Coming of Age Web-based Church Management Software Continues Its Evolution, September 2008, NACBA Ledger
Although Church-management software has been around for nearly 30 years, it has certainly evolved during that time. Today churches have many options when choosing a new church management software system (ChMS), and one of the fastest-growing options is the Web-based ChMS.
In The Beginning Web-based ChMS has been available to church leaders for more than ten years. In 2000, in an article written by Phill Martin for this very publication, he referenced Application Service Providers (ASPs), the technical term for Web-based software, as the “buzz of the computer community that has been driven by the Internet age.” He went on to say, “this new concept of outsourcing the tasks of data storage, software upgrades, backup, and systems configuration has the potential to greatly simplify the work of the administrator.” There were also, however, some very real concerns for church administrators. One of the biggest concerns was the Internet connectivity of small and emerging churches and how they were (or were not) using the Internet in the church’s everyday life.
In 2000 (8 years ago now), according to a study completed by the Pew Internet American Life Project of more than 1,300 churches nationwide on Internet use, 83 percent viewed the Internet as a good way to encourage visitors to attend; 77 percent Coming of Age Web-based Church Management Software Continues Its Evolution posted mission statements, sermons, and other text concerning faith; 76 percent had links to denomination and faith related sites; 60 percent had links to scripture studies or other devotional material; and 56 percent posted schedules, meeting minutes and other internal communications— not exactly cutting-edge technological uses.
Another roadblock to using a Web-based ChMS back around 2000 was a concern about security of information. At the time, having a secure communications channel was the first step, followed closely by being able to ensure that only the proper individuals had access to the church’s information. But things have changed drastically in just a few years. Today, churches regularly use the Internet not only to keep their members up-to-date on church happening, but also to podcast sermons, stream services to satellite locations city-, state-, nation-, and world-wide, and connect with missionaries on a daily basis. Additionally, church members are using the Internet for their personal banking, keeping in touch via email, posting their family photos online for relatives and friends, etc. What was once a technology that only the largest of churches employed, is now utilized at least to some extent by church administrators no matter what their congregational size may be.
Growing Up Flash forward to 2008 and you can also see there are many reasons for the increase in popularity of the Web-based ChMS. One of the most influential is the proliferation of the Internet and technology in our everyday lives. For instance, the Barna Group offers these statements from its latest technology study completed in late 2005 (which is still almost 3 years ago now):
- Currently, three out of every ten Americans own a laptop or notebook computer (30%);
- One in seven Americans has a palmtop, pocket computer, or PDA (15%);
- Two-thirds of households (67%) have Internet access at their home, compared with 50% in 2000; The percentage is the same among born-again Christian households.
And, according to a Barna Group study just conducted in April 2008, the ways in which churches are reaching out to people over the Internet also are expanding. Back in 2000, just one-third of Protestant churches (34%) had a church Web site. That exploded to 57% in 2005, and has inched upward since then to 62%. About half of the small churches (48% of those drawing less than 100 adults) have a church Website, compared to three-quarter of the mid-sized churches (75% of the congregations attracting 100 to 250 adults per week) and nine out of ten larger churches (91% of the churches with more than 250 adults attending).
One out of every four Protestant churches (26%) now has some presence on one or more social networking sites (such as MySpace). Again, church size was a factor in this with larger churches being more than twice as likely to have such a presence (20% vs. 47%).
“The Internet has become one of the pivotal communications and communitybuilding tools of our lifetime. Churches are well-advised to have an intelligent and foresighted Internet strategy in order to facilitate meaningful ministry,” Barna commented.
Another reason that Web-based applications have become more popular for church business administrators is the tearing down of boundaries between work and home. As more and more businesses allow employees to work from home, the boundaries that have been in place for decades are no longer necessary and church leaders are feeding off this trend. Web-based ChMS also allows church administrators more ways to delegate and stay connected to small-group leaders and lay volunteers in ways previously unavailable.
Web-based ChMS encourages leader (staff as well as lay leaders) management instead of placing the burden on one or two people and allows more people to be involved. For church administrators, there are other financial impacts that a Web-based ChMS
offers including the removal of the burden on the church’s IT department, unlimited access to users from any Internet connection, and a total package of integrated services that make real sense for ministry.
Web-based ChMS moves the burden of managing installation and IT needs from the church to the provider. It is the provider’s job to make sure the system is updated, working and backed up regularly. When new versions come out, it is the providers’ job to handle the headaches. Having a Web-based ChMS is like having your own (or an additional) IT department without the headaches they have in
maintaining the system.
Also, today’s modern Web-based ChMS is now seen as more than just management software, it is also seen as a community building tool. Web-based ChMS can be used to track spiritual gifts for the purpose of putting people in the right areas of ministry, connecting church members and attendees online through community portals, sharing calendar and small group search type information with your church’s public Website, and integrating administrative functions with real world communication tools that can keep church leaders connected at all times.
Web-based ChMS solutions are also helpful for church leaders as there are no updates to install on multiple workstations, bugs are able to be addressed quickly by the service provider, again with no need to install new software, new features for new functionality or better ease of use is continually added as part of the subscription, and the backing up of the system is deployed on a much more regular and secure basis by the service provider.
In keeping with current technological trends, some Web-based management
software systems have made the leap to incorporate Web 2.0 advancements into their product offerings.
Most people have heard of “Web 2.0” and know that it is relevant to their lives in some way, but saying just how can be difficult. According to Wikipedia, “Web 2.0 is a trend in the use of World Wide Web technology and Web design that aims to facilitate creativity, information sharing, and, most notably, collaboration among users.”
