Management (ChMS)

There’s no denying that technology has introduced many cultural implications for the people who walk through our church doors every Sunday. On one hand, we are more networked than ever before. We go to work, interact with people we see at the gym, talk with other parents at our kids’ soccer practices, and probably even attend church most Sundays.

From the early days of dial-up internet to the first cell phones commercially offered, communication methods and tools have drastically changed over the last twenty years. For churches, cumbersome analog systems (that’s fancy-talk for pen and paper) were the only option before personal and business computing emerged. Now

Church tech decisions can be overwhelming, and best practices can vary depending on church size, budget, and mission. Here are a few quick tips to get started.

Capterra is a very useful software review site that has beefed up their church management software (ChMS) review listings, articles, and helps for churches over the past few years. Companies do pay to be listed on this site, like many other review sites, however, users are free to post reviews and comments. Some church software companies have over a hundred user reviews, making it very helpful for churches to take a peek into how the software is valued by its customers.

Churches and church tech companies alike have been surprised by the fast-paced change and consolidation of church technology industry over the past three years. In 2012, private equity-backed Ministry Brands came on the scene with easyTithe, SimpleGive and SiteOrganic and quietly began acquiring additional church technology firms.

Sometimes I just wonder why software licensing is so complicated. There are multiple versions of the same software - professional versions, home versions, enterprise versions, versions from 2008, 2010, 2012 and on and on.
Any IT system is much much easier to maintain when all the computers and even other devices are running the same software. What is a church office manager to do?

The nonprofit and secular industries are no stranger to project management software, but until now, church project management software hasn't been on anyone's radar. Churches simply muddled through with systems in place either cobbling together church management software alongside emails, spreadsheets, and perhaps a Google Group or some other free software that allowed them to coordinate large projects involving staff and volunteers. That is until RocoCPM was developed. Get ready for a new acronym, Church Project Management, or "CPM."

Beep … beep … beep … beep… When you’re being treated in a hospital, that’s a good sound to hear. It means your heart is beating and the electronic monitor is working properly. Your pulse is only one of many numbers (metrics) that doctors, nurses, and technicians consider when gauging your health. Do you remember the last time you had lab work done, and how many different factors were measured and reported? It’s mind-boggling. But here’s the thing: All of these medical metrics are only indirect measures of your health.