You can cultivate a close-knit community with digital tools and online resources to bring people closer together. You can also create a safe, secure online environment for people to get to know each other, build relationships, share personal needs and grow spiritually. While tech can’t – and nor should it – replace everything in our lives, there are 7 ways technology can improve your church so ministry can perform vital functions.
7 ways technology can improve your church
- Empower leaders and staff to do real ministry in real-time.
- Develop community on and offline.
- Establish and manage assimilation and discipleship.
- Communicate with and manage members and groups.
- Keep accurate personal, financial, and church records.
- Gain key insights from robust reports and dashboards.
- Manage individual and team tasks and responsibilities.
Church should feel like home for everyone. One way this happens is by celebrating with people on special days and grieving in tough moments. You ensure everyone feels connected by using a tool like a ChMS to manage all of this information. Technology can accelerate the speed of relationships. Church technology improvements include putting information in one place so that your team can access what’s going on in someone’s life. Instead of missing someone’s birthday or forgetting someone had surgery, technology puts that information at your fingertips.
Technology should be a powerful tool for building stronger churches as it’s efficient and extends the efforts of your team. When used well, it accelerates relationships. Using it as a way to stay connected, engage deeply, and grow your churches is such an asset for how tech can improve church ministries. It’s like having a 24/7/365 staff member managing and delivering key information whenever you need it. When you try to update and improve church tech, you can build more relationships with a smaller staff.
Sometimes it can seem that technology puts a barrier between people. But the truth is when technology is utilized fully. It provides incredible opportunities to make connections, inform, instruct, and communicate. Technology exists to support and enhance – not detract from – real-life fellowship, worship, and growth. Connecting with people requires intentionality. We can move so quickly through the day that we need to remember to build relationships with people in our congregation and community. These connections grow more difficult as your church grows. Prioritizing this, though, sets you up for a stronger church.
Changing and evolving
With all the technological developments and advances, the modern-day church is evolving and changing every day to be “salt and light” in a fast-paced, results-driven society. Serving a multicultural community requires a multi-faceted approach anchored with the right digital tools and online resources. So how does technology affect the church? The church’s voice must be up-to-date and relevant if it transforms a lost and dying culture with the life-changing message of the Gospel. When you survey the landscape of the ministry, take inventory of the different areas of the church to make sure everything hits the mark and is on point, such as:
- COMMUNICATION: get the word out and get people talking to each other via mobile apps and text messaging.
- GIVING: accept donations, manage funds, and give people control.
- COMMUNITY LIFE: manage groups and give them tools to grow together.
- DEMOGRAPHICS: analyze your surrounding community to mine insights.
- DISCIPLESHIP: provide step-by-step pathways to keep people growing.
- VOLUNTEERS: set serving preferences, interests, and role descriptions.
- CHECK-INS: know who’s coming and going for safety and accountability.
- ACCOUNTING: manage all your church finances and payroll in one place.
- BACKGROUND CHECKS: keep everyone safe and updated with regularity.
- REPORTS: discover trends to set new goals and ministry objectives.
- PERMISSIONS: control who can see and do what for safe operations.
We are called to “Equip the saints for the work of the ministry” (Eph 4:12). Unify and fortify the church. Spend less time facilitating and more time assimilating so you can have real ministry impact. Go the extra mile with the right mix of digital tools and online resources, and watch your ministry soar!
DON’T SETTLE FOR NORMAL TECHNOLOGY PARTNERS AGAIN
Your church’s mission is anything but normal. You’ve been called to reach the lost, feed the hungry, and make disciples. You can’t leave that to just any tech partner.
At ACST, we’ve kicked normal to the curb. Because most of us have experience serving on a local church staff. We get you. We’re passionate about helping churches like you do what God has called you to do.
This guide explains exactly how ACST does this–and what makes us unique.
Dean is ACS Technologies’ VP of Corporate Operations. He is responsible for Information Technology and all campus facilities. Born and raised in South Carolina, he has a bachelor’s degree in Computer Information Systems Management. He serves on the board and in leadership for a few local non-profit organizations. His passions include helping others succeed.
