THE HOTTEST SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGY TRENDS can help your church become more efficient. Consider all the different ways tools like these can assist you in reaching more people, both in your congregation and beyond! Here are the top eight:

1. Software as a Service (SAAS)

Another name for software as a service (SAAS) is application-service provider, or ASP. Both acronyms basically mean that software is provided as a Web-based solution provided on the Internet. Churches can save both time and energy, and trust the experts to do 99 percent of the work.

What’s great about implementing software tools that are Web-based is that no programming is necessary. Whether you want to give church leaders access to membership data online, or offer members access to update their personal information — or to implement online payments or donations — using software that’s Web-based is the new “way of life.”

2. CRM Model for Churches

Another major trend is customer relationship management (CRM) software. CRM software allows you to span various departments and business functions across a church to share a single view of everything about that member.

The main difference between CRM and traditional church management software, or CMS, is that you’re no longer just collecting the data about the member, but sharing it and allowing everyone to view and edit their parts of it as needed. This allows people in different ministries or departments to track and monitor the shifting needs and interests of its members. In other words, different ministries or departments can use the data from the same single record in different ways to meet their needs.

Some CRM software has been customized to meet the needs of church leaders. Some vendors only provide a desktop software package, and others only provide a Web-based package. The best vendors, however, provide both online and offline software packages to ensure everyone will have the tools they need, whether they have updated hardware or not.

3. E-mail Newsletters

E-mail newsletter software services are another hot trend. This service combines the first two trends by delivering software as a service and providing tools to use the CRM system to communicate with the individuals in the database. Whereas it was once unique for an organization to communicate via an e-mail newsletter, now this type of communication has become standard.

With increases in technology, programs can be customized and integrated with existing software; e-mail addresses can be uploaded from a variety of programs (including church management software, Outlook and other e-mail programs); and specific information can be requested by users so that they receive only the news they want. All these tools take communicating with church members to new heights, and they offer major benefits. Even better, e-mail newsletter service providers often offer tools to track how many people opened the e-mail, forwarded the e-mail, and more. Marketing data such as this can be very valuable to your church.

4. Online Ticketing and Registration

Church leaders are looking for solutions that assist them in increasing traffic to events without increasing the administrative time it takes to sell tickets and register people. As such, online ticketing and event registration software is hot.

By using a software vendor that integrates ticket-selling and event registration pages into your website without any programming, in just moments your church can be selling tickets to special events and registering people for missions trips with ease.

People expect convenience, and now they can have it. Online ticketing services allow users to print out electronic tickets, or request tickets by mail or will-call. The bottom line: no more standing in line. Everything can be done via the Web for maximum efficiency, both for the church and for the user.

5. Online Payments and Donations

Taking things a step further, churches can accept payments for special classes, seminars, youth events, mission trips, regular tithing and more through online payment and donation software services. The best software services in this area will be totally Web-based and integrate into your website with ease.

Establishing online donations also makes it convenient for members to give by providing them with alternate means of contributing. Some people have jobs or other commitments that keep them from regularly attending, so let contributors set up and manage their giving through your church website.

It’s possible to set up one-time giving, or set up an automated payment that’s deducted from the giver’s account each week or month, depending on their preference. For payments that are set up to automatically deduct money from a bank account, an e-mail reminder can be sent before each contribution is made.

These types of online donation services are really amazing and can assist your church in meeting its financial goals.

6. Security Products

Security for all things software and Web-related is definitely on the hot list. With hackers, worm threats, Trojan horse viruses and even threats of physical violence on church premises, you simply can’t be too careful.

Many software vendors now have entire categories on their websites explaining security products to their clients. Automated data backup programs are hot, as are check- in/check-out childcare programs.

For Web-based programs, providing proper login and user password identification requirements are important, as are as firewalls and spam guards for e-mail and e-newsletter communication tools.

7. Small-Group Management

Managing small groups has come a long way from a simple roster list that gets filled out by the leader and turned into the church office. Through online access to church management software, leaders now have the ability to log in from their home computers and manage small groups.

Some programs provide ways to communicate with members via e-mail, mark attendance, set up tasks and reminders and more. Software even provides a way for the staff in a church to track people who have expressed interest in groups and see which groups they join — or haven’t joined — to determine who needs assistance.

8. Online Calendaring

Software vendors seek to meet the overall needs of churches while at the same time implementing new technologies that offer advancements. One of the simplest ways to use technology tools to encourage your church members is to keep a continuously updated calendar available on your church website. One survey found that 70 percent of church website visitors were seeking event information. Displaying the latest event information on your website and keeping it current is a must in this day and age.

Hopefully, these eight trends will help you plan your technology implementations this year. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Do your research. Talk to customer service departments at any technology company to find out what the level of service will be like. And most of all, don’t forget to ask your staff if the technology tools you choose are indeed meeting their needs.

Lauren Hunter is a trade writer and public relations consultant specializing in the faith-based and nonprofit technology markets. She currently consults to ACS Technologies and Service U, both technology providers to the church market. For more information on how Internet and software technology can improve your organization, contact Hunter at lauren@laurenhunter.net.

What’s the true purpose of hosting special church events — to spiritually feed the congregation, or to entice new visitors to come to your church to spread the gospel?

The answer is both.

Church events have many purposes. They encourage existing members, draw inactive members into the Body of Christ, help develop new Christians through worship, and attract new people to your church to share the gospel and save souls.

One goal you can be sure your church isn’t trying to accomplish, however, is frustrating ticket buyers by taking up too much of their time getting the tickets in the first place.

Many church leaders mean well when planning and holding events like Christmas productions, drama programs, youth auctions, concerts and more; unfortunately, they often don’t consider that the process of standing in line after church on Sunday to purchase admission might be sending people home early instead of selling more tickets.

If you’re like me, you have lots of responsibilities on a Sunday morning — you’ve got to pick up the kids from childcare, work a shift in the nursery, drop off a bag of canned goods in the lobby for the homeless shelter, and maybe even pick up a copy of the sermon on CD to listen to during the week. I rarely have time to stand in line to buy tickets for an upcoming concert advertised from the pulpit, even if I wanted to.

A Virtual Solution

Online ticketing is one of the best ways to overcome this hurdle. Sure, it’s important to still set up a table in the lobby, or to put a notice in the church bulletin; but if churchgoers like me could order tickets online, it would provide greater flexibility and more access to ticketed events.

Many church leaders are realizing that online ticketing is the way to go. With so many services being offered on the Web for churches and their members — management software, donation tools, event registration and more — technology tools are once again making all things church-related more efficient.

For First Baptist Church of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., online ticketing has been a way of life for the past year. “We use a strategy — Partners on Purpose [POP] — to seek people with intentionality,” explains Toni Hamilton, minister of community involvement. For example, FBC Lauderdale held its Women’s Connection Conference in January and used online ticking for this event for the first time.

“By making it possible to purchase tickets online, our members can invite friends at the last minute and still purchase tickets easily and print them out at home,” Hamilton says. “This makes outreach much for possible because people can be invited at the last minute.”

At the women’s conference, Hamilton ran into dozens of people who came with friends because they were able to register online. “The whole online ticketing process makes people feel like they’re going to a very professional event,” she says. “The tickets look very legitimate and give the impression that you don’t want to miss this event. Overall, online ticketing is a huge support to all our outreach efforts.”

Perhaps the most dramatic development has been for the church’s heralded Fort Lauderdale Christmas Pageant.

During the first years of the pageant, patrons began lining up overnight so they could be first in line to purchase tickets at the opening day. In addition to the inherent difficulties of purchasing tickets in person, the process excluded many participants who just weren’t able to wait in line all night.

Now, however, potential audience members simply access the church’s ticket database at www.christmastickets.com and select their seats from the comfort of their homes. Last year, more than 50,000 people went to the Christmas pageant, and the vast majority bought and printed their tickets online.

When Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir performed two worship concerts at the church last year, audience members came from all over the world. Whether concertgoers lived in New York or New Delhi, they were able to purchase tickets for the event via the Web.

It used to be that if you waited until the last few days before a church event, either you couldn’t get there in time to get the tickets, or the church office was closed, or the event was sold out. Online ticketing remedies each issue by allowing people to buy and print e-tickets from any Internet connection anywhere.

“Our seniors are also benefiting greatly from the ability to purchase tickets online,” Hamilton says. “For some of them, getting out of the house just isn’t possible. Many of our seniors have access to the Internet and purchase tickets and register for events online.

“We’re finding that our seniors are becoming more interested in technology tools than we thought they would be,” she adds. “Now they’re getting out more and able to come to more events.”

Online ticketing can even cut costs by reducing postage fees to mail tickets. It can also reduce the need to have volunteers on hand to sell tickets on Sunday, and it cuts down the administrative load of manually processing payments.

But Wait — There’s More!

Another great aspect of using online ticketing for outreach is the follow-up capabilities your church has once someone buys a ticket. For FBC Fort Lauderdale, this is one of the main ways leaders communicate with new people and encourage them to attend worship services and other events.

When people buy tickets online, they enter their e-mail addresses and check whether or not they would be interested in other events. At the event, the church hands out survey cards to further determine interest levels and is able to communicate with the visitors according to each person’s needs and wishes.

“Because of the way the online ticket engine captures data, we have the ability to download new people into our system and increase the size of prospect database,” Hamilton adds. “This is a truly valuable feature of online ticketing that we didn’t have before.”

Churches might also consider selling reserved seating for larger events. While tickets can be a powerful tool for outreach, a general admission ticket is anonymous. A prospect might accept tickets to be polite, with no intention of attending.

A reserved seat, on the other hand, creates a deeper commitment: the prospect knows that that seat will be empty if he or she doesn’t attend. Reserved seating also eliminates the hassles of finding a seat or meeting a friend.

Many online ticketing programs offer the ability to allow buyers to choose a delivery option — e-ticket, mailed ticket, will-call or on-hold. For reserved seats and general admission, some systems show color-coded seating charts online that make it easier to choose seating arrangements.

Another important component of an online ticketing program is a Web-based program that easily integrates with your church website.

Overall, providing a way for event-goers to buy tickets online is a surefire way to increase traffic to your website and generate interest in your church — not to mention sell out the event and attract new people through all your outreach efforts.