Deborah Ike

With the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve had to contend with a new normal. Phrases like 'social distancing' and 'contact tracing' weren’t familiar terms until a few weeks ago. Large gatherings aren’t safe anymore, so we’re all turning to online forms of meeting and communication. This, of course, includes weekly church services. With state governors ordering people to shelter in place, church leaders were left scrambling in recent weeks to ramp up or start from scratch with online streaming services and more.

Many churches are beginning to prepare to reopen for in-person services as their local authorities permit. As you consider how to safely welcome people back to church services, there are several components for which to plan.

With a multitude of church management software options available, we know it's challenging to evaluate each one. Here's an overview of ShelbyNext Membership to help in your ChMS search.

Transparency and organization are key to ensure fairness and accountability on the operations side of churches. No matter the size of a church, keeping the finances, membership, tithing, and events calendar organized in one easily-accessible location is an excellent way to be a good steward of the ministry God has entrusted to you. One of the easiest ways a church can accomplish these goals is by using an online church management software tool like Faith Teams.

If you’re looking for new church management software, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed with all the choices available. To help you sort through the options, we’re continuing our series of church management software (ChMS) reviews with our Church Community Builder review to evaluate how their church management software performs.

Social media can be an excellent tool in ministry. As your church looks to leverage the influence of social media, it’s wise to develop a written social media policy to guide staff as they interact online.

Events can be excellent tools for ministry. They involve serving the local community, attracting people to church who don’t typically attend, strengthening marriages, and much more. However, the efforts leading up to event day plus all the work the day of can take a toll on staff and volunteers. To avoid last-minute chaos and to ensure everyone has a great experience, it’s wise to take some strategic steps ahead of time to make the big day run smoothly.

Every church needs a tool for tracking its finances.  There are many accounting software packages to choose from and a subset of those are specifically geared towards churches or nonprofit organizations.  This review highlights the functionality of ShelbyNext Financials, part of the Ministry Brands family of products.  Churches can leverage the integration between FellowshipOne or Elexio and ShelbyNext Financials for a complete ChMS and accounting suite.