More Than Sunday: 4 Ways to Engage Your Congregation Every Day of the Week

Sunday mornings are special. From the moment cars start pulling into your parking lot, to when you first see those smiling faces sitting in the pews. From when they click into your worship livestream, through to you witnessing your team’s hard work coming to fruition as you share the message of Jesus Christ with your congregation… These moments are truly the highlight of every church leader’s week.

But ministry doesn’t stop after Sunday service ends. Driving the mission and promoting the vision of your local church shouldn’t be relegated to a single day of the week.

The good news is that in this digital era, technology simplifies engaging church members during the other six days. Your faith community can easily be engaged through tech to build faith, connection, and belonging, regardless of what the calendar says.

That’s the spirit behind our More Than Sunday campaign—and what inspires every tech solution Pushpay develops. For over a decade, our passionate team has listened, collaborated, and worked with leaders like you to develop the best-in-class tools to support your ability to engage church members every day of the week.

We’re going to break down how leveraging the latest digital solutions can empower you to lead your church forward.

Communication Is Key

This almost goes without saying, but in your role as a “Disciplemaker,” staying in contact with your members throughout the week is critical to maintaining and boosting church engagement.

At Pushpay, we believe in meeting people where they’re at. These days, that’s primarily through their screens. The average American spends over seven hours each day looking at computers and mobile devices. Your church should be claiming a piece of that time, and not just on Sundays.

Capturing your members’ attention starts with prompts. Push notifications can alert users to new content on your custom mobile app. Once they’re in the app, they’ll be able to browse a dynamic home screen featuring your current livestream, tailored content feeds, upcoming events, generosity campaigns, and more. You can drive further engagement through custom messages, polls, and surveys.

Facilitating Donors Whenever They Feel Led To Give

The physical basket will never go away. There will always be a surge of generosity while your congregation is inside your four walls, because Sunday services inspire donations.

But that’s not the only time people feel the urge and passion to express their generosity to your church. Online giving empowers your community to give when they feel called—or simply remember mid-week!—to donate in support of the mission your church has communicated.

Studies show that 87% of users will leave a product if they can’t understand the process within the first sixty seconds. That’s why Pushpay Giving was intentionally designed to allow for fast, intuitive giving, through a platform that’s completely customizable to your church.

Our Recurring Giving feature allows your members to schedule their gifts, taking one less task off their plate, while simultaneously increasing your staff’s ability to forecast future funds and mitigating streaks of lower donations during traditionally slower seasons for generosity. When combined with Pushpay’s multi-language functionality for increased accessibility, staying engaged with every one of your donors has never been easier.

Livestreaming Is Here To Stay

The COVID pandemic forced churches worldwide to utilize streaming services to maintain their ministries while social distancing. But even after those restrictions ended, livestreaming church services remain extremely popular; 89% of churches continue livestream services, according to the 2023 State of Church Tech Report.

The benefits of streaming have become clear to leaders. Video truly is the new “website,” the digital front door that successful ministries utilize to welcome their first-time visitors. Streaming also increases accessibility for community members who may be out of town or are otherwise unable to attend in person—or for those who simply want to connect with your church outside of Sunday!

Through Pushpay’s partnership with Resi Media, your church can utilize one of the most powerful, reliable streaming experiences available to connect and engage with your congregation every day of the week. You can host your worship service livestream through a seamless integration in your custom mobile app, and offer prompts directing viewers to next-step items like giving, prayer requests, and more.

Streamlined ChMS Frees Up Your Staff’s Time

Of all the technology solutions available to churches today, Church Management Software (ChMS) is the only tool growing in popularity. Unified, streamlined digital tools have been proven to not only increase engagement and generosity for churches, but also simplify and automate processes for volunteers and staff.

The first major step in embracing the More Than Sunday mindset is adopting a powerful ChMS like Pushpay. Our best-in-class dashboards and analytics provide the insights you need to nurture your people through their journey. Intuitive check-in functionality simplifies processes for your staff and volunteers, while capturing the data you need to follow up with the guests and visitors who are excited to join the life of your church.

Pushpay’s ChMS allows groups to be created around different interests and ministries, allowing volunteers to find and participate in activities grounded in their individual passion points, and to communicate directly with others in those groups to coordinate.

For your leadership, coordination and communication of ministerial needs can be efficiently managed, even while your team is on-the-go through our LEAD app.

Next Steps For Your Church

The absolute best first step any church leadership team can take is aligning on goals. Every ministry is different, and every faith community is unique. But unfortunately, there’s no one-size-fits-all strategy for building a church that wants to embrace the More Than Sunday approach.

Start by asking your staff and volunteers—and even trusted congregants—these questions:

• What does meaningful engagement look like for your ministry?
• What current tools and capabilities do you have to begin expanding your engagement to seven days a week?
• What do you hope to gain from meaningful engagement? What will these progressions look like over time?
• What type of engagement is your congregation suited for?

Here’s one more idea; spend a few minutes taking Pushpay’s Church Tech Check. This proprietary assessment will identify your digital strengths and deliver a comprehensive report of customized recommendations.

When you have all these answers, you can confidently chart a course forward that ensures your ministry is united in pursuing your mission—which means engaging your community More Than Sunday.

And once you know where you want to go, Pushpay would love to support your path forward, so that together we can build community, connection, and belonging, as your church pursues its mission into the future.