Category Archives: Ministry

Ministry

Church Tech | Online Giving Options Go Head-to-Head

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This article continues a series on church technology, particularly geared toward small to medium-sized churches. The previous article covered Church Management Software options.

Besides questions about church management software (and included in those questions), the other most common tech question for churches is how to implement online giving. A host of online giving options exist for churches. Let’s compare seven of the popular options to see how they stack up in an even match-up:

a spreadsheet of church giving apps compared
Click image to expand

It’s worth throwing out a caveat here that some church networks or denominations offer giving platforms with more competitive rates than these. So begin your search there before you begin exploring these options further.

Of the above options, Tithe.ly and BlueFire are fascinating standalone platforms. Tithe.ly has an excellent array of helpful features (including an option for donors to cover transaction fees themselves). BlueFire has the best terms for a standalone service as best I can tell. EasyTithe doesn’t seem to bring much to the table given the current options available to churches, but they have a deep history in providing great service. Lifeway’s platform offers some intriguing features such as non-cash donations and coaching, but the monthly fees and transaction fees are incredibly high. Church plants may be drawn to Lifeway’s 6-month free program; however, they will need to find a better long-term option for the life stage of the plant from 6 months until at least year 1 or 2.

Subsplash is an exciting option for churches who are already in the market for an app for their members. After the setup fee (around $1,000) and while paying a monthly subscription fee (between $100–200), churches can take advantage of some of the lowest processing rates available right out of the gate. But what’s truly unique is that Subsplash uses a metric that they refer to as “GrowCurve”, which decreases credit card processing rates as giving volume increases. This model seems far more attractive than the Planning Center model, which increases a monthly fee as the number of givers increases. But the usefulness of Subsplash giving is contingent on whether your church is in the market for a church app–something that can be helpful for push notifications, sermon note distribution, etc. for a middle age and younger congregation. But an app may not make as much sense for an older congregation or a church with a tight budget. It’s worth considering that churches that need and can afford Subsplash could actually hit a break-even point and recoup their monthly app fees through decreased credit card processing rates.

I’m not confident that the monthly fees for Planning Center are justified, especially as their platform is tied to the amount of transactions per month; however, if your church is already committed to their platform, the additional cost may be worth considering, giving you a unified system for every aspect of your church. One unique aspect of PC’s setup is that they integrate with check readers, a handy tool for increasing counting accuracy, speed, and accountability. Breeze may work well for your church if you have not already committed to another church management software.

Two other financial tools are also worth a mention before we go:

  • Quickbooks: This is the gold standard in accounting software. It’s bulky and non-intuitive (pun intended), but a necessary tool for your church’s finances. Subscription costs normally range from $15 to $45 per month, but the best prices for churches are available on TechSoup.
  • The Cash App: The Cash app by Square is an incredibly simple and free tool for transferring cash from individual-to-individual. Whether you’re paying back another staff member for coffee or you’re a small group leader who wants the group to chip in for pizza, this is the app for you.

What’s working well for your church? Let me know in the comments or on social media.

Ministry

Church Tech | Church Management Software

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One of the perennial questions of pastors and church leaders relates to what church management software is best for their church. Church management software is a challenging investment. Many tools try to do too many things in the life of the church–check-ins, donations, slide presentations, group emails, and the list goes on. Usually, the larger they get, the more likely it is that some of the features or the overall service of the platform falters.

My general recommendation is: find the easiest tool that works well in your areas of need, and supplement it with other tech solutions that function better or easier or cheaper. For example, it’s hard to find products that do kid’s check-in and church people management (essentially a CRM for churches) better than the leading church management software packages. But you may discover that there’s a better solution for processing online donations. In this case, it may be advantageous to abandon the church management software donation component (even if you’re forced to pay for it) and use the other giving tool.

Below, I will highlight three common alternatives for church management software in the expensive, middling, and cheap price bands. These would be my go-to recommendations; however, each one of them has serious weaknesses that the church may need to supplement through other resources.

Planning Center ($$$)

Planning Center is the current gold standard for church management software. Their support is impressive and their constant innovation and improvement of their software is evident. Their solutions are designed to scale for various sizes of churches; however, even at the low end, costs may be prohibitive for smaller ministries.

The strongest features of Planning Center are definitely it’s kids check-in tool and service planning interface. The other four paid features (groups, giving, registrations, and resources) are good, but could easily be supplemented with other standalone software components. That said, if you begin scaling out Planning Center, you may discover that you are best served by using their other services in order to consolidate your data.

Pros:

  • Check-ins sets up rapidly
  • Quick response to support issues and extensive software documentation
  • Excellent design
  • Unique approach to service planning

Cons:

  • Doesn’t play well with other software
  • Incredibly pricey

Breeze ($$)

There’s a lot to love about Breeze. Unlike Planning Center, which parcels out various components for set rates and forces you to upgrade if you cross data thresholds, Breeze has a fixed price per month ($50) and allows unlimited data. In short, it’s church management software made simple for simple and small/medium-sized churches. They use a single dashboard to clearly present all their features and an easy to use way.

One of the cool features of Breeze is its API, which stands for “Application Program Interface.” If you’ve got programmers in your church, this will make them drool. APIs are the mouths and ears of software. They allow Breeze to receive and send information to other apps. This sounds boring, but it’s actually really cool. This means that you can create custom forms to input people into your database. Or you can tie giving data into Quickbooks with ease.

Pros:

  • Simple pricing with no data limits
  • Easy and strong API
  • Strong support, including custom training and importing assistance
  • Built for small/medium-sized churches

Cons:

  • No service planning feature
  • You can find cheaper entry level options

Church Trac ($)

Church Trac has some cheap entry level options (starting at $5/month) and is capable of an incredible variety of tasks. While inexpensive, the lower cost is reflected in the user experience and design. In a lot of ways, the look and feel is similar to 2005 web design. It’s garish and complicated. But it is a tool worth considering if your finances are tight.

Pros:

  • Incredibly cheap
  • Broad variety of features

Cons:

  • Poor design quality
  • Doesn’t play well with other software
Features Planning Center Breeze Church Trac
Check-Ins Yes Yes Yes
Giving Records Yes Yes Yes
Online Giving Yes Yes Yes
Text to Give Yes Yes Yes
Group Management Yes No Yes
Event Registration Yes Yes Yes
People Management Yes Yes Yes
Group Texting Yes Yes Yes
Volunteer Management Yes Yes Yes
Facility Management Yes No Yes
Service Planning Yes No No
No Limits on Data No Yes No
Plays Well With Other Software No Yes No

If you can afford it, I would recommend Planning Center for pure quality and robust capabilities. But I would strongly recommend considering Breeze as a cost saver for church plants, revitalizations, or churches with small budgets. Whichever you choose, commit to it and build out your data within it. Plan on a review of your database and usage of the software on an annual basis.

Honorable Mention

Depending on your church’s needs, you may want to look at some of these platforms:

  • FellowshipOne: Their pricing requires a call, and their software is geared toward large churches. If your church is growing beyond 500 or 1,000, FellowshipOne may be a better option to consider.
  • Realm: This looks like an interesting cloud-based platform with a robust array of features. Pricing isn’t publicly listed, but some sites indicate the pricing is between $30–200/month depending on the plan the church selects. Like FellowshipOne, this seems to be designed with large churches in mind. Realm absorbed another popular people management tool called “The City” some time ago.
  • BAND app: This is an app designed to facilitate group communication, whether for a youth soccer league or for a church small group. It’s a helpful tool that may help fill the communications gap for small group leaders, worship leaders, etc. if your church opts to take a more piecemeal approach to church management software.
  • ChurchTeams: This is another full-featured ChMS with loads of features and pricing ranging from $37–197 per month depending on the size of the church. The user interface appears to leave much to be desired.

Didn’t see your favorite ChMS listed? I’d love to see your comments on what’s working well for you. Do you have some additional pros and cons other churches should consider about the solutions I’ve offered above, please post your own pros and cons.

Church, Ministry

Meaningful Mentorship for Ministry

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As I talk with friends and acquaintances who believe that God has gifted them for pastoral ministry but aren’t there yet, I’ve picked up on some common themes. One of the biggest is this: “My church doesn’t have a plan to mentor me toward ministry. Or if they do, I’m not aware of it.” Okay, it’s not usually said that bluntly. But you can frequently elicit this conclusion by asking someone what path they’re being guided down, what kind of pastoral mentorship they’re receiving, what counsel they’re getting on next steps, and what the church’s timeline is for sending them.

Let’s take a step back and look at the less-than-meaningful method of handling up and coming servants in the church and then suggest some correctives.

They give me service for service’s sake

Men and women with a heart for ministry will do anything—yes, anything—if their pastor asks them to do it. I know guys who’ve had their hearts set on ministry and have spent years plunging toilets or teaching kids. Don’t get me wrong, these are awesome ministries. But tossing a dude a service ministry in hopes that he shuts up or learns on his own is an absolute death sentence for future pastors, planters, and missionaries. If the guy is passive, he’ll stay and serve in frustration, waiting on you to clear him for other opportunities. If the guy is hyper-passionate, he’ll quickly burn out or blow you off and move on to another ministry. Either situation isn’t great for developing next generation leaders in your church.

Instead, give those next generation leaders a variety of opportunities as they are faithful and willing. Let them try their hand at greeting, teaching, technology, nursery, counseling, music, or administration. You’ll never understand the impact of this question: “What areas could you use opportunities to develop your gifts?” Try asking one of the young leaders in your church that question this week. They’ll appreciate it far more than you can imagine.

They don’t give me much/any feedback

Once someone passionate for ministry gets assigned to serve, they get little, if any, feedback from their pastors. They serve in silence. The only feedback they get is if something didn’t turn out well. Good feedback from church leaders is one of the most effective ways for a person to nail down aspects of calling and gifting. By not giving feedback, pastors avoid offering the next generation the clarity that they desperately desire regarding God’s will for their lives.

Take time to give feedback to young leaders. No, this doesn’t always mean that you have to sit in their class or visit their small group. Just start by asking questions of those who serve alongside them or those who sit under their teaching. Collect what you hear and talk it over with him or her. It’s really not super hard. A teachable servant of the church will soak up the feedback and be open to critique. Be cautious about forming internal opinions about the young leader without discussing critiques and giving them clear ways to improve. If they’re consistently dropping the ball and you think they need to put ministry ambitions on hold (or reshape those ambitions in some way), clearly tell them as much. They’ll thank you for it later.

Pairing the idea of feedback with the previous idea of meaningful service, I’d recommend using a two-year leadership development plan. Let a young leader serve in a number of general ways in the church for a year with basic feedback and accountability. Then evaluate their fitness for Gospel ministry. If it makes sense, then do a year of directed and intense service with more robust feedback and follow-up. The goal at the end of the second year is to launch that leader into pastoral ministry. With intentional planning like this, it won’t take long for the word to get out and you won’t know what to do with all the men and women looking for an opportunity for meaningful mentorship for ministry.

They gave me a book to read

Among many evangelical churches in the US, head training is one of the things we do well. We have great books. We attend great conferences. We have great seminaries. It’s all great knowledge at arm’s length. So when a young guy seems to have a passion to plant churches, he’s often given a book (or a stack of them). Sometimes a pastor will meet with him and discuss theology. But who is talking with him about spiritual formation, calling, gifting, and ministerial challenges? Who’s prodding him about his sin struggles and spiritual disciplines?

Assign an elder to meet weekly or bi-weekly with next generation leaders. Use a programmatic tool to guide discussions to ensure that you’re equipping young leaders on a broad scale of topics and issues.

They told me to move and attend seminary

Sometimes I wonder if churches understand what they’re doing when they tell a young leader to leave and go to seminary. Often this advice demonstrates that the church leadership frankly doesn’t know with a young, aspiring leader. It essentially says that the church’s role in a leader’s development ends where seminary begins. Here are some of the bad results of this advice:

  • Young leaders leave their spiritual community, with plenty of potentially ruinous spiritual effects. The doctrinal and spiritual mooring of a local church can be helpful to young leaders as they weigh what they learn in seminary.
  • Young leaders lack the locale to practice the hands-on aspects of ministry. Enough said.
  • Young leaders lose a sense of sending and arrive at a sense of searching. Sending is when a church has your back. Searching is when you’re trying to find your own way. Sending is awesome. Searching sucks. Send your next-up leaders. Don’t leave them searching.
  • Young leaders are driven to non-relational networking to find pastoral ministry opportunities. Most of the ministry roles worth having are not the ones you find with a resume. They’re ones that are either forged through planting/revitalizing or initiated by others who know you well.
  • Young leaders make poor decisions about where to attend seminary. When telling a guy to go to seminary is a “check-out” move by a church, guys often make dumb decisions about where to go. What many guys don’t realize is that seminaries set them up to serve in and be heard by particular audiences or denominations. Stay involved in the process and visit a seminary or two with your young leaders. Make helpful recommendations based on what you know of them.

If your default is to tell a guy to pack his things, consider changing to more of an apprentice model. Can he take hybrid or online courses? Can he commute? Is there any possible way he can get a theological education while undergoing spiritual formation and pastoral training in your church? If you feel willing to train a next generation leader but lack the resources or ability, try asking about other churches in the area that do this well and forging a partnership with them. Do your utmost to retain the God-given task of pastoral training within the local assembly.

Someday, by God’s grace, I hope I can start meeting with more next generation leaders who can tell me: “One of my pastors and I meet weekly for accountability and discussing pastoral responsibilities, and I’m on a two-year track to be sent to revitalize a church in a nearby city.”

Ministry

Gideon: Freedom from Fear of Man

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I love the biblical story of Gideon. And I think it’s because I identify so well with the man. So many people I know possess special gifts for leadership.  Gideon did not have anything of the sort.  Gideon was just a regular guy.  I am not one of the classic “type A” personalities that most people look to in a leader.  I am not a “driver.”  I am full of fears and concerns for myself and others.  I am often far too concerned about what others will think and fear acting alone.  I am a Gideon.

Me at Gideon's stream, where God pared back his army to an unthinkable low.
Me at Gideon’s stream, where God pared back his army to an unthinkable low.

At the beginning of Gideon’s story, we find him hiding in a winepress threshing wheat.  This would have given Gideon a place to hide from the Midianites.  His fear drove him into hiding.  He was not the sort of guy who would have naturally confronted an enemy no matter whether the odds were in his favor or not.  I fear confrontation and avoid it like the plague.  In order to do what God wanted, Gideon had to learn to trust God.  Thankfully God was merciful to Gideon and helped him start small.  The test of overthrowing the statue of Baal in the village helped Gideon to learn to stand for what was right.  God has done the same for me.  Instead of throwing me at millions of Midianites, he gives me small challenges that I’ve learned to overcome prior to taking on the big challenges in my life.  Ultimately God has given me strength to overcome each milestone.

Here are a few applications that I’ve drawn from the life of Gideon:

  • Fear of man stems from a lack of trust in God.
    • Retain a sense of inability and rely solely on God’s grace for the task at hand.
    • Rely on God for confidence in the face of skepticism.
    • Rely on God for gifting in the face of inadequacy.
    • Rely on God for courage in the face of timidity.
  • Fear of man results in a failure to act.
    • Meet small challenges first.
    • Don’t keep asking questions when God is calling you to follow him.
    • Learn to rely on God by expanding your faith in him little by little.
    • Find a core group of friends who can help me meet these challenges, but do not place your faith in them.
  • Fear of man can be overcompensated.
    • When God gives you success and respect, don’t squander it on yourself.
    • When God gives you success and respect, invest in discipling your successors.

Ultimately, Christ alone stands as the supreme example of one who served without succumbing to fear of man or any sort of overreaction in the opposite direction. In his final hours he stood silent as accused, trusting the sovereign love of the Father. And he stands in my place as victor over this fear that I still, Gideon-like, do battle against.