Software

Bob Goff founded a law firm, wrote a New York Times best-selling book and serves as the honorary consul for the Republic of Uganda. The guy gets things done. But every Thursday he quits something. We could learn something from Bob. Maybe your church needs to quit: Quit that social media account with three followers. Quit locking up your Wi-Fi with a password. Quit pretending email isn’t important. Whatever your church is struggling with, give yourself permission to quit.

According to SmartInsights, 85% of people prefer mobile apps to websites. That’s 85% of your congregation that would much rather engage with you and your collective vision through an app. But first, you’ll need a feature rich church app. Church apps are known to grow your weekly giving, engagement and unity, but what are the best ways to accomplish that growth? I’ve compiled the top 5 Growth Strategies we give our church clients after their app is finished as a way of helping you determine what exactly is needed in a quality church app:

While each Christian denomination has slightly different needs, Catholic churches have unique needs that are unique to their faith and require their own specific church software to adequately handle and 'speak' the language of Catholicism well. Over the years, several Catholic-focused church software solutions have emerged to serve this branch of Christianity specifically.

Does the form of Scripture affect the way that we read Scripture? While pixels (the digital Bible) are useful, print has surprising value. Years ago Marshall McLuhan famously said, “The medium is the message.” He proposed that the message in our words is shaped powerfully by the means we use to share those words. Bumper stickers might have truth, but who takes them seriously? The medium is never neutral. Here are four reasons I encourage print.

Planting a church is hard work. In the early stages, a small group of people handles the brunt of the workload. Sunday set-up, child care, budgets, communications, you name it. Resources may be low, but solutions are still necessary. Thankfully, technology can help ease some of the burdens.

Ministry Brands, a growing Christian software company, announced today it has acquired ACTIVE Network’s faith division, including its Fellowship One® software product that provides a suite of programs to smoothly integrate church administrative functions. By acquiring ACTIVE’s faith division, Ministry Brands adds more than 4,500 churches to its portfolio.

The core of a missional community is a group of believers who live and experience life together like a family. In a physical family, who live under one roof, keeping in contact amidst all the busyness can be a challenge. Extend that family beyond your household and keeping contact can prove problematic. Technology is a great way to unite the relational and organizational needs of a missional community. When applied strategically, it can deepen your relationships by keeping you informed about life issues and needs.

I am writing this during the weekend where much of the Northeast (and some of the Southeast) of the United States is reeling from a series of blizzards that dumped 18-30 inches of snow. I just received a message from one church regarding how they are cancelling service in order to maintain some of the wisdom of keeping folks off the road. And while I do agree with keeping folks from driving in dangerous conditions, many of our weather-cancellation messages just stop at "don't come out this week, we'll pick up next week."