Accelerating the Dynamic Church : Assimilation

Solution Selling includes educating the church on Best Practices

Jeff Hook — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 18:43:00 GMT

Last night I received a call from the field from one of our Delivery Managers. For Fellowship Technologies, a Delivery Manager is a consultant who works with a church partner (customer) to assist them with their implementation of Fellowship One. The purpose of the call was that the Delivery Manager wanted me to know that the church partner could not say enough about how much they learned about church management from our sales consultant during the sales cycle.

BTW, we now have 12 different editions, all the same software, but twelve different ways to license Fellowship One because not all churches want to use it the same way – but I will save that post for another day. The point of this post is how much the partner learned during the sales cycle.

To me, this was very rewarding. Why? Because it says that we are being successful when it comes to our mission of not just selling church software but also helping churches understand what good church management is and, in the end, improving churches’ ability to help people! When people talk about the business of the church too often they talk about the “back office” aspects of the church.

However, the real “business” of the church is people; from helping deal with their “heart” conditions to their “life” conditions. Church management software needs to be ministry-focused software, not administrative-focused software. Sometimes we run into a church that has documented all of these features that they want their software to have but these features are all about how to make the software perform better to their “work habits” around reading email, keeping their calendar, or even turning on the HVAC 2 hours before the service time. Now all of these might be well and good, but I truly think they miss the point.

Our sales consultants try to convey the need for the software to focus on the needs of the people attending the church – that is where the real value is. In his book, “How to Increase Giving in Your Church,” George Barna says that people who share an ownership or personal connection to a church tend to give more. In other words, the more connected a person is, spiritually and emotionally, the more generous the giving. The more generous the giving, the more resources the church has for quality services and reaching more people. So if this is true, shouldn’t church management software help track how connected a person is and help then encourage additional connection?

If all church management software is just alike (like some of our competitors want you to think), why aren’t our competitors selling the same way? Instead they sell on “features and functions.” I can say this because I have seen their sales demos. It is not about features and functions; it is about how you use those features and functions. It is about processes and the impact of those processes – both on the church congregation and church staff.

Grace to you,

Jhook

Good Software Stewardship?

Jeff Hook — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 21:20:00 GMT

Sometimes we come across a church that puts a halt to a software selection process because they come to the realization that they may not need a new church management software solution. Why? Because they find out that they are underutilizing what they currently have. Of course, many times they are encouraged to not look for another solution by their current vendor who claims the system they have can do exactly what Fellowship One does, they are just not using those features. It is rarely the case that this is actually true. But the church must go through the process of looking at what their current vendor has before buying off on another purchase. Case in point: why buy new if you are not using what you currently have? Maybe you do not need a new system to get the benefits you are hoping to get with a new system if your current software has the capabilities; you are just not using them!

Now my contention is that there is perhaps a reason why a church is not using its current system to the max that still requires a change – maybe the system does not do what you need it to do to support your ministry; or perhaps it is not user-friendly; or costs too much to maintain or breaks when you do try to maintain or upgrade it; or performs so poorly it is practically unusable! If any of these are the case then shopping for a new solution is warranted. However, many times a system is not used to its full extent because the staff does not have the discipline to change or learn something new or even, heaven forbids, the staff has become lazy or complacent.

If this is the case, changing systems will not provide the benefits desired no matter what solution is in place; the staff is not willing to do what is required to get the desired results. It is like the athlete who wants to win the Olympics but is not willing to do the amount of training required to really compete. Becoming a “world class church” is similar to becoming a “world class athlete,” it does not happen without doing the right things, doing the right things right and then doing the right things better. Continually!

As an example, I will use a tale of two churches who are both current customers of ours. This is an actual case study of true circumstances, but I will spare the names to protect the innocent. However, there probably more than one church of each type within our customer base. Do not be offended if you think I am using your church as an example; if it is your actual church, I did get permission.

Both churches held a “Fall Festival” as an outreach event into the community and to show a less “gruesome” way to celebrate Halloween. Both churches subscribe to a Fellowship One edition that allows for “check-in” of any and all activities. However, only one of these churches chose to “check-in” their Fall Festival. That church checked in nearly 2,000 attendees to their event; more than what they serve during their typical weekend services. The other church chose not to conduct “check-in” at the event even though their license agreement encourages them to do so – it does not cost anymore!

The church that chose to conduct “check-in” put their best foot forward because they showed their community that it was technologically savvy and showed that safety of their kids was job #1; but more importantly, even before the event was over, because of real-time attendance tracking, they knew that 92% of those in attendance were 1^st time visitors to their church. 92% - I would say that was a successful outreach event! The church that did not conduct check-in can only guess at how many attendees were first-time visitors and can only surmise as to whether its event was successful at bringing in new faces.

The real key to growth and determining success of the Fall Festival for the first church mentioned will be to track how many of those people actually make it to church within the next month and then how many are still there in six months. From that, the church can determine its ROM (Return on Ministry) for that event for that year which will help determine if that event was a good use of funds and whether none, less or more money should be budgeted for the next year. The second church mentioned cannot do any of that analysis because it did not capture who attended in the first place. There are perhaps other ways to capture the information (roll cards, etc.) but none more accurate and efficient than at the POS (Point of Service).

Everyone can make better decisions when they have more and better information. I encourage you to take the guess work out of the decision-making process at your church by capturing, tracking, and analyzing as much information as you can. Capturing the data does not need to be laborious. A check-in station can be used as a POS device for more than just “children’s check-in.” By checking in all of your church’s activities, you build a foundation of data that can help capture how successful an event is and how “plugged-in” people are – now that’s measuring assimilation! Using all the capabilities of your church management system will help you truly know whether it is the right one for your church or not. It also allows you to get the most "value" out of your solution. It is just good software stewardship!

Grace to you,

Jhook

Passive or Active Assimilation – What does your church practice?

Jeff Hook — Sat, 15 Apr 2006 16:41:00 GMT

I was visiting with a customer recently and we were talking about their church’s philosophy on getting people involved in the church. During the conversation it became clear to both of us that, although their church offered many opportunities to get involved, there was not a real push from church leadership to encourage any involvement. In other words, it was a “field of dreams” approach to assimilation – offer it and they will participate. The real “Dr. Phil” question is, “How’s that working for you?” Or more appropriate. “How’s that working for them – people who are new to the church?”

One of the differences about churches that I have noticed is their approach to assimilation; some view it as an active process and others view it passively. In older established churches, the assumption is that the congregation is made up of established Christians who are well equipped to decide how much or how quickly they should move towards being FTDC (Full Time Disciples of Christ). Newer, more outreach focused churches – those focused on seekers and the unchurched – take a more proactive role in assimilation. These churches encourage more involvement on a certain timeframe assuming that the person may not understand the expectations laid out in Scripture. Christianity is meant to be an active way of life through serving and giving.

According to a study by George Barna documented in his book How to Increase Giving in Your Church, a benefit of increased involvement in church activities from Bible studies to small groups to volunteering is an increase in giving. People fund ministries they believe in. If this is true, perhaps to improve the financial resources available to a ministry, churches that approach assimilation passively should rethink their approach to be more active.

Have a great Easter!

Grace to you as you go out to be active Christians,

jhook