For many churches, the days when the church secretary or pastor was able to keep track of members and their vital statistics with a pencil and paper are long gone. And, with advances in computers and software, it’s not likely anyone is missing those days too terribly.
Church Management Software (CMS) allows a congregation to keep tabs on information related to activities of the church. It uses a database to store information and typically includes a set of programs or modules to manipulate the stored data.
One of the main benefits, said Free Grafton, a customer service representative for Colorado Springs, Colo-based Church Community Builder, is the systems allow the pastors to spend time ministering rather than managing information.
"I think that is the goal of a church management system is to try an help you think through and automate as many processes as you can," Grafton said.
Costs range from about $250 to as much as $2,000, depending on the maker and the functionality built into the software packages. With some, the initial purchase price represents
|
What’s Important |
CMS solutions, with graphical user interfaces, offer ease of use that other solutions, such as internally developed spreadsheets, do not. They also provide a degree of stability because they do not require a high level of technical expertise.
"We see that all the time where a church was dependent on a computer guru or technical expert," said Paul Schuster, president of Union, Ky.-based HelpMate. "It may have been a volunteer or somebody on staff but they left and now they are in complete disarray. When you depend internally on a product or some way of managing that system and that person is no longer available to the organization, that can be a real detriment. "
Determine
Your NeedsWhen shopping for a CMS solution, it is important to carefully look at what the church’s present and future needs are. Obviously, churches need to track their people, but in what ways?
Who do you track? Members, visitors, constituents, children? Do you want to track multiple phone numbers, such as home, fax, cellular and pagers? What about e-mail addresses? Do you plan to list birthdays, anniversaries and other life events in the church bulletin or newsletter?
Many churches like to keep track of spiritual gifts among members so they can plug them into situations where they can effectively use their talents and abilities. For instance, a church may want to be able to quickly identify those who can disciple new members and help assimilate them into the congregation.
"You can kind of match ministry opportunities with skills and interests of the people in the congregation," said Schuster.
Identifying individuals or groups of people with particular talents and abilities quickly and easily can help pastors maximize ministries.
"Taking advantage of the resources that are in the congregation is part of what (a CMS program) is supposed to do," Schuster said. "It’s not just to help them manage the records but to enable them to identify and pull out important data like that to help them run the church more efficiently."
CMS programs make it possible to track and use lots of information, but not necessarily across the board.
For instance, of the 40 or so packages available, only a handful allows a church to track retreat or event registration. And, while virtually all allow tracking attendance and contributions, only a few will track online giving.
Carefully examining needs and comparing those to specific features can help a church avoid buying something that sits on someone’s computer but isn’t used because it doesn’t do what it needs to do.
Ask
AroundWhen considering software, church leaders shouldn’t be afraid to ask companies for a list of other congregations using their product — particularly churches in their area. When talking to current users, it is important to ask about quality, ease of operation, training and support.
"We probably sell half of our systems off referrals," said Harry Stoorza of Hempstead, Texas-based ChurchPro.
Trade shows and expositions are also good places to ask others about CMS solutions, Stoorza said.
The number of companies producing CMS solutions has been greatly reduced in recent years, thus simplifying shopping around somewhat.
"The market was saturated," said Chuck Dunlap, of Columbus, Ohio-based Church Windows. "There was something like 200 companies that produced some type of church software."
While the year 2000 passed without the doom many computer-industry observers feared, it did serve to thin out the number of companies that did not want to invest the time and money it took to become Y2K compliant.
"If you look around now, you might find 40 to 50 companies that offer church management software," Dunlap said.
Training
, SupportThe Indianapolis Center for Congregations, an organization that helps congregations of various sizes and denominational affiliation with computer and ministry issues, cautions that not getting proper training is the most frequent mistake new CMS users make.
Because churches don’t take full advantage of training options, many of a package’s most helpful features may go unused.
The center recommends churches include plans and a generous budget for training, which providers may offer onsite, regionally, by telephone or over the Internet. Many providers have online user groups that can be helpful for both new and experienced users.
Support is also a key consideration. The center recommends that congregations purchase and maintain the support offered by a vendor.
Dunlap agrees that support is something churches should be able to rely on.
"It gets kind of frustrating when you are trying to load something up and you can’t call somebody and say, ‘Hey, this error message came up,’" he said.
Some companies, such as People Driven Software, provide free upgrades as an incentive to purchase annual support packages.
What the Future Holds
Like most things in the world of information technology, the Internet is having a huge effect on CMS solutions.
While some companies are quicker than others to integrate Web-based technology, most recognize the need to do in one degree or another.
"At this point we’re seeing the Internet as being something that is taking hold," said HelpMate’s Schuster. "We’ve got some of what I would call cutting-edge organizations that are inquiring about being able to run their church management software through the Internet."
The prime benefit from Web-based systems is the ability to update information remotely.
"That allows people, with data file replication, to work out of their homes and be connected to the same data file," Schuster said. "You don’t have issues with people not having the most recent copy."
Another benefit is it can allow members to update their own information as needed via the church’s secure Web site. If a member’s phone number changes, for instance, he or she can simply input that new phone number easily and quickly.
"Traditionally, they would call the church office and let them know," Schuster said. "Now they can just go to the church Web site and change it themselves."
Password protected areas make it easier to change information securely, although privacy is a concern for many people.
"The most common concern we hear, mostly from older people because they don't fully understand the Internet, is that they are concerned about their name being 'out there,'" said Church Community Builder's Grafton. "They don't know where out there is, but they know their name is on someone's computer and that is not at the church."
To allay those concerns, his company uses secure servers and databases that are only accessible by the server. As an added protection, passwords require at least one numeric character and the system locks out a user after five failed logon attempts.
Another benefit to Web-based systems is pastors and ministry leaders can access records while they are away from the office if the need arises.
But, integrating desktop-based software solutions onto the Internet is easier said than done.
"For us to reproduce, today, the look and feel of our product in a Web-based program is nearly impossible," Schuster said. "The Web was not initially created to provide a fully functional user interface that has all of the functionality, the look and feel and navigation that we can put into a traditional desktop application. But, those things are maturing and I believe they will eventually get there. We do have some plans to go in that direction."
One aspect that is being integrated more rapidly is the use of broadcast e-mailing. With this function, administrators can easily send messages to individuals or groups within the membership and ministry rolls.
"Church management systems now are communications devices," said ChurchPro’s Stoorza. "If you can’t broadcast e-mails to everybody on a certain committee or something like that, then why have it?"
Mark Kitts, founder of Cary, N.C.-based People Driven Software, said broadcast e-mail capabilities in CMS packages make using the captured data a powerful outreach and discipling tool.
"For example, you can target your first timers who came on Sunday and send them a mass e-mail within 24 hours that says, ‘Thanks for coming to our church,’" he said.
With a click of the mouse, church leaders can make sure visitors get information about the church in a timely fashion.
"E-mail is just an amazing thing because of how immediate the contact is," said Schuster. "Really, apart from the fee they would pay for Internet access, there is no other cost so it is very cost effective. It’s becoming more and more popular."
He agreed it is easier to target specific groups with broadcast e-mail.
"It’s even to the point where we can do personalized mass e-mails," he said. "When you receive it, it says, ‘Dear Paul, thanks for…’ whatever. It’s more personalized and looks like they actually wrote it to them."
