When looking for a church management system, small churches have unique needs that are markedly different from churches with more staff and more budget. What’s right for one church might not be a good fit for another! That’s why it’s critically important for smaller churches to recognize what’s most important in their search for a new membership software.
To aid you in your search, we’ve compiled a list of what small churches really need in a church management system, so you can determine what’s best for your church!
Affordability
One of the primary concerns small churches have when looking for a church management software is affordability. While the most budget-friendly option might not be the best fit for your ministry needs, it’s important to figure out what features are most important to your staff so you can align your needs with your budget.
Scalability in pricing and use is important; many church membership softwares offer different pricing tiers depending on how many members your church has. This is great for small churches because you can pay less per month or per year!
Simplicity
Another popular feature that small churches look for in a church management software is simplicity—simplicity in both the back-end for your staff or volunteers and the front-end for your members.
Especially if your software will primarily be used by volunteers or a few staff members, you need your software to be simple and easy to figure out. Oftentimes, fewer features mean fewer things to figure out, meaning your team can work more efficiently and be trained quicker.
Smaller churches might not need as many robust features as larger churches. For example, you might not need a mobile app, which can drive up the monthly cost of your church membership software. As you’re researching the right software for your church, you’ll likely come across features that seem exciting and shiny, but aren’t necessary.
As we mentioned before, make a list of the features your church absolutely needs in a church management system. You can also create a list of nice-to-have features that aren’t necessary, but would be great if it fits in the budget.
Support
One often overlooked aspect of church management systems is both the onboarding and ongoing support you receive from your software’s support team.
Onboarding support is critically important to the successful adoption of your new church membership software. Especially if you have a small but mighty team (or maybe you’re a team of one!), you need to be able to have others support your onboarding process. This will not only save you precious time but also ensure you fully understand all the features of your new software and how to properly use them!
Additionally, ongoing support is equally as important. Some softwares place caps on how much you can reach out to their support team, or require you to pay for support past a certain point. This isn’t a great option for smaller churches who don’t have dedicated staff to solve issues with the software; you’ll often rely more on outside experts to help ensure your software is running smoothly. As you’re in the deliberation and research process of figuring out the best church management software for your small church, be sure to ask about the level of ongoing support you’ll receive.
At Concordia Technology Solutions, we offer our users as much support as they need via phone, email, and even through live video calls. This ongoing support is key to being successful in using the software to its fullest potential, and we want to support you as much as possible, whether you’ve been using the software for five days or five years!
Web-Based
One lesser-thought-of feature that greatly benefits small churches is using a web-based software. A web-based software is, as the name suggests, located on the internet rather than loaded onto your computer. For example, a web-based software would be Google Docs, while a computer-based software would be Microsoft Word.
Web-based softwares are great for volunteer-led admin teams. Because your team is not located all in one office using a single computer, you need everyone to be able to see the most up-to-date information.
Additionally, see if your software has platform-to-platform integration. This means all information is synced across all platforms in the software ecosystem (like the Church360° Suite), so every one of your volunteers knows that they’re seeing the most up-to-date information, whether they’re entering offerings, recording attendance, or updating member information.
All-In-One
Lastly, small churches really need an all-in-one option in a church management system. This means that you’re not subscribing to multiple softwares just to cover all your bases. Rather than subscribing to different softwares for membership information, accounting, eGiving, email management, and your website, you should look for an option that incorporates as many of these into one as possible!
The first benefit of this is that all information is synced across all platforms, so your volunteers know they have the most up-to-date information. As mentioned before, this is especially valuable for volunteer-based teams who aren’t working together directly in an office setting.
The next obvious benefit to this is that it will save your church money! Software subscriptions can be expensive, so if you can consolidate as many as you can into one platform, you can significantly reduce costs while still meeting all of your church’s needs.
The Church360° Suite combines Church360° Members, Church360° Ledger, and Church360° Unite (website builder), so all of your most important needs are in one convenient software solution.
Start your free Church360° Members trial today and simplify your ministry with one powerful, all‑in‑one solution.
