How McLane Church Enhanced Community Connection with Pushpay

Summary

McLane Church, a multi-location church, has had an active online presence and ministry since 2017, when they launched McLane Church Online. However, three short years later, they started grappling with the challenge of connecting comprehensively with their members during the COVID-19 pandemic despite having three physical locations and a solid online presence. Their Site Pastor and Master Admin, Lynora Rumm, recognized the need for a more robust software solution that could help them keep track of all those one-on-one connections. And that’s when an announcement email landed in her inbox.

The email shared that Pushpay had acquired Church Community Builder, and together, they were a comprehensive solution for churches. Now, churches like McLane could have an online payment system, church management software and development of a customized church app.  Lynora recalls, “Pushpay checked all of the boxes and became the obvious choice.”

Lynora knew that this was the answer to their digital connection dilemma. McLane Church now enjoys a user-friendly platform that facilitates online payments, manages church operations, and fosters direct connections with its members. The adoption of Pushpay’s solution has significantly improved the church’s ability to provide pastoral care and connection with its congregants, marking a new era of digital ministry for McLane Church.

Challenges

Despite having a strong online presence and three physical locations, McLane was in a unique predicament in 2020. Thanks to the launch of their online platform in 2017, the transition to digital operations had been relatively smooth. However, the challenge wasn’t reaching out to their members but engaging with them on a deeper, more personal level.

“With three campuses already established, the pivot online was really easy for us. But we felt like we couldn’t connect with our people in a more comprehensive way, like one-on-one and tracking those connections,” Lynora Rumm, Site Pastor and Master Admin of McLane Church, reflected. This realization set her on a mission to find a software solution that could facilitate these personal connections.

As she explored the options for church management systems, Lynora found a software program that seemed to meet most of their needs. It wasn’t perfect, but it was close enough. She recounts, “I found one church software company, and I was ready to say yes. I couldn’t say I had complete peace, but you know, how much peace can one have with church software? So, I had the email drafted to start with them.”

Just as she was about to green-light this new software, an unexpected email landed in her inbox. It was from the church’s business manager, who had received an email from Pushpay. He urged Lynora to take a look at what they had to offer.

Pushpay

The email from Pushpay that landed in Lynora’s inbox announced their acquisition of Church Community Builder. Lynora shared, “They were announcing that together, they were a comprehensive solution. Not just online payment, but now they had church management software and a customized church app.”

Lynora continued, “I was blown away by what they were offering. It wasn’t just the electronic payment—which made it so easy through the pandemic, as we all know—but the church management software had features in it that allowed us to really connect with our people, not just through life groups, but through every ministry that we have.”

One of the standout features was the ability to track connections with members. “With Pushpay, I could reach out to people, take notes, and put them through a process queue to track my connections with them,” Lynora says. This feature was particularly beneficial for pastoral care and managing the bereavement process. Lynora noted, “It allowed me to put in a step-by-step way of connecting with them over a period of time since we know that grief lasts a long time, and you need touch points along the way.”

Another significant benefit was the customizable church app that seamlessly integrated with the church’s existing tools. “During the pandemic, when we’re doing all this research, we thought we’d have to go to a whole other place for a church app. But Pushpay made it easy to have a customized church app that integrated with our church management software and played nicely with our website.” The app provided a more user-friendly and interactive platform for members to connect with the church, enhancing the overall member experience.

Results

The adoption of Pushpay’s comprehensive church software has significantly transformed McLane Church. “So there was the app, the church management software, the online pay—everything just married together in one nice, neat package. And really, that’s what we love about Pushpay,” Lynora concludes. It was everything they had been looking for.

Alongside online giving, the church management software and the app have created a platform that is user-friendly and highly interactive. Lynora shares, “The church management software had features that allowed us to really connect with our people… So now we could connect people to the website, which is great, but the app is so much more interactive and friendly for users to connect with the church.” This integrated approach has significantly improved the church’s connection with its members. Because of Pushpay, Lynora says, “we’re able to connect with them even better.”