Almost all churches track worship attendance to give leadership an idea of the effectiveness of their large, celebration gatherings.   Generally, a single number represents the attendance each week or in some cases for each service, each week.  These are then plotted over a period of time to track engagement and see trends.  We all know this.

Sometimes individual attendance is tracked in worship in order to reach out to people who miss multiple times.  This works fine for really small churches, but larger churches empower their small groups to shoulder the burden of care.

Do your small groups feel like they might be old news in your church?  Maybe people know they are expected to be a part of a small group, but they are not excited to actually participate.  It's like the life has gone out of the small groups ministry.

There are hundreds of references in the New Testament to the church being a family.  Think about all the times the authors refer to church members as brothers, sisters, mothers, sons, daughters, children, family of God, etc..  It was this way from the start of the church.

How do you register parents and kids for Camp and VBS currently?  Is it all by paper?  Do you use a third party tool or your website provider form to capture the information electronically and then have to export it to Excel or manually enter it into your database?  What about accepting and tracking payments?  

In Meet The Software every week, I talk about how we empower leaders by integrating their multiple data sources (including sticky notes and Excel) into a single database.  Instead of their information being scattered, leadership is empowered when their information lives and works together!  Join me in that Zoom webinar for additional insights into why and how technology evolved to create this frustration and how we resolve it.

The last few months I've been making my way through the top 10 ways churches use Registrations for events, forms, and more.  If you are a part of a church, you know well the purpose of potlucks and meal trains.

Potlucks are an incredible time for people to gather and fellowship around food.  Rather than hiring a caterer, potlucks share responsibility for bringing the meal.  They are a great time to try different family favorites and just have fun!

As you may know Churchteams started out as a small group software.  We grew because of the innovative ways we developed to help churches connect people to groups, group leaders communicate, and staff to coach and care for groups.

The highlight release in 2024 was our new User Interface.  The goal was to set the stage for the future of Churchteams with that upgrade.  

We want you to know that we care about you and your church.  That means that we listen to your needs, and, because we've been there, we feel what you feel.  That's where it starts. 

We've still got a ways to go on the upgrades, but we're on our way.  And, we want to make sure you come along.  

What happens at your church when a pastor or other leader requests a report they need for something they are working on (like one of the ones listed in the image below)?   Does it require an admin to build and run the report; then email, or even print it? 

This takes admin time, sure.  But, the bigger issue is that the leader often wants the information on that report for something they are thinking about at that moment, and by the time the report arrives they have left that project and moved on to something else.  

Here's the point:  when it comes to reports, timing often matters.

This has been an incredible year for Churchteams.  As we bring it to a close, our team would like to say thank you for your friendship, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!

What made it so incredible?  First, a living, breathing relationship with Jesus.  Second, kind, generous relationships with so many of you.  We have the best clients and friends in the world.  Third, a staff team committed to Christ, you, and each other.

Most of you are in the middle of Christmas preparations, but I know there are some of you already thinking about sending contribution statements in January.  Your concern about making sure everything is lined up right is what makes you so valuable to your church's leadership environment.  

I know this because there are members of our Churchteams staff that have the same gifts and calling.  I've seen them thrive in preparing services and resources to help our churches succeed with excellence on detailed processes like managing data and sending out contribution statements.

The advent season is upon us which, for church finances, means end of year giving is here, and sending statements season is a month away.  These are important parts of a church stewardship development plan.

Asking people to make a pledge or giving commitment is another, common practice for many churches going in to a new calendar or fiscal year.  There are several benefits to this practice:

From my experience, if a person memorizes around 200 of the Bible verses that are most important to them and that they hear the most in sermons and elsewhere, they have a really good grasp on scripture and are able to use it in any situation throughout the day, every day.  One of these is a familiar verse that you likely already know - Philippians 4:6-7.  

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Jesus."