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5 Useful Practices for Text Messaging Your Church Members

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Churches that are able to embrace technology and use it to their advantage have an easier time not just with retaining membership, but building it. Cell phones, and particularly SMS text messaging, is one such technological advances that churches around the world are starting to see as a useful tool in a number of different applications.

In 2013 it was estimated that 91% of adults had a cell phone, a number which has likely increased in the past 2 years. As a result churches have found a number of ways to stay connected with their parishioners using the cell phone and SMS text messaging to their advantage:

1) Church Event Reminders

There are dozens of events taking place in churches all year long. Instead of relying on bulletins and reminders during services to keep members updated, churches are using mass notification systems to send out text messages reminding them of upcoming important dates like fundraising events and meetings. This helps significantly in increasing the number of people who show up for your various functions.

2) Calls For Prayer

5 Useful PracticesInstead of using the old fashioned phone chain, churches are now sending an instant text message to their members when there is an urgent call for prayer. Take the recent tragedy that took place in Nepal. Pastors all over the country were able to instantly bring their parishioners together using a text message alerts to send forth a powerful group prayer.

3) Emergency Notifications

SMS broadcasting is  perfect for updating parishioners during emergency situations. Even if electricity or land phone service is down, you can still let people know where to go for help. There are even services available where those you contact can respond back if they are in need of special assistance. Churches in areas that are vulnerable to hurricanes, earthquakes and tornadoes find this a particularly useful tool to have.

4) Cancellations

With an SMS broadcasting service such as DialMyCalls, contact lists can be arranged in any way the church sees fit. This allows them to alert only certain groups, such as the parents of youth group members, if a meeting is being canceled or moved to another location. Again, sending an SMS text message to everyone at one time is much more effective than having to call each person one by one or rely on a phone chain.

5) Receiving Feedback

Even a pastor needs to know how they are doing with their job. Text messaging can be used to send out brief surveys that can ask for opinions about any element of the church, its activities and functions. This is an invaluable service for creating a sense of community and involvement with all members of a congregation.

Churches that have learned how to use the power of technology in their day to day activities have seen great results. You will be hard pressed to find a congregate who does not have a cell phone on their person, checking regularly for new text messages. Using that to your advantage will help increase your church attendance and stay better connected with the members.

Tim Smith
Tim Smithhttp://www.dialmycalls.com/churches/event-reminders.html
Tim Smith was born and raised in South Florida which explains why he loves the beach and is an avid fisherman. Tim finds joy in writing and is currently the Social Media Guru and Support Manager for DialMyCalls.

2 COMMENTS

  1. Messaging apps like Viber and WhatsApp are extremely popular, especially with younger people. According to research firm Comscore, 40% of mobile subscribers in the United States use an instant messsaging app on their phones at least once a month.

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