4 things your church management software can't do

The purpose of a church management software isn’t to manage a church, but to help you steward people. This is an underlying principle that every church has to understand if they want to effectively use technology to make disciples. Unfortunately, there are several misconceptions about how this works. While there are dozens of ways a church management system can help improve your ministry, it’s not the end-all solution. No matter how good the technology gets, it never will be the end-all.

A few weeks ago, Capterra shared a brilliant post about the few things your church management software can’t do. Since the post was so striking, I thought it might be helpful to drill down a little deeper into some of those ideas and how we approach them at Church Community Builder. Your software can't:

  1. "Make you a social networking maven.” Your church management system is not a church version of Facebook. While both can be used to communicate to your members, their inherent values are totally different. Your church management software can be a great communication tool, but it’s not another social network for your church. The best approach is to find ways to link the two so that social media helps you reach people and your church management software helps you measure the engagement of those you reach.
  2. "Make new members join and keep old members from leaving." As the author points out, effective connections is more about the process than it is the technology. Your church management software won’t fix your retention problem. In most cases, it will only amplify the issues. While it can be an invaluable tool for improving retention, no software will accomplish this if you don't do connections well.
  3. "Teach itself to you." We’ve talked about the idea that technology doesn’t lead others before. Many church leaders make a decision about implementing a new technology or software, but don’t have the time to learn what it takes to guide their church through successfully implementing that technology. They think that just because someone in the church knows technology, they will also know how Church Community Builder works. Buying a new church management software with no training because you are comfortable with software is like trying to fly a Boeing 777 because you graduated from flying school in your Cessna.
  4. "Tailor itself to meet every detail of your church." We believe a church management software can be a valuable tool for every church. At the same time, we know that it can’t meet every detailed need for every individual church. That’s why we’ve focused helping churches address their processes instead of simply providing software training.

When you have the right perspective, your church will experience the value a church management software provides. It can be an incredible tool to support your ministry, but it’s not a magic genie.

How do you overcome some of the common misconceptions about your church management software?

Photo Credit: IANRORY via Compfight cc


Posted by Steve Caton on Nov 11, 2013 9:04:14 PM