4 Tips on Selecting a Church Management System

How does your church manage all of the information you receive from and about your congregants? Church management systems (ChMS) are designed to help administrators and teams with this. There are so many helpful solutions on the market today, each with their distinct approaches to keeping and managing data.

Sincerely Media

I served as a support advocate for Church Community Builder, an effective church management solution located in Colorado Springs, Colorado. I've coached lots of churches who were trying to decide on which management system they should choose. Here's some of the advice I offered to pastors, executives, and church administrators on how to select the right system for them.

Start With Your Non-Negotiables
Before you even start exploring software options, get with your key leaders to determine what you need most. First, I suggest listing three, four, or as many as five essentials in managing your data. Here are the four to get you started:

1. Integration: The ability to collaborate and contribute data.
   It's not uncommon for a ministry within a church to define their own data management that suits their needs or processes. These data silos don't integrate with others, compounding the potential for inaccuracy, redundancy, and inefficiency. When your ministries collaborate and use the same data, information is more centralized. As your team works together on keeping the information accurate, it will protect the integrity and reliability of the entire system. A healthy goal would be to establish one central database for communicating with and knowing your congregation.
   
   
2. Engagement: Getting the right people involved
   Few pastors get into ministry to process data. Yet their interaction and participation is necessary for effective discipleship and caring for your church members. Discover what repels your these team members and what types of things draw them in. Learn what "user friendly" looks like and the requirements for full engagement. This self-discovery will not only help you determine what to look for in a solution, but it should also offer a pathway toward improved best practices moving forward.
   
   
3. Mobility: Access on the go
   It's crucial to determine to what degree your team needs 24/7 data access. Not only that, but learn what they need and some of the best ways to access it.
   
   Do you need access through a smart device like an app? Do you need immediate access to all of the data or just pertinent information? And what about your congregation? What would you like them to access? These might seem like simple questions, but that's what makes them easy to overlook.
   
4. Training: Continual learning, inspiring, and reinforcing what's expected
   What are the reasons you are looking for a new solution? It may be that your church has outgrown it, you don't like the support you get (or don't get), or maybe it's too complicated to use. Another reason that you must consider is one word: behavior.
   
   Talk about the quality and type of support you expect, both initially and ongoing. But don't forget to talk about the behaviors your team needs to change and improve. A new system provides an excellent catalyst for improvements. But, make sure you don't rely on it to solve your team's bad administrative habits. Determine what's the result of systems versus behavior.

Select a Champion
Today's solutions are more than a directory with names, addresses, and phone numbers. Churches can manage giving, events, forms, registrations, small groups, facilities management, check-in, service schedules, and more. If you've determined to centralize data management, someone needs to lead the way. When it's left for "everyone" to do it, no one person is responsible. The harsh reality with almost anything is when everyone owns something, no one does.

This person should lead the charge, explore the options, become familiar with what's available, and submit recommendations. A healthy goal might be to narrow the field down to three solutions.

Resist the Wow
Your church might view a ChMS as a glorified directory. But today's church management systems are so much more capable—events and facilities management, schedule management, kids and adult check-in, forms and registrations, small group management, discipleship pathways and processes, and the list goes on.

There is a temptation to be wowed by all the things prospective ChMS platforms can do. Most services listed above come with the ChMS. But if they're extra, make sure it's a service your church is ready to use.
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Consult With Other Churches
It's helpful to hear from churches who are using the platforms you're considering. I'd suggest at least two for each provider you consider. Not every client will be satisfied with the product. But if two out of three are not, it may be worth an honest conversation with the vendor. I always gave the company a chance to defend itself if I heard negative feedback that caused me to rethink a little.

Consulting with other churches also removes the sales element from the conversation. Churches have no skin in the game as to whether or not you go with the ChMS they are using.

While no platform is perfect, there are lots of great platforms. Here's my list of top solutions I've personally worked with:

• Church Community Builder
• Planning Center
• Fellowship One
• Elexio

Look for a solution that meets your non-negotiables list, is user-friendly for your team of pastors, and helps your church grow.