Sounds really techie doesn’t it – well it’s not (or it doesn’t have to be).
There are a large number of applications available for managing congregations, charities, donors, small groups, members, etc. Many of which can be integrated into websites, others can be integrated with giving or accounting applications – but you might just want something simple to send out a newsletter to 
. So this topic is not just about websites – it’s more of potentially an administrative minefield that can be avoided.
And before you start thinking ‘this doesn’t apply to me/us/our church or organisation’ let me suggest a few ‘lists’ that you may find on the computers around your church, or in the elder’s laptops, or the pastor’s laptop or any computer belonging to or being used by a member of the church leadership team (paid/clergy/lay – doesn’t matter!).
- Worship team members
- Donors
- Offering envelope families
- Lists of weddings, baptisms and funerals
- Prayer network
- Staff list
- Newsletter list
- Youth Leaders
- Small group leaders / administrators / trainers
- Sunday School kids/families/attendance
- Pastoral visitation lists
- Room / hall / equipment bookings
- Attendance list
- Family list
- Timesheets
- Magazine subscriptions
- Email address lists (outlook, google, yahoo, outlook express, thunderbird – any email application in fact)
- Keyholders
How many did you find? Now – just for your church or organisation, pick 2 or 3 lists that you find, and then see how much duplication there is – or if there are errors in one list and not another? This is all DATA and predominantly related to PEOPLE – your people. And with so many lists in so many places there are plenty of opportunities for errors, mistakes, duplication and extra work
Before you start spending 100′s (or 1,000′s) of dollars or pounds, have a serious think about what you want to achieve – and perhaps let’s have a chat on what might be the best and most cost effective solution (and easiest to manage too). With experience in managing customer / client / donor / member databases in a range of database programming languages, as well as integration with websites and off-line applications I might be able to offer you some useful advice.
And once you have made a decision, perhaps you might want to set up newsletters so your people can stay in touch with you and up to date with your ministry. The important thing is to try and keep it as simple as possible for your administrator – and if it is interactive, as simple too for your members/congregation. So if you are thinking about any of these things, let’s talk!
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