The heart of our calling as church staff and pastors is to provide the tools to make sure people are connected, cared for, discipled and launched into ministry. Intrinsically, we know that technology ought to be able to help us accomplish this. Here are 2 ways automation through technology can serve your ministry.
1. Consistently capture needed information.
I’ve been around long enough to remember when the idea of filling out connection or response cards in a worship service was new. This one idea was a benchmark for ministry effectiveness. It is probably not incidental that around the same time church staffs began to grow well beyond the Sr. Pastor and a secretary. More information meant more work, more ministry and more staff.
These days every adult has a device in their pocket or purse for communicating and staying connected. And texting is on everyone top app used list because of it’s flexibility and ease of use. They can text one person and not have to worry about interrupting them like a phone call does. Or, they text a group of people and carry on a group conversation at a response time convenient to everyone.
You can now use texting to interface directly with your database. In 2017 we released a suite of features we call Text-To-Church. With it you can now have people text a keyword to fill out a connection card or register for anything. As people adopt this new method of communicating with the church, data entry becomes less important. No more trying to read people’s writing or mis-typing phone numbers. The whole process is de-centralized and much more efficient and accurate. In fact, not only can people register or express an interest in anything by texting; but they can also give, check-in their kids, see any follow-up assignments they have been assigned, see their volunteer schedule, manage and attend groups they lead, see a directory and update their information! Early adopters of this technology absolutely love it!
2. Ensure execution of your follow-up strategy.
Data collection is important but consistent follow-up may be more important. Historically, this has required tedious manipulation of database, email, texting, handwritten notes, sending out letters, and notifying pastors to make calls.
What if you could design the system once, then automate the execution of everything but the personal touch and even then automate the notifications sent pastors and staff? Now you can. We call it workflows. We help you map the system, then resource it (emails, texts, personal notifications, data updates, etc.), then build the workflow in the software, and finally start it. Emails and texts are personalized for the recipient and changes can always be made.
It is truly an incredible way to know for sure that people are responded to whenever they request more information or sign up for anything.
For a long time we’ve been enamored with the potential of technology. But figuring it out, capturing the data and executing follow-up has been a full time job. By facing head-on the hardships of software development, I’m glad to say there is light at the end of the tunnel. If you are interested in learning more about what we are doing, join me for a live Meet The Software webinar.
