the appeal for Church Community Builder users also includes peace of mind concerning security issues. A Web-based program, "takes their security concerns out of their hands," she said. "It almost puts an IT department that’s accessible in their hands."

With or without a Web interface, nearly all churches want some type of management software. But with so much to choose from the decision usually becomes a committee research project. "Often church staff drives decisions about getting software -- a secretary or a music minister does the research and implements the system -- but pastors and senior leaders could really benefit from those discussions early on," Schuchmann said. "If the senior leaders know what reports and analysis are available, they could make better use of the system. I recommend they get involved early in the process to see what the system can do and then use it to its full potential."

Schuchmann once worked for Shelby Systems, a company that provides Shelby 2000 to manage member and financial records, volunteers and small groups, accounting, photo directory, batch e-mail and PhoneTree calls. But many other software packages provide the same features. ACS 6.0 from ACS Technologies, Greentree Church Office Suite, LOGOS Management Software, RDS Advantage, Servant Keeper, Roll Call, Church Windows, Membership Plus, PowerChurch Plus and many others provide computerized answers to data-driven problems in church management.

"A majority of the church software packages that are out there do the same thing," said Schuchmann. "What really separates one package from another is how they do it." For an average church of 250, she said, "Most of the programs will serve you well."

Don Pucik, associate executive director of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention, also consults with churches about church management software.

"When I work with churches on that question I talk to them in terms of security of their data, backups and how easy that is," Pucik said. "The power of the database is not an issue for most churches because most don’t have a lot of records. The ease of use is more important."

Even so, Pucik sees many smaller and mid-size churches employ management software popular with mega-churches. He said the big name church management can be customized to fit a smaller scale.

Schuchmann said some programs are more comprehensive and ideal for larger churches. "The good news is, in bigger churches staff will help make decisions," Schuchmann said. Because for smaller churches, even those with committees or volunteers sending off for free information and free demos, the choices are "overwhelming."

"I tell churches to start with the churches in their neighborhood, in their denomination or across the country who are similar. Check out what those churches are using. If the churches are similar to them it probably meets their needs." The other advantage to using the same software as someone else in the area is evident when you need technical support or training. "If you have problems or need training, you can split the cost of bringing a trainer in," Schuchmann said.

Apparently many churches are following Schuchmann’s advice. John Gilman of ACS said most of their new customers come from referrals.

"Most people come to us because a church they know or a person they respect refers them to us," Gilman said. And because ACS is growing through mergers and acquisitions of other church management software such as Parish Data Systems, in April, and the North American Mission Board in June, they are well-suited for most churches.

"We really want to serve every church, every denomination," Gilman said. ACS has traditionally served medium and larger church markets. But with the NAMB addition, some 10,000 church plants are now using ACS software, he said. "We want to do it all."

That includes increasing their market with ASP. Streett said already ASP solutions have appealed widely to businesses and churches are also catching on. "That’s why we’re building stuff for the Internet," she said of ACS, "because we think that’s the future."

For more in this series, read: Church tech, part one: Powering up the pulpit and Church tech, part three: Paperless stewardship.