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How do you reach out to your church members when you have important information that needs to be shared? Do you make phone calls? Do you send text messages or emails? Do you send a message on Facebook? Snail mail? Maybe you use an app? As technology has increased, so have your options for modes of communication. This can make it challenging to find a method of communicating with church members that is effective without being costly or time-consuming.
Thankfully, because of the multiple options for communication, staying connected can easily become a blessing rather than a burden once you find something that fits you and your congregation.
Whether you are looking for a solution for sharing prayer requests, upcoming events, serving reminders, connecting with first-time guests, or something else, here are a few of the best texting apps for small churches.
Communicating With The Entire Congregation Is Challenging
I’m one of those people that wears a lot of hats at our small church. I’m the secretary, I pay the bills, I maintain our online presence (both social media and website), I lead worship, I coordinate and prepare the technology needed for Sunday mornings, I teach our teenagers’ Sunday school class, I design all the graphics (both print and on screens), I distribute prayer requests, and I schedule our volunteers.
Oh, I’m also married to the pastor.
And we have 3 small kids.
I’m busy.
While the hats you wear at your church may look a little different, you can probably relate to having more on your plate than time on your hands.
If communicating with church members is part of the role you serve in your church, you’ve probably realized (as I quickly did when I became secretary), that it can be time-consuming, expensive, and challenging to ensure that everyone knows everything they need to know.
We have people in our church who don’t own cell phones. Others don’t have a computer or an email. Still more have these things but are limited in their abilities to use them, so they may not know how to download a mobile app or remember to check their voicemail.
All of these challenges led to the exploration of “what is the best way for our church leaders to reach everyone in the shortest amount of time/effort possible?” Mass texting through texting apps revealed itself to be our answer.
What Are Texting Apps And Why You Should Consider Them
While not everyone in your congregation may be able to send or receive texts, you should be able to reach almost everyone via text message. Texting apps are an easy way to reach a lot of people in a very short amount of time.
A texting app is something you download to your phone or access from your computer that allows you to send both mass texts and individual messages. Some texting apps give you a specific phone number that is your church’s, and your church’s alone. You can use these apps to send text messages that your church members will receive in their regular texting inbox (the place where they receive regular text messages from friends and family members).
Other texting apps require everyone to download the app and create an account. These apps don’t give you a phone number but are a great option for collaboration as they’re usually set up for group messaging and communication.
Regardless of whether you choose a texting app that gives you a phone number or one that everyone downloads, utilizing the power of texting is an easy way for you to communicate in a cost-effective and efficient manner. It allows you to reach everyone in a matter of minutes because you can write one message and send it to everyone simultaneously.
The Four Best Texting Apps For Small Churches
1. Gloo
Gloo is probably the best way to communicate for those who are just looking for a service that sends text messages. Gloo is ideal if you already have a church management software or use something else for online giving. There is no cost regardless of how many contacts you have or text messages you send, so it’s ideal for those small churches with small budgets.
Price: Free
How to send messages: Mobile app or website.
Advantages:
- Dedicated phone number for your church.
- Church members don’t have to download an app in order to receive messages.
- They’ll receive your church’s text messages in the same place they receive texts from friends and family. There’s no need for them to download an app or create a new login.
- An unlimited number of church leaders can set up an account and text from the same church number.
- Volunteer reminders from your children’s ministry coordinator, prayer requests from your prayer team leader, and communications from your pastor will all be sent from the same phone number, which is unique to your church.
- Messages can be sent to individuals, small groups of people, or the whole church.
- Import church members’ contact information from Planning Center, Community Builder (also known as Pushpay), Mailchimp, Hubspot, MinistryPlatform, Rock Rms, Salesforce, or a .csv file.
- Send a text right away or schedule it for later.
- Use keywords to capture things like group signups, prayer requests, first-time guest information, etc.
Limitations:
- No option for recipients to “reply all” to a text.
- Text message recipients are not able to see the responses of others and collaborate. While you can send messages to a group, responses will only be received by the church, not by everyone else who received the group message.
- Integrations are mostly limited to importing contact information and groups from your church management software.
- As an example of the impact of this limitation, if you want to send out text message reminders that someone is serving, you’ll have to create those reminders manually. Fortunately, it is easy to duplicate a text message, and you can schedule text messages as far out as you wish. You can even edit scheduled text messages (and the recipients) if your volunteer schedule changes.
- You cannot send or receive phone calls with your Gloo number.
- The platform can be difficult to navigate when first starting out, so you’ll have to take some time to learn the system.
- While there is a mobile app, it is easier to send messages from a computer.
2. FlockNote
If you’re looking to combine your church management software and/or your online giving platform with your texting service, then Flocknote is a top contender. While the church management software has a set price of $39/month, the texting pricing is tiered based on the number of people you have, so you only pay for as much as you need.
Price: Based on the number of contacts. Free for under 40 contacts. See pricing tiers here.
How to send messages: Mobile app or website.
Advantages:
- Dedicated phone number for your church.
- Church members don’t have to download an app in order to receive messages.
- Unlimited number of administrators. One church number.
- Online Giving Platform and Church Management Software (Flocknote People) features available to add on (Giving costs only the transaction fees, Flocknote People is $39/month).
- Notification of responses can be received via text or email.
- Supports public comments.
- If there is something that people need to collaborate on, you can activate public comments so everyone can see everyone else’s responses. It’s like the comment section on a Facebook post or “reply all” in an email.
- Automatically sends an email to those who don’t have a texting number available.
Limitations:
- You must pay for Flocknote People (their CMS, $39/month) to add a serving schedule if you want serving reminders to be sent automatically.
- There are sometimes delays between when a member responds to a text and when you get a notification of that response.
- The platform is somewhat clunky, so it’ll take time to learn how to navigate.
- Cost increases as your number of people grows.
- You cannot send or receive phone calls from your texting number.
3. Text-Em-All
If you have a large number of church members who are unable to send or receive text messages, Text-Em-All may be the best option for your church, as automated phone calls can be integrated into the messaging system.
Price: Option to pay by credit (as low as 5¢ per text/phone call) or by month (as low as $10 per month) after a free trial.
How to send messages: Mobile app or website.
Advantages:
- Dedicated phone number for your church.
- Can send recorded voice messages or text-to-speech messages to people who don’t have cell phones or can’t receive text messages.
- Church members don’t have to download an app in order to receive messages.
- Texts and phone calls can be sent immediately or scheduled for later.
- They have an option for a free trial.
- Only pay for what you need by using the credits option.
Limitations:
- Text-Em-All is not designed specifically for churches, so it integrates with very few church management softwares.
- Cost increases the more people you send messages to, both for monthly and credit plans.
- You will need to take time to learn how to navigate the platform at first and figure out where all the features are that you want to use.
4. WhatsApp or GroupMe
If you’re looking for something that allows for more collaboration between church members, then a dedicated application that everyone needs to download may be the direction you’ll need to go. WhatsApp and GroupMe are very similar in what they offer with very similar ratings and reviews.
Price: Free
How to send messages: Mobile App (everyone must download the app)
Advantages:
- Free to use.
- Set up an unlimited number of groups.
- Allows for group messaging where everyone can see and respond to all other responses.
- Options for individual or mass messages.
- Can make phone calls within the app.
Limitations:
- Everyone has to download the app and create an account.
- Cannot schedule messages to send later.
- Messages are only in the app and are not sent to the recipient’s regular text message inbox.
Why Should Church-Wide Texts Be A Priority?
While you probably won’t send a text message to every person in your church every week, having the option to do so is incredibly important. Text messages have a far more consistent “open rate” than emails or voicemails, meaning people are more likely to open and read a text message than they are to read an email, answer the phone, or listen to a voicemail.
Sunday service canceled? Send a church-wide text message to let everyone know as soon as possible.
Upcoming event? Send a mass message to everyone who needs to know and wants to be there.
Urgent prayer request? Get all the important details sent to all your prayer warriors instead of waiting to share it from the pulpit on Sunday morning or running the risk of the message getting confused in a real-life game of Telephone.
First-time guest? Set up a formulated message that is sent as soon as they give you their information (hint – establishing a connection as soon as possible makes a big difference in helping guests return!).
Serving reminders? Schedule text messages to be sent each week to the people who need to remember they’re serving.
Need input or feedback from a lot of people? Send a text to anyone whose opinion you want and give them the space to respond when they can after they’ve had time to reflect.
Find What Works Best For Your Small Church
While there will probably never be a one-size-fits-all method to communicate with every church member, attendee, or guest, you have options that can help you get the word out efficiently and effectively.
Today, the majority of people have cell phones, so texting is a reliable way to send messages to most of the individuals you need to contact.
Before you pick a texting or messaging platform, it’s important to consider your intentions and what is important to you and your church. Do you just need to send mass text messages? Are you looking for more of an all-in-one solution? Are you emphasizing collaboration and communication between all church members? Once you have a clearer picture of what it is you want your texting service to do, you can more easily decide which platform or service best fits those desires.
Save your time, save your sanity, and relieve your stress in getting the word out. Happy texting!
Read More:
How To Get Honest Volunteer Feedback – Small Church Ministry
