5 Reasons to Get Pushpay in Time for Easter

Because Easter is typically the most well-attended service of the year, it represents your church’s biggest opportunity to reach more people within your community and grow. Members who only attend church sporadically are a lot more likely to show up on Easter Sunday, and even people who don’t go to church are more receptive to invitations from friends and family.

It’s the perfect time to make a big announcement and get everyone on the same page. If your church has been thinking about making the switch to digital giving or adopt a custom church app, Easter Sunday is a good day to roll it out.

Here are five reasons to get Pushpay in time for Easter.

1. Encourage recurring giving before the summer slump hits

Recurring giving is the ideal way for your congregation to give. At Pushpay, we’ve found that recurring givers donate 42 percent more over the course of the year. But more than just increasing giving, recurring giving helps your church create a more reliable budget. You don’t have to deal with the ups and downs that naturally occur when people primarily give in person.

With the notorious “summer slump” just a few months away, Easter is the ideal time to get your members to start recurring giving. Imagine if this summer, when attendance falls, giving stays the same? That’s the power of recurring giving.

2. Convert newcomers to committed members of your church

Your church is about to experience a huge influx of new visitors. Maybe these folks are your neighbors or live a few cities away. Regardless, they’re probably people who may strongly consider attending your church after the Easter season is over. That’s why it’s critical to have a follow-up plan in place and have one that’s enabled by the digital technology people are already using.

With the Pushpay custom church app, you can encourage first-time visitors to download the app and fill out a digital connect card. Your church can then use their information to follow up with them using an email drip campaign or even a phone call if you have enough staff and volunteers to follow up that way. You can also follow up with newcomers through the app using push notifications that encourage them to attend a new believers class or church potluck. With a mobile app customized to your church’s needs and branding, you can drive meaningful engagement with newcomers and see lasting growth at Easter and beyond.

3. Maximize Easter giving

On days when they know there are going to be lots of non-members attending, some churches dedicate the offering to things non-members (and even non-believers) can rally behind, such as local nonprofits, parachurch organizations, and specific projects that benefit people in tangible ways. Other churches collect the offering as usual, which is fine, too. Either way, you can expect to see a significant increase in giving simply because there are more people in the room.

But if you don’t have digital giving, you’re leaving money on the table because not everyone will remember to bring checks or cash to church. Plus, most people aren’t comfortable writing down their debit card number or bank account information and dropping it in a basket. So even if they’re inspired to give, they won’t be able to.

Since Pushpay takes so little time to demonstrate and allows people to give the same way they make other transactions (online with a card), it’s a valuable way for churches to maximize the giving moment—which is especially helpful on weekends like Easter. Pushpay Fastpay® is one of givers’ favorite features, allowing them to donate in just five seconds. Be sure to turn people’s attention not only to how easy it is to give, but also how quick the entire experience is. 

4. Make the Pushpay pitch on the day you have the greatest attendance

It takes less than 30 seconds for someone to use Pushpay for the first time. That’s why live demonstrations are so effective, because without even disrupting the flow of your service, people can see for themselves how easy it is to digitally give and engage with your church—and they can follow along on the spot. And since you have all your members in one place at one time, this is when your pitch will be most valuable.

Many churches use big services like Easter to plant the seeds of engagement among first-time visitors. For visitors that like your service and would be open to hearing from your ministry again soon, encouraging them to download your custom church app will allow you to stay connected with them. Once a visitor has your app, they’ll get updates about your church, be able to register for events, and donate to your funds. Pitching and showcasing your Pushpay app and giving platform on Easter will help encourage more engagement and participation moving forward.

5. Use your post-Easter email drip to promote digital giving

Since there are so many people attending, Easter is a crucial time to implement an email follow-up campaign.

This can be a great way to give people supplemental material about Easter, to remind members what they should be reading or exploring together right now, or to let everyone know how the service went (how many new people attended, significant decisions made, Bibles handed out, number of volunteers, giving, etc.).

When people can give to your church via mobile, it’s incredibly easy to work it into these emails, too. You could dedicate an entire email to giving, or you could work it into a P.S. at the bottom of each one. With Pushpay, it’s easy to create giving opportunities even when you’re not physically together in church.

Prepare for your biggest service of the year

It takes a lot of work to pull off an Easter service. Most churches prepare for Easter months in advance. And since pastors give Easter sermons every year, it can be a challenge to keep your service feeling fresh. But it’s worth the effort. Because Easter is also one of the biggest opportunities your church has to evangelize to non-believers and speak to your entire congregation at once. So make the most of this opportunity, and click here to see how Pushpay can help.