Tag Archive for: security

You may wonder if using a check-in station is the right call for your church. It may seem like it’s just a fancy new piece of technology that is nice, but is it really necessary?

The truth is that the purpose of using check-in system software is not just about technology; it’s actually to make it easier to reach and serve your community, and easier to manage the day-to-day life of your church.

Check-in stations have a number of benefits that provide connection, organization, and safety, and help you stay prepared to make a connection with the people you are called to serve. From checking kids in to your children’s ministry all the way to tracking attendance at special events or classes, here are five benefits a check-in station offers your church:

Benefit #1: Keep Your Children’s Ministry Secure

Whether the child care you are offering is for a special event or as a part of your regular Sunday morning service, there is no other place in your church where security matters more. With easy check-in, you’ll know who the child’s guardian is, the child’s name, and any dietary restrictions all on one label! This ensures that only an authorized adult can pick up the child.

If you ever need to look back at a full attendance roster for a service, or past attendance for a specific child, the system makes it really easy to track that information down.

Benefit #2: Track Attendance

Some churches use a check-in station to track attendance for their Sunday services, and some use it only for special events and classes. Either way, this is a huge benefit to a check-in station that allows people to check-in as they come in.

For special events, if you utilize a pre-registration, tracking the event attendance using a check-in station will allow you to compare the number of people that registered versus those who came to the event. Having attendees check-in at the event will also allow you to send follow-up emails and helpful resources only to the people who that information would apply to, and automatically print labels or name tags necessary for that event.

Benefit #3: Helps Identify New Guests

Church can be a busy place, especially if you have kids running about or are busy keeping a big event organized. With event check-in system software, you’ll know exactly who came to your event and be able to narrow down who wasn’t part of your regular attendees. So in the case you aren’t able to make a personal connection at the event, you can still send them a special follow-up afterward.

Benefit #4: Advance Registration for Events

One of the toughest parts of planning for an event is knowing how many people to plan for. With advance registration, you can collect an accurate number of how many people to expect, as well as compare that number with the number from your event check-in. If you have any conferences or events where there is a fee to attend, you are able to easily add that into the advanced registration.

Benefit #5: Provides Valuable Data

Coordinating events is more than just getting them scheduled in the calendar. You also need to know how many kids to expect (if you are offering childcare), how many volunteers you’ll need to watch the children, and how to set up your space for the amount of attendees expected. If you have a weekly event, a check-in station provides valuable data to tell you how many people are regularly attending, and the average number of children, so that you can properly prepare and adjust for the next event.

These are just a few of the benefits that come with having a check-in station at your church! The goal of utilizing a tool like this is to improve the experience for guests at your church, make organization easier for you and your team to manage, and allow you to connect more easily with the people in your church.

Interested in how One Church Software’s check-in station integration and all-in-one church management software could support your ministry? Learn how it works.

The world seems to be moving at lightning speed. The days of passing an offering plate to collect cash and paper checks are pretty much obsolete. With this shift to more convenient ways to tithe like text-to-give, online giving, and in-app donations, the security of user information has to be top-of-mind.

But how do you know what is truly “secure” and why is prioritizing security a key part of stewarding your church’s resources?

Safe Giving Options

47% of Americans experienced financial identity theft in 2020 and among the top five kinds of theft were online shopping and payment account fraud. Protecting your identity and credit card information has become a necessity for everyone. The last place anyone should be remotely worried about their data being stolen is at church.

Nonprofits and churches alike are (and should be) characterized by trustworthiness. The members of your church don’t just tithe because God tells them to do so, they also give because they trust you to steward their resources well. And part of good stewardship is protecting their data.

Just like in the days when you made sure there were always multiple ushers tallying up the weekly tithes, it’s wise to do your homework to make sure the electronic giving solution you offer is secure.

How to Know if Giving Software is Secure

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 have 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.

You should also check into the level of encryption any giving software offers. In short, encryptions are when your data is changed to a code that can only be read when you have the “key.” The higher the number of bits, the tougher it is to crack the key to get access to the data. Back when encryptions were first introduced, it was common to see 56-bit encryption. To compare, One Church Software uses 256-bit encryption, the strongest form of protection you can find in the industry today.

Additionally, here are some security measures we take pride in prioritizing:

  • Data is backed up every night to servers across the globe and redundantly stored securely. We store up to 6 months worth of back-ups.
  • We run server scans and perform penetration tests regularly.
  • User passwords are one-way hashed and salted so no one but the user knows what it is (not even we know what it is).
  • All access to the system is controlled via a robust and flexible permissions system so users can only see and edit data they are allowed to.

When it comes to your church’s giving, it’s important to pick a ChMS (Church Management Software) that takes security and stewardship just as seriously as you do. It’s an investment to protect personal, credit card, and bank information; however, when it comes to giving faithfully, secure solutions also provide the confidence and assurance of safety to each one of your members.

We know taking the step to start using a church management software can feel like a big one. Our team has worked with hundreds of churches and church leaders to help make the switch. If you aren’t sure if your church’s electronic giving solution is currently secure or would like to find out how One Church Software would support your ministry, give us a call at 855.932.2060 or watch a software demo at your own pace.