All the leading voices agree — online church services are not just recording church. So then, what is online church? Here are some of the best principles experts agree on about how to think of online church.
Most of us have visited a new church for the first time. It’s a unique experience and one that many churches struggle to perfect. Thinking through each step that affects a newcomer can be tricky, especially if you have been part of the church for years and know everything there is to know.
There are still many educators for whom online education represents uncharted territory or a medium for which their skills are “good enough,” and not excellent. Here are a couple reasons to level up the online experience for students with a video-sharing platform.
For all churches, the pursuit of efficiency is high on the list of things to achieve. When churches and Sunday services run efficiently, the church serving experience is far less stressed and everyone is released to be more Kingdom-focused than system-focused. This is why churches must use integrated ministry platforms to aid their tasks.
In past years, many of us have separated how businesses run from how churches run. The church isn’t about making a profit and getting more revenue, but that doesn’t mean there are a lot of things we can learn about operations, efficiency, and even the techniques of onboarding.
Now that there are actual VR churches in existence – ones with real congregations and even baptisms – it’s clear that we do not have to wait for a world where church can be held in the metaverse any longer. In this article, we’ll explore what is making it easier than ever.
Bible software can be a great resource for Bible study, graduate studies, sermon prep, personal devotions, group reading plans, and the list goes on. But with so many different options on the market, it can be hard to know which one is right for you. The following considerations will help.
Drafting your sermon application could be tedious, especially looking for actionable sections of your passage. With the use of Logos Bible Software, you could have these imperative verbs highlighted automatically, making sermon prep easier.
At the rate of 30% of volunteers quitting to serve each year, the church doesn’t want to give willing community members a reason to join that statistic. Using smart software that allows volunteers to easily and quickly sign up for opportunities helps.
Get featured on the Church Tech Today blog when you answer some industry-specific questions about your workstation, your gear, and your church's livestream details.
Lighting consoles are the stuff of dreams when you’re a church lighting director. For Jeremiah Trombley from San Antonio’s CityChurch, he has found a solution in the Hog4 Lighting Rig.
Tyndale offers several editions of the Filament Bible that pair with Filament, an app filled with study tools, devotionals, videos, and interactive content.
All the leading voices agree — online church services are not just recording church. So then, what is online church? Here are some of the best principles experts agree on about how to think of online church.
Most of us have visited a new church for the first time. It’s a unique experience and one that many churches struggle to perfect. Thinking through each step that affects a newcomer can be tricky, especially if you have been part of the church for years and know everything there is to know.
There are still many educators for whom online education represents uncharted territory or a medium for which their skills are “good enough,” and not excellent. Here are a couple reasons to level up the online experience for students with a video-sharing platform.
For all churches, the pursuit of efficiency is high on the list of things to achieve. When churches and Sunday services run efficiently, the church serving experience is far less stressed and everyone is released to be more Kingdom-focused than system-focused. This is why churches must use integrated ministry platforms to aid their tasks.
In past years, many of us have separated how businesses run from how churches run. The church isn’t about making a profit and getting more revenue, but that doesn’t mean there are a lot of things we can learn about operations, efficiency, and even the techniques of onboarding.
Now that there are actual VR churches in existence – ones with real congregations and even baptisms – it’s clear that we do not have to wait for a world where church can be held in the metaverse any longer. In this article, we’ll explore what is making it easier than ever.
Bible software can be a great resource for Bible study, graduate studies, sermon prep, personal devotions, group reading plans, and the list goes on. But with so many different options on the market, it can be hard to know which one is right for you. The following considerations will help.
Drafting your sermon application could be tedious, especially looking for actionable sections of your passage. With the use of Logos Bible Software, you could have these imperative verbs highlighted automatically, making sermon prep easier.
At the rate of 30% of volunteers quitting to serve each year, the church doesn’t want to give willing community members a reason to join that statistic. Using smart software that allows volunteers to easily and quickly sign up for opportunities helps.
Get featured on the Church Tech Today blog when you answer some industry-specific questions about your workstation, your gear, and your church's livestream details.
Lighting consoles are the stuff of dreams when you’re a church lighting director. For Jeremiah Trombley from San Antonio’s CityChurch, he has found a solution in the Hog4 Lighting Rig.
Tyndale offers several editions of the Filament Bible that pair with Filament, an app filled with study tools, devotionals, videos, and interactive content.
Recurring giving will streamline and simplify the givers’ process. We’ll show you 3 proven ways.
Giving financial donations is one of the oldest topics in the Church. People have wrestled with how much to give, when to give, and where to give their finances since the beginning.
That said, the last thing churches want to do is put up roadblocks once someone has decided when, where, and how to give their money.
With so many giving tools at our fingertips these days, church leaders must do everything they can to streamline and simplify the giving process — especially for those who give on a consistent basis.
Setting the Tone for Recurring Giving
Giving is a huge part of the Christian life. In fact, we’re called to give our time, our effort … and our money. Giving tithes and offerings to the church is a huge part of our walk with the Lord.
Now, to be clear, this isn’t because Christianity is a “pay your way” religion. On the contrary, we’re all living a faith-first lifestyle.
What’s that old line in James, though? Faith without works is dead (James 2:20b.) True faith naturally leads to an outward manifestation in the form of genuine, loving, God-directed works. And, in a world driven by money, these “works” are often centered around giving our hard-earned cash.
Again, this giving shouldn’t be done as a way to “earn your way” or anything like that. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 9:7:
“Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
DIRECTED GIVING
This leaves it in the hands of individuals to direct their giving. Some will make occasional gifts to your ministry. And others will give regularly but in different amounts. In addition, there are going to be those who have steady incomes and giving habits and who, by extension, give the same amount all year long.
Having a good online giving resource on your church website is a great way to accommodate all of these givers. You can also offer:
Third-party giving portals
Directions to set up direct deposit
Info for mailing paper checks
When it comes to cyclical givers, though, there’s one other thing that you want to address: setting up recurring giving options.
Here are a few important ways to ensure that you are enabling your recurring givers on your website.
3 Proven Ways To Seamlessly Promote Recurring Giving
1. Include a Recurring Option on Every Giving Page
Sometimes your giving page on your website is sweet and simple — especially if you’re running a smaller church. You can pop up a PayPal donate button, add an address to mail checks, and call it a day.
In many cases, though, the giving page is a bit more complicated. You might have text-to-give instructions, multiple donation portals, pledge options, and so on. Each of these has the potential to open up into its own dedicated web page, too.
As you set up your giving pages, it’s important to include a recurring giving option on each and every one. If someone is loading credit card information, offer right then and there to make things easier next time through a recurring payment. Similarly, if they’re looking for a way to send a check, include a CTA (call to action) encouraging them to set up direct deposit. You get the idea.
2. Use Your Email to Draw Attention to Recurring Giving
Your church email list is a powerful tool. It gives you a direct line of communication, not just to your congregation, but to the members of your congregation who have proactively opted in to hear what you have to say.
You can use your email list for many useful activities. With it, you can recruit volunteers, announce events, send newsletters, promote recurring giving, …and show gratitude.
The important thing here is to remember that you aren’t requesting more giving activity. Remember, you’re talking to the members of your church body that already are very likely giving on the regular.
Instead, use your email list to simply draw attention to your recurring giving setup. Consider creating a sequence of emails that do the following:
Explain that you have a recurring giving option.
Outline the benefits that recurring giving offers (e.g. time-saving, less hassle, etc.)
Describe how recurring giving works.
Give a clear CTA prompting the reader to set up recurring giving right from the email.
Email is a great way to inform and empower your congregation regarding the power of recurring giving.
As the one promoting recurring giving, it’s important to keep in mind what you’re asking people to do. You may be aware of the potential of their saving time and effort in the future, but to your congregants, you’re asking them to put in extra time in the here and now.
You’re also asking them to go out of their way to tackle a new piece of technology. This can make the proposition of setting up recurring giving sound like a hassle — and a bit overwhelming, to boot.
One of the best ways to reduce this barrier to entry is by creating a QR code for your recurring giving sign-up form. QR codes are a great way to get the right links to someone without sending them hunting around on your website.
By creating a QR code, you send the message that you’ve done everything possible to clear the runway for them to set up recurring giving. Sure, your donors still have to put a little leg work in on their end, but they’ll start the process knowing that you’re doing your level best to help them along the way.
Recurring giving is beneficial for the giver and receiver alike. As the latter, having lines of recurring giving set up gives you peace of mind and a certain level of predictability. You can see at least a portion of your future income with relative certainty. This can make it easier to make decisions, sign off on projects, and so on.
As far as your givers are concerned, having a recurring giving option takes a lot of the grunt work out of the equation. They don’t need to re-input information every time they log on to donate. Also, they don’t have to worry about remembering to do so every week. Donors even save time by having the whole activity outsourced and automated.
The problem with recurring giving is connecting with your givers to set up the system the first time around. As is the case with any cyclical activity, 99% of the effort comes in the setup phase. The easier and more accessible you can make that initial process, the more people you’ll convince to sign up for recurring giving in your congregation.
MAKE OPTING IN SIMPLE
So, review the steps above and then audit the giving section of your website. Are you bringing attention to recurring giving in other areas of your ministry, like your email list? Do you offer recurring giving options in enough places? Are you streamlining and jumpstarting the process through things like QR codes?
It’s the little tweaks and prompts like these that can make all the difference as you promote recurring giving to your church congregation.
Kenny Jahng is Editor-In-Chief at ChurchTechToday.com. He also serves as Chief Innovation Officer at ChurchCommunications.com which has a community of 29,000+ church leaders. Kenny is a Certified StoryBrand Copywriter Guide and founder of Big Click Syndicate, a strategic marketing advisory firm helping Christian leaders build marketing engines that work. You can connect with Kenny on LinkedIn.
All the leading voices agree — online church services are not just recording church. So then, what is online church? Here are some of the best principles experts agree on about how to think of online church.
Most of us have visited a new church for the first time. It’s a unique experience and one that many churches struggle to perfect. Thinking through each step that affects a newcomer can be tricky, especially if you have been part of the church for years and know everything there is to know.
Leadership Network is hosting the Metaverse Summit on May 18, 2022. The online event is available with free registration.
According to event organizer, Jeff...
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