6 Ways to Use ChMS to Improve Your Church’s Health

Fitness trackers have become incredibly popular over the last several years, and for a good reason! These tools help individuals keep track of health metrics that they otherwise may have been blind to, such as daily energy expenditure, sleep hygiene, and heart rate. Knowledge is power, and fitness trackers give people the information they need to improve their physical health. 

In a similar way, a church management software system (ChMS) can provide valuable insights into a church’s overall health by tracking metrics like community engagement, spiritual growth, leadership development, and financial stewardship.

What Exactly is a ChMS?

At this point, you may be wondering what a ChMS actually is. 

A church management system is a software tool designed to help churches oversee their administrative tasks (think volunteer management, tracking donations, and scheduling events.) 

While you hypothetically can use spreadsheets to track this data, this method can be incredibly tedious and time-consuming. Trust me, I know! There was a season in which my church was primarily using spreadsheets and Google docs to track our information, and that season didn’t last long. As soon as the church began to grow, we could no longer keep up with the data. We were exhausted, and we knew that we would start to miss important details if we didn’t make a change soon. 

This is exactly where a ChMS system comes into play. No matter the size of your congregation, a church management system can set your church up for success by helping you keep on top of data and stay healthy!

6 Ways to Use ChMS to Improve Your Church’s Health

1. Enhanced Communication 

As busy church leaders, it can be easy to miss details or forget to communicate key information. It can also be easy for messages to get lost in translation – or never get delivered in the first place. Using a variety of communication platforms can make matters worse. As we jump between text messages, emails, and forms, we can easily lose track of conversations. 

A church management software system can enhance our communication by providing a centralized platform for sending email newsletters, text message alerts, and event reminders to congregants, staff, and volunteers. A ChMS can also help us automate communication so that everyone receives the information they need in a timely manner. 

And because effective communication is essential to the health of every organization, enhanced communication helps contribute to the overall well-being of churches by helping people feel valued, inspired, and connected. 

2. Streamlined Event Planning (And Increased Team Morale!) 

From good old-fashioned church potlucks to large conferences, events are a beautiful way to foster a sense of community amongst congregants. For the people in charge of these events, however, the planning process can be a bit of a headache – especially if they don’t have the right tools. Unfortunately, churches often end up throwing great events at the expense of stressed-out, burnt-out staff members and volunteers. 

This is one of the reasons why I am so passionate about effective church management software systems. A strong ChMS system can streamline the event planning process by helping church leaders with RSVPs, pre-event communication, and volunteer management. With all of the details in one place, church leaders will have the tools they need to smooth out the event planning process and keep their stress levels down. Over time, this will improve the morale and overall health of staff and volunteers – and, subsequently, the church’s health.

3. Better Financial Stewardship 

I’m willing to bet that the majority of pastors don’t enter into church ministry out of an interest in managing money. Even so, church leaders must understand that money management is essential to the health of every church. 

Good stewardship ensures that a church’s resources are being used to advance the mission of God. By using resources wisely and efficiently, the church can maximize its impact and achieve its goals. 

Conversely, poor financial stewardship can cause irreversible damage to the health of a church. I have seen far too many people lose trust in their church leaders due to mismanaged money and a lack of financial transparency.

A ChMS system can help church leaders manage their donations and use them wisely. It can also streamline the donation process for congregants by providing online giving options and tracking donor history. This will help churches create a healthy culture around giving so they can better serve their communities. 

4. Help Groups Thrive

Church is about so much more than what happens on Sunday, and small groups are an effective way to encourage congregants to share life together outside of a Sunday gathering. Groups provide opportunities for fellowship, spiritual growth, and outreach, all of which can contribute to a healthier and more vibrant church community.

A strong ChMS can help your church create and manage small groups by tracking attendance, scheduling meetings, and making sure no one who wants to be in a group slips through the cracks. By having a powerful software tool to do the tracking for you, you can ensure that your small groups are functioning effectively and that members are receiving the support they need. 

5. Detailed Reporting

A large part of church leadership is decision-making. Every week, church leaders must make decisions about what to teach their congregations, which programs to run, where to delegate responsibility, and how to allocate budgets (among many other decisions). A church management software gives church leaders access to real-time data so they can make informed decisions about the church’s finances, attendance, and other important metrics. 

Just as a detailed blood test report gives patients important information about which vitamin and mineral deficiencies their body may have, a detailed church report can help leaders identify areas of the church’s health that need improvement — and track progress over time. 

6. Improved Spiritual Growth Tracking

Spiritual growth and spiritual health are the ultimate goals of any church, and it is important to acknowledge that they can never be reduced to metrics or numbers. Ultimately, the most important aspect of spiritual growth is developing a deeper relationship with God and living a life of holiness, compassion, and service to others, and data simply cannot capture the full measure of a faith journey. Still, it can be helpful to have some way of tracking progress and measuring success in order to identify areas for improvement and celebrate achievements. 

Your ChMS can help you track spiritual growth by creating individual profiles for each person in your congregation. These profiles can include information about the individual’s spiritual journey, such as when they were baptized or when they made a commitment to follow Christ. By tracking this information, you can identify those who may be in need of additional support and tailor your outreach efforts to their specific needs.

Conclusion

Church health is critical to the success and impact of any church, and staying healthy requires a lot of intentionality. 

Still, I want to be very clear: church health is not a result of ChMS alone. True church health comes as we soften our hearts and submit ourselves to the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit and commit to a life of discipleship. And when we are already doing these things, ChMS can help give us the information we need to better serve our people and steward what God has given us. 

In conclusion, ChMS can be a valuable tool for churches looking to improve their administration, communication, member engagement, and data management, and improving these metrics through a church management system like Breeze can greatly contribute to the overall health of the church!