A few weeks ago, coinciding with the new year, I started a series of blogs related to the difference between tracking something to achieve a goal and tracking something as part of an ongoing relationship.  So far we've looked at demographic data and guest follow up tracking.  In this article we look at tracking adult small groups.

Most pastors encourage adults to be in small groups as an important step in their spiritual growth or discipleship process.  However, once the data comes in and pastors realize that small group enrollment has a direct effect on giving and worship attendance then there's a temptation to make small group tracking a goal to achieve rather than a spiritual formation relationship to develop.  I know this because I lived it.

I was at a church in recent months and shot the QR code to fill out the communication card.  One of the options was to talk with a pastor.  I had a couple of questions, so I checked that box. 

A short time later I received an email back confirming that I filled out the card and would be contacted.  I never was.

Personally, I'm okay.  I know that church staff are busy and church systems often fail.  Plus, I don't want to have an over-inflated view of my value to them.  That feels prideful.

However, professionally, I'm not okay with that.  It's hard enough to get guests to respond, but if they do and we don't follow through, what does that say?   

Churches used to see each other as competitors.  It may still be like that in some communities, but during my tenure as a pastor I saw this change dramatically.  Now many, maybe most, pastors see themselves as colaborers with each other to reach and serve their communities for Christ.

I don't know the executive leadership of all the church software companies by any means, but I've met and known some of them.  Many of us look at our relationships with each other in the same way, as colaborers not competitors.

Last week I shared that I'm tracking my food intake as well as my Bible reading in the new year.  After a week, as expected, I'm doing great on the Bible reading because that's a relationship I enjoy.  And, so far, I'm doing fine with food tracking and even lost a couple of pounds. That's leading to a goal I hope to achieve. 

Some of the most common data in church software is demographic information like age (birthdate), household role, gender, marital status, anniversary, school, education, languages spoken, ethnicity,  occupation, military service, skills, availability, spiritual gifts, ministry passion, address / zip code, phone number, and email.    

If you are an old year reviewer and new year resolver, this is the week you start.  I know because I am one.  I already started tracking what I eat ... again.  And Sunday, I started my plan to read the New Testament through this year on weekdays and the Old Testament in three years on weekends.

In my last blog post I looked at highlights from 2022 for Churchteams and what they indicate about next year for us.  Now, it's your turn.  As you prepare for 2023 have you thought about setting goals to improve your use of church software?

I started thinking about this a couple of weeks ago during a customer care call in which the Executive Pastor shared with me his major goal for using Churchteams in the new year.  I thought it was a great idea worth sharing.

This is the time of the year most of us like to look back and  review what the Lord has done in our lives and work.  I know this exercise helps me put things in perspective and realize again that everything we do comes from Him.  I'd like to invite you to join me in a time of gratitude and praise for what He has done in 2022 at Churchteams.

Here's a top ten highlight list of new features pretty much in order of their release.  Keep reading for my 30,000 foot view of where we're headed and how this year prepared us for 2023 and beyond. 

1. Text-to-Chat - Two way texting.
2. Ten digit mass texting, scheduling, history
3. Pledge campaign management and self-registration
4. Pre-print name tags and security labels
5. Automate deceased actions
6. Guardrails for data - registrations, merges, deleting an attribute, changes to pledges
7. Content Pages - Links, Emojis, Tags
8. Landing pages
9. Reports - performance, tags, saved areas
10. Text-to-Chat notifications

1. Text: Chat Notifications
2. Text: Volunteer (ME) page minor changes
3. Volunteers:  Leader opt-out of accept / decline notifications
4. Volunteers:  Reminder text messages link directly to schedule
5. Volunteers:  Texts to scheduled team members who've not responded now link to schedule
6. Giving: Address for online giving
7. Giving: ACH refunds
8. Giving:  Default contributions set to start of previous year
   

This is the third in a series on year-end and online giving.  In this post we are going to rank the most used online giving features and consider their benefits to donors.    

All of these insights come from the survey we did a few weeks ago.  So, they originate from church leaders using online giving every week.  If you would like to learn more, join us tomorrow afternoon at 2 Eastern / 1 Central for our year-end onling giving zoom briefing.

This is the 2nd of 3 blog posts related to end of the year campaigns and online giving.  Last week we looked at ideas for end of year online giving campaigns.  In this post, we're going to look at online giving from the perspective of organizational promotion and benefits.  

I really appreciate those of you who took the time to give us your thoughts.  I think your  responses are representative of a broad spectrum of churches and that they are very insightful. 

Consider this summary chart of how our survey respondents promote online giving.

Thanks to everyone who took last week's survey.  In these next three posts we're going to look at a few statistics from these churches and their insights related to:  1) end of year campaigns, 2) organizational practices, and 3) individual benefits.  I picked up several good ideas and think you will to.

Let's start with these statistics from the survey that show the changes we all know happened in online giving since Covid.  73% of our respondents now receive more than 60% of their giving online compared to 27% in 2019.  That's a 270% increase!  

For decades nonprofits and churches have used the holiday season as a special time to raise funds for ministry.  In fact a large percentage of income for many ministries will come in the next couple of months.  The significance of this season has only increased in the last decade with the poplularity and promotion of Giving Tuesday.

Our team could put together a list of ideas to help your church get the most out of online giving this season.  However, a lot has changed in recent years and we would like to hear your stats, stories, best practices, and/or creative ideas.