Church Technology Requirements for 2024
Updated December 27, 2023 |
As we step into 2024 and set goals for how we will deepen connections within our community and share the Good News amidst continued uncertainty, we must acknowledge the silver lining of the past few years: we’ve become more innovative, creative and even tech savvy. Despite the challenges that we all have faced, the world now has fresh eyes on how we can know, grow, and keep the people that make up our congregations. We want to encourage you to keep approaching ministry with the same kind of innovation, looking at church technology as a tool to further your mission. With that being said, we’d like to share with you church technology requirements and the best ways to continue utilizing technology
Build a digital strategy around your Goals
Identifying your goals are a great way for your church to translate your digital strategy and what steps to take to communicate with your congregation so they are achieved.
Goals can range from how to update your church on announcements, attract new visitors, provide outlets that align with your congregation’s interests, or encourage your people to volunteer in safe ways, especially during a time where social distancing is mandatory. These are only a few of the many goals you should aim to accomplish through your digital strategy while also keeping your people comfortable, safe, and healthy.
Utilize a ChMS that will help you connect with your congregation
Once you’ve identified your goals, understanding how you can get them in front of your congregation is key. As many churches are having to limit their in-person services or have a percentage of their congregation attending online, keeping track of who’s attending and still engaging with your church may seem overwhelming. Unless, you have a church management system (ChMS) that can help you manage checking-in your congregation, connecting with your people, tracking service plans, groups, and volunteer schedules, while providing metric dashboards based on your people’s giving, attendance and service. And on top of that, this can also be integrated directly with your church app.
An integrated ChMS and giving system does not only help with increased connections, but churches utilizing Church Community Builder’s ChMS with Pushpay giving have, on average, 65% more digital givers when compared to those not with Pushpay.
Engage with your members through your church app
These days information travels quickly, especially with mobile devices right at our fingertips.
A majority if not all of your congregation uses a mobile device. So why not provide them with a church app that allows you to stay connected any day of the week and at any time of day. A custom church app gives you the ability to customize the look and feel, and provides you with a platform to livestream weekly gatherings and send updates and important information that you can get in front of your congregation through push notifications.
LEARN MORE ABOUT LIVESTREAMING WITH RESI
Also, when you integrate both Pushpay’s Church App and Church Community Builder’s ChMS you and your people will get the following features that will make staying engaged and connected with each other even easier:
This is more than just contact information. We’ve re-invented the profile so as a ministry leader you can see and understand your people’s involvement and connection in the church.
- Staying Connected
The integration between Pushpay’s Church app and Church Community Builder’s ChMS allows church families to stay connected beyond in-person services – especially in the current times we are living in. Engagement can be made through pre-check, group participation, attendance taking, and event RSVPs.
Church members can log in to their account online or in the Pushpay mobile app – which you have access to on the backend – to view their transaction history in real-time. They’ll be able to review payment details like date of submission, amount, and payment status.
Make Giving Easy and Accessible
Whether you are able to have limited in-person services or have to stick to online-only services, your peoples’ giving practices and opportunities shouldn’t be affected.
Provide your congregation with a online church giving solution right at their fingertips or should we say their mobile devices. This will take away the hassle of writing checks or passing the plate (especially if you are not meeting in person.) From online, mobile to text giving, digital giving solutions like Pushpay provide churches with a number of options to give for your people. Did you know, digital givers are in fact more generous than non-digital givers and, on average, give 24% more in a month than offline givers?
But if your church is already utilizing text and digital giving, here are some other features that are included in the giving solution that will amplify your congregation’s giving experience even while they continue to social distance:
This feature enables us to securely store your people’s payment details, even when one of our downstream partners is experiencing a problem. We will then process the transactions once we can confirm that service is restored.
If members of your church are not already giving digitally, receiving email receipts for their manually entered cash and check gifts will help introduce them to the ease of digital giving (such as payments made via your app or website.) Also, when you send them an email receipt you’ve already done half of the work by providing them with an easy way to set-up a Pushpay account.
With text engagement, if you live in the US or Canada, you can choose a keyword to share with your congregation that they can simply text to 77977 and they will be sent a link that will take them directly to the payment page to make their donation.
Whether it be a first-time giving experience, recurring gift, or at-risk donors who have stopped giving, providing yourself with a Donor Development tool will also give you the ability to keep track of how your congregation is participating through individual or total church giving metrics and insights. As you follow your people’s activities in the new year, you will also receive suggestions on how to communicate and help them move forward in their giving journey.
Becoming a recurring giver is not only an important step in one’s faith journey but is also critical in helping churches forecast and plan. With the help of Pushpay, most churches see a 76% growth in recurring givers in their first 6 months.
All in all, whatever church technology you choose to use, mixing in technology that keeps you connected to your people will prove helpful and allow you to continue to engage with your congregation whether it’s in person or online.
For a solution to your 2024 reopening strategy woes and improving digital connections with your church in the new year, Pushpay and Church Community Builder can provide it all with ChurchStaq. ChurchStaq is a reliable suite of tools that combines ChMS, giving, donor development, and church app solutions all in one platform, while encouraging generosity and engagement.
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