Yesterday, my boss and I had a conversation about what my job duties and responsibilities.

Administration. Communication. Assimilation or Connection.

This led me to think about how we view our Church Management Software.

As an administrative tool – it can be used in all areas. Some programs available offer, not only a way to track contributions, but a full accounting suite, with the ability to track both accounts payable and receivable. It can give your Administrative Assistant the ability to run custom reports (with accurate data) in minutes without having to look over and assimilate data from paper different data sources.

As a communication tool – it can be linked to your public web site. Calendar features can display images for events. Links can be added to register for events. It can be used to all ministry directors to schedule services and people.

As an assimilation or connection tool – it can be used to see who is attending – where and when. From a first time guest getting connected, to the new church member making a commitment, to a long-time member being commissioned to the mission field.

What is the primary way you use your Church Management Software?

If you had to fill in the blank, what would you choose?

(If my boss is reading: Communications.)

Recently, I learned of a church that had several ministry team leaders with advanced access to the software step down – all at the same time. Church leadership was faced with adjusting several levels of access on short notice.

There will be times when a staff member leaves or ministry team leaders are called to a different church or ministry.

Here are some things that can help you.

1. Have a written policy in place to address potential situations. Whether the church is staff-led or congregationally-governed, it’s important to have a written policy of who has access and at what level. Include what actions or behaviors will dictate immediate removal privileges. Having a written policy, approved by necessary parties, will help guide you when making somewhat difficult decisions. Let’s face it – it’s a church. These are your friends. There are times where it will be difficult to separate business from friendship.
2. That written policy should include who has access BEFORE a potential problem arises. There should always be an application process for software access. Include who has the authority to approve access.
3. Have one or two 24/7 people. Emergencies don’t always happen Monday-Friday 9-5. The people with the highest levels of access should know they may be on call 24/7.
4. In a case where people are leaving a ministry on good terms, have open communication and dialogue about their levels access and a timeline for phasing out their access.

People leaving your church or ministry is never easy. The need to make split-second decisions during what could be an emotional time can be easier if have a plan in place.

What access situations  have faced and how have you addressed them?

 

Congratulations! You may have just finished up your first Easter weekend experience – Good Friday. And chances are you’ve had guests. (I hope so!)

But you’re not sure you want to enter them into the Church Management Software with profiles. Those relatives who only visit once a year or the “chreasters” (people who only come on Christmas and Easter) could really skew your metrics if you don’t have a contingency for a membership type code.

There are two things that can save you.

1. Membership type codes – if you’re so inclined, develop a membership type code for occasional regular visitors. This means managing and sorting based on membership type codes when sending system-wide emails and eliminating those codes from metrics reports. This is an option, but not necessarily the one I recommend.
2.  Forms. I love forms for this purpose. Create a form within your software for internal use. In our case, we are having an Easter Egg Hunt and I’ll name the form “Easter Egg Hunt 2017.” We’ll be having a door prize give-away with registration cards to capture information. My form fields will match what’s on those entry cards. I’ll input as much information as I’m given into the form for each card. I’ll make sure no form submission verification emails are sent to the person submitting the form (the software won’t recognize me as filling out the form, but instead will try to pick up the email field as I’m transcribing information from the written entry cards). For marketing purposes, we’ll always be able to track who came. Appropriate leaders will have access. And if that event guest ever becomes a first-time guest on a Sunday morning, a regular attender, or – even better – a member, I’ll be able to link that original form back to their new profile.

Another benefit to a form submission is that we’ll have information on our neighbors and visitors to invite them back for future events. For example, guests at our community Easter Egg Hunt might also be interested in our summer VBS.

How are ways your church follows up after a community event?

Our next implementation phase required (and continues to) require a lot of grace, trust, and forgiveness. Basically, it just requires everyone to be Christ-like. Which shouldn’t be too hard for a Christians, right? Sure.

As the software administrator, I wanted a second-in-command. Someone who could figure this thing out if I dropped dead. At the moment I realized I needed this, I was sitting in the back of a mini-van, on a winding mountain road, sandwiched between a cement dividing wall and a semi-truck, with my 17-year-old son at the wheel. I texted my bosses and said, “Hey guys, someone else should have full access to this software other than me. Who – other than me – do you trust 100%?” They both gave me the same name. I upgraded that person’s permissions immediately. This isn’t someone I see day-to-day at the Church, but if I happen to run into him, and ask him about the software his usual response is he doesn’t check it. He doesn’t need to. He trusts me to manage it. I  have the confidence that if something tragic were to happen, there’s someone who can step in and have full access to everything I’ve done.

Although I don’t attend the Church where I work and serve, I have told them I’m accessible to them on  Sundays – on site if ever needed – and since the software is cloud-based, I can make most edits from my phone or laptop. However, if there’s ever a time when I can’t be accessible on a Sunday, I know there’s a back up person who I and my bosses can trust.

I’m also continually learning new things about the software.  Since I only had the trial version, plus a few weeks of the full version before implementation, I am still learning new things. I will sometimes call on one of few people I know to test a feature for me. I trust that they will give me helpful feedback on whether or not a feature is working and displaying correctly.

Grace and forgiveness. Sometimes – even when a feature has been tested, and re-tested – something just won’t look right. The ‘send’ button doesn’t send. The image doesn’t display the way I thought it would. There are people not in the system because no one told you those people existed and they hadn’t been on any other forms or documents that you’d entered. Something just doesn’t go perfectly. During those times, all I can do is ask for grace and forgiveness.

I’m grateful to have received both as we go through this process of progress together.

I’m not going to sugar-coat this. The first week did not go well. I expected that. I welcomed that. I also cried.

Let’s go back to the first decision.

I wasn’t convinced this software was going to meet all of their (our) needs. I am still convinced that we will outgrow this software. Already, I’m getting questions about it’s functionality and my only response is, “this software won’t do that.”

When it was time for our first day of implementation, there were some church members who had unmet expectations of the software (I took this personally).

The problem I had to address was that I had unrealistic expectations of some of the church members. My mind naturally thinks like a Church Management Software. So I assume that everyone thinks like I do. They don’t. That’s okay. But, I forget that sometimes.

One of my biggest challenges then (and continues to be) is that I don’t attend the church where I work. It was going to be difficult to train and guide them through software implementation without some hands-on training.

Initially, I spent 2-3 weeks manually entering names in the system, using a prior church directory and cross checking it with an export list from the old church management system. I asked my bosses 18,000 questions about who went with each family, if people were still around, still members, or if they should even be entered into the system. I created a form that people could fill out online to give me names of family members, dates of birth, and other demographic information.

I created test events and checked in our one and only “fake” user (we named him Crash Test Dummy and if you print out a church directory, he’s in there). I needed to make sure I was comfortable enough with the software and had enough familiarity to introduce it to other people.

Even after that, I had limited connections to the Church. The circle of people I know is limited. I had spent one Sunday on campus, but my circle was (and is) still limited to the people who check in children, the men who serve in the office, and a handful of others.

So, I once again, asked my bosses if it would be okay if I was there on a few Sundays. Once again, I was grateful they allowed me to be present. For seven consecutive Sundays, I was allowed to serve them on their campus.

I spent time with the children’s check in volunteers and when children had been checked-in, I switched gears and met the men in the office to help as they entered weekly financial information.

The first Sunday did not go well. There were problems. I expected them and I was grateful for the opportunity to address them. I still wondered if we’d made the right decision. And I cried. As the weeks went by, the problems became less. Finally, after seven weeks, everyone felt comfortable enough to be on their own without my presence.

I have talked to other churches and feel like the ‘proud parent’ when I realize we implemented in seven weeks.

If your church is in the implementation phase, here are some things you should remember:

• There will be mistakes and problems. You need to find those cracks in the system. If you don’t find them, you can’t fix them.
• You will lose sleep. You may also lose your sanity. And a few friends.
• You will work more hours than you could ever possibly imagine. No one may ever know how many hours you work. You probably won’t get paid for most of them. But God knows. And the rewards you are reaping will be eternal.
• You. Can. Do. This.
• It’s okay to tell someone, “this software doesn’t do that.” You had choices from the beginning. Not all software packages offer the same features. You chose the one you have and you need to work within in it’s structure.
• In the end, it will be one of the most rewarding things you do. If used appropriately and to it’s fullest extent, will make one of the biggest impacts on your church.

I didn’t know it all then. I still don’t, as I’m learning some aspects of this software along with everyone else. And software companies will continually release updates, and make changes to features. We also have recently launched a new web site with a new host and design company (don’t check it today. It’s not final until March 15, 2017), and email provider.

I’m grateful for a Church body that extends grace and allows me to learn new processes along with them.

 

Once we had decided on a new Church Management Software. It was time to start structuring it to meet our needs. Some ChMS systems are group-based, meaning events and people are always tied back to a group. Some are people-based, some are event-based.

Events needed to be entered into the calendar, rooms and room numbers needed to be added for scheduling purposes and people needed to be ‘tagged’ (the term that Breeze uses) based on their group and ministry participation.

My biggest challenge then (and this continues to be a challenge), is that I don’t attend the Church where I work. I probably know fewer than ten percent of the people who attend the Church. To put that in perspective for you, in a Church of 300, I would know fewer than 30.

I felt like a custom home builder who had been charged with building a home for a family they had never met.

So I set out to get to know the family. I asked my bosses if it would be possible for me to spend a Sunday on campus getting to know them and observing their ministry structure. Because my position description states that the person holding my position should not be a member or attender of the Church, I was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to truly get to know them and their processes. I was grateful when my bosses said I was welcome to join them that first Sunday morning. (I have had the privilege of being with them several Sundays since then. Although, here’s an interesting fact: I have never heard my boss preach live and in-person.)

I talked to the people checking-in families in the children’s area, and I watched the men in the office go through their normal procedures after taking up the offering.

After that initial Sunday morning visit, I spent the next few weeks reading about them as a Church body. I studied their by-laws and poured over past Church records and historical documents. I learned the correct verbiage (ie, small groups are called “Life Groups” and the sanctuary is referred to as the “Worship Center.”)

I was also intentional with my own language. ‘Their church’ or (to my boss) ‘your church’ became ‘our church.’ ‘You’ became ‘we’ as I set out to structure the software in a way that would best serve their (OUR) needs.

Spending this time, intentionally getting to know them, helped with organizing the software.

Having a good foundational structure, no matter which Church Management Software you are using, will help you as  your church grows and new people profiles and groups are added to the system.

 

I really like this article from Christianity Today. Read it all the way through to end.

My favorite Church buzzwords are: connections, assimilation, next steps, database, metrics, and follow-up. I really like seeing people connected and tracking numbers.

It’s what I do for fun. On weekends. In my free time.

Then this line jumped out at me.

This is not a church numbers game we’re playing. People’s lives and eternities are at stake.

Remember that every connection has the potential to lead to a life transformation. Have a great weekend!

If I could devote my life career to one thing, it would be Church Connections. I love my church (I love The Church – capital C).  There have been times in my life where I have needed things and my church family has been there for me in ways that my ‘real’ family was not.

Even better than my needs or my family’s needs being met, are the ways I can serve others. We all have gifts and talents and we all have a desire to serve and give. Turn on the news at Thanksgiving. You’ll see stories of people serving in shelters. Turn on the news at Christmas and you’ll see stories of toy drives and inspirational stories of people giving to others.We all want to feel like we’re a part of something greater than ourselves. We all want to see our lives as having purpose and significance.

How can we bring that to the local church? And, how can a Church Management Software be of use?

First, how do we bring the joy of serving to the church? Through technology or personal connections, you can find out where someone is gifted and talented. You can help them discover their spiritual gifts and find out what motivates them. Here are some questions I like to ask when meeting with a potential volunteer:

1. What gets you out of bed in the morning – what are the issues you are passionate about?
2. If you could work full time for a church, what would be your dream job?

Next, I go to my ministry team directors and ask them what types of people are needed for their team? What gifts, talents, and skill set does someone need to possess to serve on their team?

*Note: this is not a comprehensive list and there are some other factors, but this is a start.

Your Church Management Software can help you match people with ministries.  I’ll use CCB (Church Community Builder) as my example here because I think they do the best job at this.

A Ministry Team Director will build their positions.  Let’s say my position is door greeter and I choose what gifts, talents, and skills I’m looking for in a door greeter.

At the same time, the end-user is able to update their own profile and choose their gifts, talents, abilities.

These areas of the software can be customized for your Church using your language.

The Ministry Team Director can run a report to see who meets their needs and sort it based on percentage. (ie, this person meets 7 of your 10 qualifications, etc.)

If the position is an open/listed position, the end user can search ways to serve based on the gifts, talents, and abilities they’ve entered.

In a perfect world, the person will contact that Ministry Team Director who is probably already looking at a report with that person’s name on it. And now you’ve got the right person, filling the right position.

This is just an example of how CCB can be used.  With Breeze, I’ve chosen to build a custom form listing  our ministry teams.  Someone can fill out that form and the results can be sent to the team leader for personal follow up.

When it comes to serving, I don’t think a Church Management Software can ever take the place of personal interviews or the connection someone will have with their Ministry Team Director or with those with whom they serve. But it can help you take a step in the right direction and fill those gaps on your ministry teams.

How have you used a Church Management Software to help you with connections?

Event planning should always include a follow up plan. How are you following up with your visitors.

Your Church service should be no different. How are you following up with your first time guests?  How are you tracking the effectiveness of your follow up?

Nearly all church management software programs will include fields for ‘membership type’ (or similar wording).  Many offer automated process queues or follow-up alerts.

Use those features and allow them to help you better see where each person is in the process.

We’re answering the questions from yesterday based on case studies from actual churches.

Who is your software administrator – a paid employee or a trusted volunteer?

This will depend on your resources and structure.  Whoever has this position, there are four key elements:

1. Have a vetting process – check references.
2. Set clear expectations and boundaries – job description and parameters.
3. Grant authority – allow your administrator to make some decisions.
4. Be a champion – make sure other ministry team leaders are aware of the administrator’s authority to make decisions on software usage.

Read: Seth Muse’s blog post on 6 ingredients of a great volunteer.

Who has access to financial information?

This will depend on your church structure.  Above all, I recommend this be a very small circle.  Start with one person, and branch out from there, continually evaluating.  I know of one church of 300+ where every Deacon (volunteers voted to their position by the Congregation) has access.  I know of another church of 300+ where only 4 key volunteers have access, one of those volunteers is the Elder who oversees finance.

Software features will also dictate this.  A software based on role-based permissions will grant everyone with the same role, the same set of permissions.  For example, everyone in a Deacon role will have the same set of permissions.

A software designed for individual permissions will give  you that.  Church Community Builder will allow you to give permissions based on the person, rather than their role.

Who has access to basic information – names, addresses, phone numbers?

This is virtually an on-line director and will force you to answer another question – are you using this as an office productivity tool or do you want the congregation to use it for church communications.

In almost all Church Management Software programs, there are ways to partition what people see.  In some, this is done from the office/administrator role and in others, each individual user has the ability to set up their own communication and security preferences.

Who is using this for messaging? Have your driven communications into the hands of group leaders or is this a staff tool to help improve productivity?

Most software programs that offer role-based permissions will somewhat limit who has church-wide communication abilities and in some of these, permissions cannot be ‘stacked.’  For example, I’ve found using Breeze, that if I give all Children’s Teachers the same permissions to check in and view their students, but one of them needs additional permissions to create schedules and send messages, I need to create a different role just for that one person.

On the other hand, Church Community Builder offers person-based privileges to that I can modify the individual’s profile and set up the privileges they need.  CCB also offers group privileges.  I may be able to give one group leader the ability to publish their events on a public calendar (ie, a community outreach group), but another another group leader (ie, the church parking team), may not have that same ability.

What questions do you have regarding access and communications?