Paul Smith planted NorthPoint Church in Mandeville, La., six years ago. At the time, half a dozen people met in a hotel in a suburb of New Orleans. Since then, his efforts to reach unchurched people have included phone calls, e-mails and visits to prospective church members.
He also began to follow up with discipleship training for new members, and to keep track of cell groups and counseling sessions. Then there were weddings, funerals and birthdays — all the work of a maturing church.
Smith said he was able to coordinate and track all of his growing ministry work with church management software specifically designed for a church plant.
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SBC church plants and partners continue to receive the software free. But the appeal has broadened to other denominations, according to Hal Campbell, CEO of ACS Technologies, who partnered with NAMB last year to develop the software further and offer it to other planters.
Growing churches require "a different focus than an established church," Campbell said. "You need to track different information."
According to NAMB software trainer Ken Gooch, "This software not only helps ministers keep track of data, but it also provides resources that are designed to enhance and encourage ministry."
Smith agrees and notes that because the software was designed especially for church planters, not only does it supply all the tools most other CMS systems provide, it also offers tools for preparing sermons, organizing evangelism and discipleship and tracking visitation.
CPMS is less complex than other ACS management software designed for larger churches and it's designed to grow. That helps avoid the costs and problems involved in transferring data between different software brands.
"We've always felt like we need to have a solution for a church to grow with one company," Campbell said.
Growing like a weed
NorthPoint Church has grown from six people to hundreds, and Smith's system now stores well over 1,500 names.
Software that expands with a growing church is critical, according to Patrick Furgerson of Passion for Church Planting, a non-profit support organization for new churches. Furgerson advises hundreds of planters about software, based on four factors:
1. Ease of use
2. Ability to grow
3. Pricing
4. Flexibility with Web- or network-based applications
Church Community Builder also offers free software for planters with a vision for the entire church body to share ministerial tasks. The system is Web-based to allow staff, leaders and membership to share ministry tools easily — either at the church office or at home. They also offer community-building features on the Web, such as discussion forums and a Web-site builder.
"It's almost an intranet service for the church," said spokesperson Rachael Peaslee.
Whatever their vision, church planters work hard and usually for not much money. According to Smith, they can maximize their efforts and tight budgets with good software.
