Today’s congregations and their leaders have a plethora of choices to accommodate their diverse needs for software. Rather than choosing the largest company, the most popular tool, or the name that comes most readily to mind, churches today have the option to research software that matches up directly to the tasks they want it to perform.
Save time searching for software
Capterra offers churches a comprehensive listing of church management software (147 different solutions). This site also gives users the search capability to narrow the choice down by computer platform type, number of users for the system, various software features, budget and more. Capterra functions as a sort of one-stop-shop yellow pages, listing more software options than any one congregation would ever need.
This is a real answer for churches today that are looking for more from their management software. From small group tracking to financial management, including online giving capabilities, today’s church management software is a multi-purpose system that’s no longer stuck in the church office. More and more church management software includes web-based functionality that allows remote access for multiple users.
Communicate what is going on
In addition, management software usually includes some types of communications pieces such as newsletters or correspondence linked to a names and addresses, or email addresses database for simple and quick messages from the church.
Larger congregations are also looking for software that can manage event, seminar and class registrations for the multiple activities that must be managed for some churches. For smaller groups this may only be as extensive as an online calendar tool that allows users to input dates and events and viewers to see live updates.
Church Community Builder (CCB), the original web-based church management solution, recently improved its calendar tools to make them more user-friendly and to provide more options.
“Calendaring is one of the most frequently used benefits of our solution so we wanted to make it incredibly powerful and delightful to use,” said Steve Caton, vice president of sales and marketing for CCB.
If managing a web-based church calendar is a priority for a congregation, Capterra lists 29 different solutions for software that does just that. Differentiating the various options may begin with a look at their history.
Industry leaders such as ACS Technologies, Shelby Systems, and Parish Data System, usually began as data management systems that are now moving to web-based options to accommodate the trend. Relative newcomers such as Kingdom Tools, Roll Call, and Church Office Online, on the other hand, usually began as web-based systems to build an Internet-friendly church.
Newer software companies also have fewer clients and in general smaller fees, which may appeal to smaller churches. Older, more established companies on the other hand are used to accommodating large groups with big needs for data management. Aligning your church’s needs with the general expertise and interest of a particular church management software company can help match a congregation to a particular software very well. Finding tools that align with ministries then becomes an effort at supporting what has already been established, rather than structuring ministry to follow a particular software.
Online fellowship
Perhaps the most current trend for church management systems is the social networking trend that has linked its way over from popular Internet sites.
Research this year from The Barna Group indicates that “people within the Christian community are just as immersed in (and dependent upon) digital technologies and social networks as are those outside of it.” Christian faith is not a factor in most people’s technological habits, according to Barna.
Options for churches include member forums that encourage church members to chat online on a discussion page. This is usually offered by systems that are based on a church Web site and offer various tools from the site.
Fellowship One breaks the mold a bit on Internet functionality, offering Web friendly software for mega congregations with large data management tools. The company began as the brainchild of Jeff Hook, a member of Fellowship Church in Irving, Texas. Understanding the needs of a mega church well, Fellowship One, is also limited in interactivity and socializing on the Web, which offers only contact forms, registrations, etc.
Larger churches interested in social networking have looked to Facebook, MySpace or other already established Web networks, or like Central Christian in Las Vegas, have written their own versions to accommodate their congregation. In this case, 360Hubs, developed a site to allow members to register and post profiles and chat with others. They consider it just another of their multi-site campuses, according to Kurt Ervin, executive pastor of church expansion for Central.
"With our new online campus, we hope to spread God’s Word to the world, while continuing to execute on our vision to be one church, many campuses," he said.
E-Giving
According to a 2008 customer behavior study by Billeo, Inc., a company that gives consumers more options when paying bills online, Consumers are taking advantage of online financial transaction tools to more carefully manage their money.
“A growing number of consumers are not only more comfortable doing a variety of transactions online, but they prefer it," said Murali Subbarao, founder and CEO of Billeo.
Online giving is also growing in popularity for churches. Church Community Builder even offers donors the option to schedule automated ongoing contributions—just like the cable bill that gets pulled out of their checking account each month.
Most church management software solutions now offer some form of electronic or online giving. However, the simplicity of the system may vary greatly. Finding out how giving works will help a church make software decisions. Besides online payment processing, churches should research other software functions they may use, such as check scanning, customizable reporting, ecommerce integration for sales of books, recordings, etc., pledge management, payroll and accounting functions.
Whatever aspect of ministry you are looking for help in managing, today’s church management software offers more tools than ever before for churches looking to simplify, streamline and move their management functions out of the office and onto the Internet.
