How to Think About End-of-Year Giving

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Decorations are up, your Christmas sermon planning is in full swing, and in the midst of all the organizing and planning you have one more thing on your mind—end-of-year giving.

31% of charitable giving happens in December because for many donors this is the last chance to get their giving reflected on this year’s taxes, and for companies their fiscal year often ends in December.

Anywhere you look this time of year, it’s common to see organizations putting together one big push for donations before January 1. However, churches and church leaders can often feel deterred from talking about this topic too much for fear of being pushy, seeming ungrateful, or to focus on other important reminders during the holiday season.

While we want to be intentional about how we talk about finances, we also have a responsibility to think and talk about end-of-year giving in a way that honors our church’s mission and doesn’t let this opportunity go unnoticed.

Here are a few tips on how to approach end-of-year giving:

1. Talk about it.

There is a reason so many people and organizations have a big push at the end of the year. It’s not only the last opportunity to get donations in this calendar year, but this is also a major opportunity to practice a mindset of generosity. Around the Christmas season, we are surrounded by opportunities to “buy, buy, buy” that can shift our focus on what we don’t have rather than appreciate what we do.

But the true reason for the season is to celebrate the birth of Christ, recognize the hope we have, and practice giving generously out of gratitude of the gift we have received in Jesus.

You may have a fear that talking about giving in a public way may put undue pressure or an expectation on those who cannot afford to be generous. However, we have to remember that God works in everyone’s heart individually, and will lead each person individually. When we present the reasons giving matters in the ministry of the church, we can trust God to faithfully lead those in our congregation through how they should individually respond.

People can’t respond to a need if they don’t know the need exists.

2. This isn’t the only time to ask people to give.

While this is a great opportunity for giving, you can take some pressure off your shoulders by remembering that this isn’t the only time of the year that people can give. You have many faithful, monthly givers who donate year-round to support your ministry.

Take a deep breath and remember that this isn’t an all-or-nothing situation. It’s an opportunity we can leverage as much as possible and an opportunity to give people a chance to get involved with what God is doing in your church, but this isn’t the only time of the year you can invite your congregation to take this step.

READ: 5 Important Online Giving Statistics

3. Connect giving to a specific outcome.

What are people’s gifts going to be used for? People like to help you meet a specific need or fund a project. This also helps build excitement around your ministry and allows you to tangibly show people how their dollars help achieve the mission. You might consider connecting your end-of-year giving with a building project, ministry upgrade, or particular area of service so people can see something tangible their dollars will go towards.

There may also be years that you have a shortage in your budget from lower giving throughout the year. Make sure you communicate that need to your congregation. The majority of people won’t know you have a potential deficit if you don’t communicate it to them.

4. Incorporate storytelling into your messaging.

End-of-year giving isn’t just about soliciting donations; it’s a chance to celebrate what God has done through generosity in the past. This is an opportunity to talk about the heart of your ministry and even share some stories of the impact you have been able to have through generous giving in the past!

What stories can you focus on telling as you invite people to give generously?

READ: 5 Ways We Should Talk About Money at Church

5. 73% of church giving happens throughout the week.

You don’t have to push people to give only on Sunday mornings. In fact, many people do the majority of their giving during the week. This means that you should be including an opportunity to give in your emails, on social media, and even giving people a text reminder. These helpful reminders throughout the week with a direct link to where they can donate are a great way to lead people to take action whenever they are ready.

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The end of the year is a great opportunity to give people options to donate and practice generosity. As church leaders, we have a responsibility to talk about how people can get involved without guilting them into giving.

By following the tips above, you can start thinking about end-of-year giving in a way that is God-honoring and doesn’t let the timeliness of this season pass you by.

Do you need a church management system that can help you communicate with your congregation, organize volunteers, and lead efficiently? You can try One Church Software FREE for 14 days to see all the ways it can help you care for your members, empower your volunteers, and serve your community.

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Can You Use AI Effectively and Ethically in Your Ministry?

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In November of 2022, a tool called ChatGPT was launched for public use. It is an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot capable of having a conversation, composing music, writing fairy tales, generating business ideas, and so much more.

Have you heard of it?

Following its popularity, many other AI tools started popping up, and the subject quickly became a focus throughout society and across industries.

As a church leader, you may find yourself wondering, Does AI have any place in the church? After all, we certainly wouldn’t recommend using AI to exegete Scripture or determine the message God has for your congregation. However, there are several ways that churches can utilize AI in their ministry in a way that carefully enhances and supports leaders.

Here at One Church Software, we’ve talked a lot over the years about the value of automation. By automating repeatable tasks in your ministry, you are able to spend more time on the aspects of your role as a church leader that matter most.

Well, the same principle can be true of AI tools. It’s not about how these tools can do your work for you as a pastor; however, it’s worth considering how the tools available to you can support you in remaining consistent, productive, and focused on the most important tasks. As you free up time that previously had to devote to smaller routine tasks, this is about giving you more time to connect with God, connect with His Word, and connect His people to the message of the Gospel.

Read: 6 Processes You Should Automate in Your Church

So what are some principles for using AI effectively and ethically in the Church? Let’s dive in:

#1: Need Ideas or a List Made?

AI can often be great at making lists for you. This could be a list of social media post ideas for the month. This could also be something like a list of questions for small groups pulled from the transcript or outline of the latest sermon. While the generated response won’t be your final version, it can be a great place to simply get started.

In a tool like ChatGPT, an example prompt could look like:

  • “I lead a church in [location]. Next month, we have two main events that we will be promoting. Those events are [event] and [event]. I would like to put together a plan to post on social media every weekday and to promote those events a couple times before they take place. Please put together an example social media plan and calendar with some ideas for the month.” (Again, this would simply give you a draft to help you get started!)
  • “Below is the outline for the sermon I am giving on Sunday to my church. I need you to create 10 options for questions that a small group could discuss based on those notes.” (Take your pick and adjust as necessary!)

#2: Generally, Avoid Using AI-Generated Imagery

Particularly when it comes to AI-generated art, there are many in the art community who have spoken out negatively to AI systems for using existing art pieces to “train” the AI system without the permission of every respective artist. While there are arguments in both directions on this one, it’s wise to simply avoid it altogether for the time-being.

#3: AI is Great With First Drafts of Emails

Got an event coming up? Need to respond professionally to a general inquiry that came in through a contact form? If you give it the information it would need to formulate something accurate, AI tools are great at rough drafts of emails that you can then adjust.. From promotional emails to personal emails, this can be a great way to save time on the day-to-day of ministry.

An example prompt could look like: “On October 25, we have a worship night at First Example Church that will be focused on the idea of celebrating what God has done in our church this year. I need to write a friendly and inspiring email to announce the event to our congregation. I would also like to encourage them to invite their friends. I need you to give me a first draft of that email I could send.” (From there, adjust as necessary, but enjoy the time saved!)

#4: AI Can Pull Potential Sermon Clips for Social Media

Did you know that there are tools that will automatically pull clips from a longer video that are (potentially) compelling for use on social media? This makes sharing sermon clips fairly simple! A popular option is called Opus Clip, which automatically analyzes videos to identify the most compelling hooks and seamlessly arranges a longer video into cohesive short videos.

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We know pastors and church leaders carry a heavy workload and are vital to the overall health of their church. There never seem to be enough hours in the day to effectively minister to the people of your church. That’s why we put such a heavy emphasis on having systems and software around you that frees up your time to focus on what is really important – caring for your members, empowering your volunteers, and serving your community.

AI is just one tool that can be used in an ethical way to help you create time for the most important aspects of your role in your ministry. We hope these ideas have inspired you to try some of them for yourself!

If you don’t have a church management system or are considering switching, you can try One Church Software FREE for 14 days to see all the ways it can help you care for your members, empower your volunteers, and serve your community.

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The Simplest Way to Build an App for Your Church

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If building an app for your church is something you’ve looked into before, you likely know that in many cases developing a custom app from scratch can be quite expensive, which isn’t always the wisest investment for the average church.

This is why church app templates are an economical and popular option for churches wanting to offer all the features of a custom app but at a tiny fraction of the cost. The reality is that templated church app solutions are not all built the same, though.

There’s no denying that most church app templates allow you to provide a virtual portal to connect and stay informed with the going-ons of your church community. You might even be able to access event information, watch or listen to the latest sermon, and even set up your mobile giving.

But the majority of church app templates don’t connect to your current Church Management System (ChMS) so you can only get the full potential out of the app by manually updating each and every feature. As a church leader, your schedule is already maxed out with caring for your members, managing your volunteers, and serving your community, you don’t need yet another system that requires constant updating to manage.

“You don’t need yet another system that requires constant updating to manage…”

A great church app is valuable. Not only does it simplify communication, but it also ensures that everyone stays connected, informed, and engaged, while even having the potential to extend the reach of the church beyond geographical boundaries, ensuring that faith and fellowship travel far and wide.

There’s a Better Way to Build a Church App

Our priority here at One Church Software is to bring you all-in-one technology solutions for your church that allow you to focus on one thing—your ministry. One of the ways that we do that is by including our free app with all One Church Software plans. This app seamlessly syncs to your One Church Software account so there is no clunky management or combination of multiple softwares.

If you want even more options to go beyond the provided introductory design, we offer an app builder add-on for you to have more control over the navigation and design of your app. Integration and customization right at your fingertips.

Explore the My One Church App Details

All the Church App Benefits Without Unnecessary Work

There are many reasons your church can benefit from having an app. It can enhance the effectiveness of your work and magnify the impact of your ministry by putting tools directly in your church-goers’ pockets.

In One Church Software, this includes things like:

  • Push Notifications: By sending push notifications through an app, you have the ability to provide pertinent information and even lead people to take the next step.
  • Giving: Now, more than ever, people are using their phones to set up giving and respond to special offerings.
  • Sermons: Keep your sermon archives in one central location that is easy for others to enjoy and grow through. You can also offer free-form notes for people to follow along with your sermons live.
  • Pre Check-In: Pre Check-In allows members to check-in themselves or their children before arriving at the check-in kiosk. A scalable QR code is generated directly on the phone which allows for quick scanning and check-in after arriving at your church.
  • Groups: Your members will be able to search through a list of groups and sign up right from their mobile devices. All important details of the group are at their fingertips, so they can make the best choice from what is available.
  • And much more!

A church app can offer a virtual hub of activity and information to ensure that every member of the congregation stays informed about church events, prayer requests, and more.

The decision to offer this essential tool to your church shouldn’t come with a host of extra work to maintain it. Learn how One Church Software’s integrated app can support your church without creating additional workload!

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5 Tips for the Children’s Ministry Leader Navigating Fall Kick-off

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Children’s ministry directors, teachers, and volunteers are often the unsung heroes of your church. Each week they organize a host of volunteers, plan the teaching curriculum, and the same person that heads Sunday programs is often the same person that also handles summer ministries and Wednesday evening programs without skipping a beat.

As you make the shift from summer programs like VBS and return to your regular Sunday School, Awana, and any other fall programs, your team may find yourselves feeling excited and even a bit overwhelmed.

Before you get too deep into planning mode, we have a few tips to help you navigate your fall program kick-off with ease!

1. Remember the importance of what you do.

In all the hustle and bustle of planning, organizing, and more, it’s easy to lose sight of this important fact. There are several passages in Scripture that point to this. Jesus reminds of this during His ministry on earth and we should follow His example by recognizing the unique calling we have been given.

Mark 10:13–16:

“Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.

Mark 9:36–37:

And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.”

Proverbs 22:6:

Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.

2. Don’t be afraid to try something new.

It’s valuable to have tried-and-true resources and curriculum, but don’t let that stop you from trying something new this fall. There are a ton of great resources out there that can bring a fresh outlook to your fall ministry. You may just find a new favorite!

Explore. Innovate. Get excited about something fresh.

3. Make sure your volunteer roster is up-to-date.

Volunteers are a HUGE part of what makes your ministry function. Without them, you can’t be as effective or reach as many children with the Good News. 

Take a moment to check in with your volunteers and ask if they’re ready to renew their commitment to be a vital part of your ministry again this year. Update their preferred schedule and contact information so you can be sure to effectively communicate any changes or serving schedules throughout the year.

4. Share encouragement and resources with parents.

In addition to your ministry kick-off, parents are navigating new routines as their kids return back to school. This is often a high-stress season of the year for parents. Any resources, tips, and added encouragement during this time can go a long way in letting parents know that you care about them on the days of the week their children aren’t at the church

This is a great moment to send encouraging Bible verses, back-to-school tips, prayers, and more.

5. Remind volunteers how to help children move up to new grade levels.

The fall is a time when many children are moving to the next room in your children’s ministry and it is helpful to remind volunteers how to help children make that transition smoothly. It may also be beneficial to allow parents to bring their children early to tour their new room. Remember to make this a time of celebration as kids move up to their new grade!

This transition in your ministry is the perfect time to renew your calling to serve the children of your community. We hope these tips help you kick-off your fall children’s ministry well! We are cheering you on!

If you don’t yet have a Church Management Software, this is a great time to see how One Church Software can help manage every aspect of your children’s ministry from kids check-in to volunteer management. Try it out free for 14-days!

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7 Church Management Software Features for a Successful VBS

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With summer upon us, you’re likely knee-deep in planning VBS and your summer programs for both kids and adults! Or you may already be looking ahead to the plan for next year’s vacation bible school.

VBS is a great way to serve your city and minister to children and families, but we also know this encompasses a lot of staff, resources, and volunteers to pull off effectively.

That’s why One Church Software has tons of features to make sure your calendar is up-to-date, tables and chairs are where they need to be, and you have a volunteer team to help every step of the way. We’ve worked hard to implement every feature in our software that you need to have a successful VBS!

Kid’s Check-In

One of the first things on any parents’ mind is safety, which is why we have made it a top priority to make secure pick-up and drop-off standard practice. We even have space to highlight medical needs or allergies directly on check-in labels.

Kids Check-In is an important feature, whether you utilize it for your regular Sunday kids ministry and for all children’s summer activities!

Volunteer Organization & Communication

It takes a whole host of volunteers and staff to run a successful VBS. But managing those volunteers and making sure they are all on the same page can be a difficult task.

Just like the volunteer scheduling process in our software for Sunday services, you can organize volunteer efforts for events like VBS as well, assigning roles and communicating the flow of each day of VBS so volunteers can prepare as necessary.

Sending out volunteer-wide communication is a breeze with One Church Software as well. Instead of sending multiple texts and emails, you can communicate with everyone at one click of a button. You also have the ability to easily view the scheduled times and availability of all your volunteers to identify where you need to get extra help.

Online Calendar Coordination

Every event gets synced to the church calendar and can be displayed online with One Church Software. This means even if they couldn’t attend a Sunday service, parents and regular attendees can be aware of VBS, summer camp, and other church events.

And if an event is cancelled, delayed because of the weather, or changes location, alerts can go out to everyone that has registered or you can send a church-wide alert, so there is no confusion.

Room Reservation

Make sure you never double-book a room again! With room reservation, you can not only communicate how you need the room set up and ensure it is equipped with what you need, but you can automatically notify facility managers regarding new reservation requests.

When you reserve a room, it automatically syncs up with the church calendar to keep communication clear. Imagine arriving at a fully-equipped room with chairs and tables set-up exactly how you need them!

Resource Allocation

Need extra equipment or special tools? No problem. When you submit a room reservation request, you can see a complete list of all the resources your church has to offer. Simply add those resources when setting up your event or room reservation. Everything from chairs, tables, whiteboards, media carts, and more can be requested. Your set-up time just got cut in half now that you don’t have to spend time trying to find what you need the day of.

Safe Volunteers

In today’s day and age, running background checks on your volunteers is a necessity when it comes to working with children. We’ve made the process easy through our integration with Protect My Ministry. This fully-integrated service lets you order and manage background checks directly within our software.

With background requests typically completed within 48 hours, you can make sure you are doing your due diligence and protecting your members and children.

With thousands of ministries trusting Protect My Ministry, it’s the go-to option for churches in screening volunteers, staff, or your employees, and it’s all at your fingertips from within One Church Software.

Multiple Registrations in One Form

Registering multiple people in one submission makes the user experience much more seamless when registering children for VBS, summer camps, or children’s activities. This is a real timesaver, which is why we’ve added this feature to our forms! Not only will it allow you to process multiple entries at one time, but One Church Software forms can also have individual questions or fields for each person.

This means that you can do things like make suggestions on additional children to register, collect t-shirt sizes for each child, and automatically tally-up any necessary payments. (Learn more about this feature here.)

If you aren’t already using One Church Software, this is the perfect time to try out our FREE 14-day trial to see how these features make this year’s VBS a breeze! Get started today >>

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6 Tips for Church Leaders Navigating the Summer Slump

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As the warmer weather approaches, calendars fill up with vacations, sports, and other fun activities to take advantage of the summer sun! If you are a church leader, you have probably seen how this season impacts attendance at your church.

This dip in attendance is commonly referred to as the “summer slump.” Churches see attendance hit an all-time low as the snowbirds return to their summer homes, college students travel back to their home states, and parents are looking for ways to occupy their kids during the break from school.

Even after years of recognizing this as “normal,” this can be a discouraging reality for leaders. We can start to see it as a setback rather than an opportunity. We can focus in on the stark difference from where we may have been a month ago in comparison to where we are now.

While you can’t bypass the summer slowdown/slump altogether, we’ve got a few tips for church leaders to help deal with the summer slump and prioritize your church calendar:

1) Set Realistic Expectations

This is first for a reason. It’s important that you intentionally don’t become discouraged when you see the summer slump start to impact your attendance.

It truly is normal for the large majority of churches to see a dip in attendance, and it is in some ways unavoidable. By setting realistic expectations, you can guard yourself against feeling major disappointment or discouragement when those numbers start to dip.

Your expectations and goals may even need to change over the summer months in comparison to the rest of the year. You may find yourself targeting different types of goals during this season (such as vision clarity, team growth, or digital ministry milestones rather than attendance metrics).

“Even after years of recognizing this as ‘normal,’ this can be a discouraging reality for leaders. We can start to see it as a setback rather than an opportunity.”

2) Get Creative with Your Ministry

During the summer months, it might be difficult for some people to show up on a Sunday morning consistently. But that doesn’t have to mean they want to be disconnected from their church community during this time.

Look for ways to minister to your members and community outside of your prescribed service times. Look for local festivals, events, and service projects that you can participate in as a church and have a presence at to invest in the community.

This typically requires creativity, and that can be an exciting opportunity for you and your team to problem-solve together. Rather than focusing on the question, Why aren’t our people showing up right now?, we can focus on, What creative opportunities are there to show up for our community in a fresh way right now?

3) Prioritize Digital Ministry

If you haven’t already, this is a great time to consider digital ministry options that people can partake in whenever it fits their schedule. Some questions to ask: How can we add value to people’s spiritual life through a digital ministry? Can we provide resources for a family worship night? Or maybe bite-sized devotionals that can easily be done in 5-10 minutes? The possibilities are endless to provide alternative ways to keep people connected to your church online.

This is a great time to be reminded of the reality that digital ministry is not “second-rate” ministry. When we can show up in meaningful ways in the places that our congregation and community are spending time, we have the opportunity to make a real difference in their day-to-day life. That’s exciting!

4) Make Giving Accessible

Just because people are less likely to be physically at your church every week over the summer doesn’t mean that they don’t want to give regularly. Make sure your giving is accessible to those members with busy schedules.

Online giving is a great way to provide flexible options to your members, whether they want to give once or set up a recurring monthly gift. Make sure your members know online giving is an option before the summer slump is in full swing!

READ MORE: How to Know if a Church Giving Solution is Secure

“Just because people are less likely to be physically at your church every week over the summer doesn’t mean that they don’t want to give regularly.”

5) Plan Ahead for the Fall

Remember all those times that you’ve wanted to do some strategic planning, but have felt too “in the weeds” of the day-to-day requirements of church leadership?

This might just be your opportunity!

With a decrease in attendance, the summer slowdown is the perfect time to review and plan for the Fall and the vision your church should be pursuing moving forward.

Set aside some time to review any systems you currently have in place and see if there is a way to improve them. When involvement gets more consistent, how will your ministry need to change? What initiatives need to be planned out now to be most effective? What goals and milestones feel important for the church as a whole to pursue and champion together? What major areas of growth do you and your team have?

6) Provide Special Events for the Whole Family

With children out of school and one or both parents working, it can be difficult to find events the whole family can enjoy. Take note of the demographic of your church: Do you have more families, singles, or young couples? Then look around to the demographics of your community: What kinds of events will serve your community best?

Depending on what you find, you might consider offering VBS, movie nights, water park days, or picnics in the park. By offering events that help bring the family together, you can make sure connecting with your church feels beneficial to those you’re trying to reach and doesn’t feel like another obligation to fill-up their busy calendar even more.

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The summer slowdown/slump can be discouraging if you aren’t prepared for this season and don’t adjust what your church offers to support your community. If your church needs help setting up online giving or adding systems to be better prepared to get back into your stride in the Fall, now is the perfect time to try out a demo of One Church Software.

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How to Choose a Church Management Software

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So you’ve decided to look into a church management software (ChMS), but aren’t quite sure where to start? When trying to decide which ChMS is right for your church, there are a few things you need to consider.

You do a lot for your church. Your responsibilities include managing volunteers, leading your staff, event planning, keeping your website up to date, adding events to the church calendar, staying in constant communication with your members, and so much more. With such a wide range of responsibilities, you need to pick a ChMS that can do just as much as you do!

But when it comes to deciding which management software is the right fit for your church, there’s a lot to consider. Not every ChMS offers the same features and some have expensive add-ons to use all the bells and whistles. 

So here are four major things you need to consider when choosing a church management software:

Security

It is the 21st-century and the days of giving your tithes by check or cash are gone for the majority of churchgoers. That means your church needs to offer the ability to give online. But the number one concern when it comes to online giving is security.

You don’t have to be an expert in online security or know all the lingo and latest vulnerabilities in fraud, but an easy way to confirm security is to check to make sure the system you’re considering is a PCI-Compliant Service Provider (like One Church Software). PCI stands for Payment Card Industry and they represent the highest set of security standards in the industry.

Here at One Church Software, our giving platform uses 256-bit SSL technology for data transactions. All personal, credit card, and bank information is submitted using 256-bit encryption. There is no stronger form of protection than this encryption.

Read More: How to Know if a Church Giving Solution is Secure

Customer Service + Training

Regardless of which ChMS you choose, you will have questions along the way. Whether you need help setting up a feature, contextualizing a feature for use, or reporting an issue you’re running into, you’ll want to know in advance that you can get help.

Check to see what contact options each church management software offers before you buy. Do they have a phone number where you can access support easily? A chat feature? A good test is to try their support contact information and see how quickly you get a response.

You should also double-check to see if they offer training for the software or if they have an online help center. (This is also a great way to get a look under the hood before you commit!)

Integration & Functionality

There are some features every church should have like volunteer management, kid’s check-in, event management, and service planning. One of the mistakes often made when choosing a ChMS is picking one that only does one thing or requires costly add-ons to get access to additional features.

When you choose a ChMS with too few features, you typically end up with numerous monthly fees and have to spend extra time learning a new system each time. With an all-in-one solution, you’ll only need to learn one system and it will likely have all the features you’ll need as well as some others you didn’t know you needed.

Some additional functionality to look for is automation, room management, group management, and communication management. You want the software you invest in to work for you!

Consider Cost and Efficiency

For a ministry, cost is often at the top of the list (and sometimes it is the entire list!) when considering which ChMS to get. That is completely fair!

While cost should certainly be a factor, be sure to balance that out with the value and efficiency a church management software will bring you. Have you ever tallied up the number of hours you spend individually contacting your volunteers? Or making a schedule and then re-making it? How long does it take each week to plan out a service, link music, and share it with your team? What gets forgotten in the midst of sermon planning each week? A good ChMS will save you hours on behind-the-scenes tasks so that you can focus on what you do best—connecting and encouraging people.

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Start your search with One Church Software and benefit from our all-in-one solution which includes volunteer management, kid’s check-in, background checks, online and text-to-give giving options, service planning, small group management, sermon archives, push and text notifications, automation, and more! You can try One Church Software for free for 14 days, no credit card required.

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How to Create a Guest Follow-Up Workflow for Your Church (w/ Email & Text Template)

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As a church leader, you know how important it is to follow-up with new guests. Without these touchpoints, someone could easily slip through the cracks before truly getting to know if your church is the right place for them.

To borrow insight from the business world, it is widely accepted that closing a sale takes a minimum of about 6-8 interactions. And a study by The University of Kansas quantified how many hours it takes to move from a mere acquaintance to a casual friend. The result was an astounding 50 hours spent together. 

It should come as no surprise, then, that when it comes to creating effective guest follow-up systems, you need to have several interactions planned to connect with people in a thoughtful way. We can’t expect deep connection to form if we aren’t prioritizing multiple interactions with guests.

But what should that look like?

To help you get started, we are providing examples of what a good guest follow-up workflow looks like using One Church Software. After guest information is collected by your physical or digital visitor card, we encourage you to use these examples and templates to set up your own guest follow-up in your church management system or by trying our free trial!

Welcome Email

The first thing you will want to do is input the data (if you have collected the information on a physical form) and check to be sure everything has been formatted correctly. This means double-checking to be sure their name is capitalized and you have a complete email or physical address. You don’t want to miss out on a potential relationship because there was a typo in their email of “gmail.co” instead of “gmail.com”.

Your first interaction should often be in the form of a welcome or thank you email. A good welcome email thanks visitors for attending and provides helpful links as well as ways to get connected further.

(Pro tip: You can also let guests determine how they’d like to be contacted through options in your first-time guest form. For example, if someone were to select “texting” as their preference, you could have an automated workflow that sends a welcome text instead.)

Here’s an example of what your welcome email might look like:

Hello [FIRST NAME],

Thank you for visiting one of our services! We hope you enjoyed your time worshiping with us and that it nourished your soul.

We know finding a church to call home can be a difficult task, so we’ve provided some helpful links to help you get connected easier and to help you know more about us:

  • LINK TO EVENTS PAGE
  • CONNECT WITH A PASTOR
  • HOW TO JOIN A SMALL GROUP

As you go through your week, we hope it is encouraging to know that I and the rest of our staff are praying for you! If there are any questions we can help answer or ways we can serve you, please let us know.

YOUR NAME
000-000-0000

Feel free to use this template as you create your own guest follow-up workflow, but don’t forget to add any relevant links and make it sound like your own.

Schedule Pauses Between Communication

No one likes to get blasted with one communication after another. That’s why we’ve made it possible in One Church Software to plan pauses in communication so your workflow will have a more natural cadence to it.

We recommend you add at least 2-3 days between most communication. This allows for appropriately paced follow-up that doesn’t feel overbearing.

Send a Text

For some people, email is harder to respond to or might seem more formal. That is why it can be valuable to use several different methods of communication in your workflow. Texts are typically a bit more on the personal and informal side so it might sound something like this: 

Hey NAME! This is YOURNAME from CHURCH. I wanted to personally reach out to see what you thought about your visit last Sunday. Here if you have any questions or feedback!

You might even add a call-to-action or a link to a form they can fill out to sign-up for a group or a class, somewhere they can find more information, etc. Just like this:

You may recall hearing about some of the new groups starting-up soon. You can learn more about those here: [LINK]

Assign Additional Follow-Up to a Key Leader

If you have a Guest Experience Coordinator, Discipleship Pastor, or if you know some of the guest’s interests or stage of life, it can be a good idea to have an associated leader reach out personally after some time has passed.

Let’s say that you know this guest has young children because they were in your children’s ministry. You could take this opportunity to assign a task to your Children’s Coordinator to reach out to them and tell them about the different children’s events going on.

(Pro tip: Task assignments like this can be automated in One Church Software as well!)

By having a key leader reach out to a guest, you are helping them make genuine connections with additional people within your church.

A Few More Guest Follow-Up Tips to Keep in Mind

  1. Be ready to respond! The goal of automating an effective guest follow-up system is to sustainably engage new visitors in a meaningful and consistent way. There will be people who don’t engage with the follow-up, but be prepared for people to respond! We want to be quick to return emails or texts as people engage back with us.
  2. Don’t go overboard. A great guest follow-up system is clear and is intentionally crafted to not be overwhelming. Too many messages will start to get annoying, which is why it’s crucial to have clarity about what you’re trying to accomplish and respect when people are choosing not to engage further.
  3. Know what next steps you want people to take. What next step are you trying to lead new people towards? Signing-up for a group? Taking a class? Grabbing coffee with a staff member? Keep that purpose and goal top-of-mind as you’re crafting follow-up material so it’s clear to the people being contacted as well.

And there you go! Just incorporating some of the suggestions here will give you 3-4 interactions with a guest that you can already have planned out in addition to their experience in-person. While we can’t automate a full 50 hours of interactions to help form deep relationships, automating the first few steps will allow follow-up with guests to happen in a timely manner, save you the time of having to repeat regular tasks, and help lead towards that genuine connection between new people and your church.

If you don’t have a church management system or are considering switching, you can try One Church Software FREE for 14 days to see all the ways it can help you care for your members, empower your volunteers, and serve your community.

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Get the Most Out of Our Software with the Learning Center

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As a church leader, you have one of the most important jobs in the world: Leading a team to help your community take their next steps with God. With such an important job, how you structure your ministry and organize your efforts matters deeply in your ability to be effective.

One of the biggest reasons churches don’t feel like they could update to a Church Management Software (ChMS) is because it can feel like it’s too difficult to learn and set-up. Understanding it can feel like a hurdle to implement a ChMS or transition to a new software, we strive to provide every resource to make the transition as smooth as possible.

One Church Software is an all-in-one technology solution but our goal isn’t just to bring your church up-to-speed. The goal is to help you care for your members, empower your volunteers, and serve your community, just as Christ calls you to. In order to do this, we offer best-in-class customer service that can help you overcome any obstacle you might encounter.

As part of that customer service, we want to make sure you know about our Learning Center. This holds frequently asked questions, tutorials, and deep dives on a variety of functions available in One Church Software.

The topics covered include:

  • Contacts
  • Contributions
  • Accounting
  • Groups
  • Events
  • Check-In
  • Rooms & Resources
  • Forms
  • Connections
  • Mobile App (App Builder)
  • Reporting
  • Automation
  • Sermons
  • Service Planning
  • Volunteer Scheduling
  • Communication

Under each section, you’ll find videos just like this one:

Additionally, under each section, you’ll find links to help articles that answer specific questions about the software, such as:

Explore the Learning Center

If you are still considering a ChMS, the Learning Center is the perfect place to get familiar with all the features as you test out our free demo. And if you already have One Church Software, be sure to check out these topics and more!

We know that setting up a ChMS can seem like a daunting task, but with the right support team and resources, it doesn’t have to feel that way. Regardless of where you are at implementing a ChMS, we are here to help! Give us a call or check out the Learning Center for yourself. 

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7 Common Issues with Church Websites

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It’s 2023, so your church has likely had a website for quite some time! But did you know there are common issues that may be deterring visitors from your church’s website, or communicating messages you don’t want to be sending? Thankfully, there are simple checks you can do to see if these obstacles are impacting your website.

1. Missing Service Times or Physical Address

Helping people get connected to your weekend services is typically a primary push for church websites. However, it’s very common for us to take a look at a church website and not be able to find a physical address for the church or the times services take place. Let’s remove barriers by making sure that information is as accessible as possible!

For any website, it’s pretty common to list a physical address in the footer (the bottom of each page) of the website and on a contact page if you have one. Those are likely the first places people will look. You may consider putting service times near where your address is listed as well as on the header (the top) of your home page so they can’t be missed.

2. SSL Certificate Errors

It may sound complicated, but it’s actually super simple to check if you have an SSL Certificate Error. Check your browser’s address bar right now (if you don’t know, the address bar is where you type in the web address). There is a locked padlock to the left of our web address of onechurchsoftware.com. That locked padlock is a sign that the information shared through the website has been encrypted. This is especially important if you offer online donations, but it is also the industry standard for almost any website nowadays. If you don’t see that locked padlock, you’ll want to get in touch with your website hosting provider or try checking your site through https://www.whynopadlock.com.

3. Outdated or Inaccurate Privacy Policy

Another important consideration for your website is, if you collect any sort of information from visitors to the site, then you are required to have a privacy policy. And even if you aren’t required to have one, it’s still a good idea. By having a customized privacy policy, you show visitors that you are good stewards of their information. If you need some help coming up with a customized privacy policy or just want some more information, we recommend checking out this article.

4. Sermon Archives are Difficult to Find

Do visitors have to click more than three times to find where your sermon content is located on your website? If so, then it’s too hard to find. When visitors want to get a taste of your church or if members want to catch up on sermons they missed, it’s important to make them easy to find and well organized. If you utilize our sermon archive through One Church Software, then we’ve already done the hard work for you to keep your Bible teaching organized and easily accessible for others to enjoy. One Church Software also integrates with YouTube and Vimeo to make video hosting a breeze.

5. Target Audience and Next Steps are Unclear

Many church websites tend to talk to insiders first, instead of targeting people who are not yet a part of your community. And even when church websites target the right audience, the next steps to get connected are often unclear. Should they be reaching out for more information, “Planning a Visit,” signing up for a resource, watching a sermon, or something else?

Be sure to define the next steps you are wanting to lead people towards, and make those next steps as clear as possible on your church’s website.

6. There’s No Contact Form or Clear Contact Information

If people have questions, we want it to be as easy as possible for them to reach out and get those questions answered. The most common way for that to take place on websites is through a contact form (or something similar, like a chat function—that’s what we use here at One Church Software).

In addition to a form, making sure your contact information (phone, email, address) is clear limits frustration and ensures that people can get in touch with your church easily when they need to.

7. Your Website is Disconnected From Other Tools

While this may not only relate to your website, integration across all the tools your church uses saves you a lot of time and makes you more effective in ministry. Too many churches are using different tools for everything from registering for a special event, email sign-ups, event management, volunteer organization, texting software, and online giving. Having to maintain that many systems can get exhausting. Not to mention that it can create confusion and makes it difficult to manage all those systems.

One Church Software is an all-in-one system that connects everything together. If you don’t already have a church management software or if the one you have doesn’t take the place of additional tools, try out our free demo video to see how One Church Software can help.

You don’t have to be a tech wiz to have a website that welcomes visitors and serves your current members. By making sure your church website doesn’t have any of these common issues, you can rest easy knowing that it shows care to your members and guests and points them to resources that can connect them to the life of the ministry.

If you found any of these issues with your website or want some help getting an all-in-one technology solution to help you care for your members, empower your volunteers, and serve your community, we’d love to connect. Give us a call at 855.932.2060 or take advantage of our free trial.

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