Community begins with communication. Reaching people at the right time, the right place and with the right message is a powerful experience. As people become increasingly mobile, more opportunities arise to reach them. So strange as it may seem, a single, comprehensive parish church management solution coupled with the right digital tools and online resources can draw people closer together and forge meaningful relationships. It’s fast, easy and convenient to access anyone, anytime, anywhere. For parishes, everyone is a part of the team: pastoral care, staff, parishioners, and volunteers. Offering ways to connect your parishioners, track the Sacraments, and help staff do their tasks better, is exactly how a parish management software solution should be designed to help your community grow spiritually.
While there are a number of reasons why you’re better off with a robust Catholic church management software (ChMS), here are 7 ways your Parish & Diocese can benefit with ChMS:
1. Better Communication
Communication is a three-way street. You have messages to send. You want to hear back from your people. But you also want them to communicate and connect. There are many ways to send out messages to various groups, and your church management solution should provide a myriad of ways for your parishioners to interact with you and each other. From churchwide notifications, emails, and products to specialized lists, groups, teams using text, email, mobile apps, and group community tools – you’ll be giving your lay leaders the power to communicate all that matters in ways that deliver results.
2. Better Financial Contributions
Overcome the traditional hurdles of giving by offering eGiving. Look for a Catholic donation software that allows members to give at their convenience – 24/7 with flexible payment and mobile options. You’ll also want a ChMS to help raise money online for specific appeals, such as the Bishop’s appeal, building fund, or mission trips. A parish database software is affordable, gives your parish flexibility, and allows your parishioners to connect, engage, and continue on their spiritual journey together.
3. Better Scheduling
For example, there are three types of Masses in a church’s schedule: permanent Masses that are celebrated the same time each weekend, daily Masses that are celebrated during the week, and special Masses such as the Easter Vigil Mass that occur at a specific time and date. This can be streamlined with a church management solution because different groups of people can be assigned to each of these Masses for each minister, and you can indicate the type of Mass to which they are assigned.
4. Better Background Checks
A ChMS can provide security for your entire parish by
- Giving parents peace of mind knowing those caring for their children are properly screened.
- Protecting your parish’s sensitive information by avoiding improperly staffing your church.
- Maintaining the integrity of your ministries by screening your volunteers and those in leadership roles.
- Avoiding legal risks. Such as allegations of disparate treatment under Title VII laws, by producing results that are compliant with federal and local background screening laws.
- Reducing your ministry’s liability. Your parish can be held responsible for the actions of an employee or volunteer found unfit for their position.
5. Better Connection with the Diocese
Keep all of your critical diocese information updated and accessible. Eliminate hours of data entry by collecting records electronically. To facilitate effective fundraising and communications, it is vital to have consistent and accurate contact databases across your parishes and diocese. The right diocese church management solution will help your diocese to know and interact with your parish. Even as you grow and change.
6. Better Financial Reporting
Timely and accurate financial reporting is essential to the operation of a healthy parish and Diocese. Financial accountability begins with reliable and accurate data. Look for a reporting tool for parishes with an application for the Diocese to receive and consolidate the reports for easy review and analysis.
7. Better Payroll
Take the hassle out of preparing and managing your office’s payroll. Quickly prepare payroll for salaried, hourly, exempt, and contract employees. The right ChMS calculates all the necessary taxes and voluntary deductions. It also prints paychecks, and generates monthly, quarterly, and annual government and office reports. And with the simple reporting tool, you can create any number of reports about your employees. It also makes your end-of-month, end-of-quarter, and end-of-year processing much easier.
Effective Management
Clergy and parishioners alike have a desire to develop a deep prayer and sacramental life, to increase their knowledge of the Catholic faith, to grow in the virtues, and a desire to help others do the same. As your flock grows and changes, the technology will also expand to support this increase. To assess the purpose of Church Management Software (ChMS), is to also understand that it is an evolving collection of online tools. Tools that helps churches organize, automate, and manage their daily church operations while also focusing on the discipleship of current parishioners and a more concise way to share and spread the Gospel in the local community with planned outreach and consistent follow up.
Setting up an effective ChMS is an ongoing effort. Just as parishioner data needs to be updated and customized on a regular basis (births, baptisms, weddings, address & vocational changes, etc.). A freshening of software is necessary. Support, training, and consulting are critical parish software Catholic features – not only for a successful launch, but also for continued maintenance as updates roll out. Your ministry is growing and your technology should be an asset to stay connected with your flourishing congregants.
A Quality ChMS
It’s true that in the past, religious organizations have been slow to accept and acquire technology in its various forms. Ssuch as moving from printed parish life announcements to websites and emails. Or from singing a cappella to using microphones and sound systems. But that is changing. Interestingly enough, it’s estimated that 78% of churches even use a cloud-based church management system. Which means that downloading and storage space are definitely a thing of the past. It also confirms that modern technology plays a large role in the faith-based aspects of our lives.
Conclusion
There’s an increasing demand for more challenges to be addressed through Catholic parish database software. The partnership between a quality church management solution and your church helps to solve the security, organization, managing resources, financial accountability, parishioners membership and contributions, and outreach needs. Plus so much more. The benefits of ChMS are abundant.
Know & Grow: Many people may not put these two terms together – outreach and church growth. The reality is this; outreach should lead to church growth. Learn how to communicate properly and nurture your community and why that is vitally important for church growth.
For more information please visit ACSTCatholic.com.
Steve serves as ACS Technologies’ Vice President of Data. He has been with the company since 1982 and started in the programming department. Steve has a degree in management science from the University of South Carolina . And a master’s degree in Human Factors in Information Design from Bentley University.
ACS Technologies: With nearly four decades of experience in providing services and software to parishes, churches, and dioceses of all sizes, ACS Technologies has learned a lot. We’ve collected data. Gained vital information. And received thousands of first hand testimonials on best practices and methods that effectively help ministries most. It’s our goal to be a trusted resource to empower and grow your ministry the right way.
