8 Top Features Churches want in a Church Management Software
Churches are not just communities of faith where Christians come to worship. They are also complex business organizations who need the right tools to help with administrative tasks and keeping up with key metrics and data. For a church to grow, they need the right tools and software in place.
Church management software is one of the most important decisions a church will make. There are lots of different systems on the market, but it’s important to pick the right option for your church.
Over the past year, these are the most desired features for churches who are searching for church software.
1. The Database (People & Families)
This is the backbone of the entire software. This is where you keep track of all your people and their personal information, such as gender, birth date, address, and contact information. It’s also important to be able to group people together in family units.
2. Events & Attendance Tracking
You’ll want to be able to add your events, church services and groups to a calendar so you can see a clear view of what’s coming up. You’ll also want to be able to input attendance for each of your church services. Whether your church does person-by-person attendance or a simple head-count, it’s one of the most valuable metrics you can track. Your church software should give you the ability to access reports and charts showing recent attendance trends.
3. Texting & Email
Communication is a vital factor for churches. It’s so important to be able to easily send a text message or email to a person or group of people. Some church management systems allow you to sync with texting services and email platforms, but some systems have texting and email built-in, which is the best option.
4. Online Giving
Digital Online Giving has become more and more important over the past few years. People carry cash and checks less, and want to be able to automate their donations by setting up recurring contributions. A few of the top church management systems have online giving built-in, so you can simply get the code for your giving form and embed it onto your website. Features like Text-to-Give and Kiosk-mode make it easier for your members to give.
5. Kids Check-in
Another popular feature churches are looking for is Kids Check-in, which allows your team to check kids in when they arrive at your churches Kids Ministry area. You can print off security labels for the kid and the guardian, to make sure the right person is picking up each child.
6. Guest Follow-up Automation
Guest follow-up has always been important to church leaders, but more and more, the “automation” part of guest follow-up is the key feature. Church leaders want to be able to setup a series of actions (a workflow), then let the software automatically send texts, emails and creating assignments to their team/staff. Automated follow-up is a feature which will give you peace of mind, and save your team tons of time.
7. Mobile Access
In today’s world, having mobile access to your data is a must. It’s incredibly helpful for Pastors to be able to access phone numbers and family info on-the-fly. Having a church management system with mobile apps for iPhone and Android users will help your team stay connected and engaged, and make sure they’re never caught without the info they need at their fingertips.
8. Support
There’s nothing worse than getting started with a new software tool, getting stuck and not having any support. Lots of software companies will have you create a support ticket, but then you have to wait on a reply. Find a company who offers quick and helpful support, so you can get the help you need fast and friendly.
