5 church problems that technology can tackle

March 11, 2022

The ministry landscape is experiencing dramatic changes, and pastors are dedicating a lot of time just to understand how to handle the complex challenges of the church today. While some see these changes as “church problems,” others view them as opportunities to expand the Church by creating new strategies and methods for sharing the gospel and making disciples.

Throughout time, ministry pioneers have demonstrated the importance of technology in Christianity—from the apostles taking advantage of the Roman Roads to travel farther and faster with the gospel, to Martin Luther using the Gutenberg press to publish and distribute his 95 Theses, to Billy Graham harnessing the power of radio and television to preach to millions around the world! But how does church technology help the Church today?

In the digital age, church technology plays a crucial role in helping pastors reach more people, engage them with gospel content, and make disciples. Let’s take a look at five church problems today, and how church tech can help pastors overcome them. 

       

   

Challenge #1: Declining church membership

One of the main problems in ministry today is that American church membership and attendance is in decline. In fact, it’s at its lowest point in history. In 2000, 70% of Americans were church members. By 2020, that number dropped to 47%! Attendance is also trending lower with up to one-third of regular church attendees no longer attending church (largely due to the pandemic). 

At the same time, people still have a desire to be part of a community and be discipled. 63% of Christians want their churches to supply them with more online discipleship resources

In other words, people want to engage with your church and feel connected all week long. This presents an amazing opportunity for pastors to provide their churches with more accessible discipleship content! 

Over 15,000 churches and organizations have adopted The Ultimate Engagement Platform™ by Subsplash with a suite of powerful tools like mobile apps, church websites, online giving, live streaming, group messaging, and more to engage millions of people every week, improve communication, and increase attendance at their in-person services and events. 

Today, technology and church growth go hand-in-hand. As your congregation engages more with your church and each other throughout the week, they will feel more connected and excited about attending your weekend services both in-person and online!

       

Challenge #2: Pastor & volunteer burnout

Did you know that 38% of pastors have seriously considered quitting ministry in the last year? A similar challenge of the church today is volunteer turnover. So what causes people’s initial excitement to fade over time?

Here are three of the primary factors that cause church staff burnout:

  • Disorganization—overwhelming responsibilities, poorly planned activities, and understaffing
  • Disillusionment—a feeling that their work is ineffective, unimportant, or under appreciated 
  • Lack of communication—poor scheduling of events, lack of access to information, and difficulty in reaching other people

In order to recruit, manage, and retain church staff and volunteers, it’s essential to take advantage of new church technology to simplify and streamline as many processes as possible in order to make church operations go smoothly and give back valuable time needed for ministry. 

This is where church management tools on the Subsplash Platform can save the day with powerful tools that make it easy to manage people, events, volunteers, child check-ins, volunteers, and groups. It’s also integrated with tools to engage people along their discipleship journeys, like mobile apps, websites, group messaging, live streaming, and more.

       

Challenge #3: Distractions

One of the unique challenges facing the Church in the 21st century is that people are surrounded by distractions such as social media, news, and entertainment. All of these call out for people’s attention, making it difficult for them to hear your gospel-centered messages. 

Let’s say you live stream your church services to YouTube and Facebook. People visit these pages to watch your church’s videos only to find themselves distracted by social posts from friends and family, ads, instant messages, and other content tailored to capture their attention by sophisticated algorithms. 

Now more than ever, churches need church technology that offers a space free from distractions to engage their communities. With a church app by Subsplash, you can give your church a safe and uninterrupted place to watch your church’s live streams and on-demand content, have meaningful conversations, read the Bible, listen to podcasts, give and grow in their discipleship journeys. 

And don’t worry—Subsplash Live will not only send your live streams to your church’s app and website, it automatically streams to your Facebook Live and YouTube so that you can still reach the most people possible. 

       

Challenge #4: Feeling intimidated by church technology 

The average church in the United States has 60 people in attendance. This means that most church technology is handled by pastors and volunteers, so it’s understandable that there might be apprehension about adopting new digital tools.

In 2019, pastors’ reported that their lowest priority was “Keeping up with the latest digital and technological trends.” However, the latest research shows that today’s second most pressing challenge for pastors is “Keeping up with technology.”

The good news is that church tech leaders like Subsplash have made it easy for churches of any size to effectively use digital tools. Here are some simple examples:

  • Subsplash websites come with professionally-designed templates made for churches. It’s user-friendly features include a drag-and-drop builder that lets you efficiently design and edit your website. You can also easily integrate your online giving, event calendars, media, and other content. 
  • Subsplash Live is simple to set up and requires no expensive cameras or equipment. Your live services stream simultaneously to your mobile app, church website, YouTube and Facebook Live. 
  • People & Groups allows you to better understand your community and create deeper connections. You can access contact information, family connections, group connections, and much more. 

New technology doesn’t need to be intimidating. Rather, with simple-to-use tools, helpful resources, and expert advice from a dedicated support team, you can better understand, communicate, and disciple your community.

       

Challenge #5: Church financial problems

Whether it’s a decline in incoming donations or a difficulty balancing the books, pastors are often the first to feel the strain of their churches’ financial problems. Fortunately, newer digital financial tools, like Subsplash Giving, can give pastors a hand to overcome these challenges, such as:

  • Increasing incoming donations—Subsplash Giving makes it as simple and convenient as possible for your congregation to show their generosity with in-app and online giving, as well as text-to-give. Your donors can literally give anytime from anywhere. This church technology also offers guest giving so your visitors can easily donate without having to create a giving account. 
  • Managing church finances—With advanced donation entry tools such as check scanning and logging cash or checks, you can improve the accuracy of your books and streamline your accounting process. Your Subsplash Giving dashboard also gives you analytics to provide deeper insights into your incoming donations and finances. 
  • Stewarding your expenses—Many pastors are frustrated by the expenses associated with online giving. Only Subsplash Giving offers GrowCurve™ that automatically reduces your processing rates as your donations increase, along with no monthly fees or hidden costs. 

It’s important to provide yourself with the best online giving tools available. They put more money back into your church’s accounts and provide you with peace of mind, allowing you to focus more on ministry rather than your finances. 

Your church technology partner

Pastors face many challenges that technology can help solve. Subsplash builds church software specially designed to tackle those challenges head on. Adopting these tools can pave the way to more streamlined operations and fewer headaches. 

Whether you’re a pastor just getting started using technology or a seasoned church tech leader, we’d love to connect with you and show you how the Subsplash Platform can help tackle the challenges you face today. Contact us today!

       

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