Was the attendance at your last church event low? Do you experience struggles to get individuals connected? If so, it’s high time to consider updating your communication strategy.
SMS services for these religious organizations have become a huge hit, as they help church leaders to spend more time on building relationships with parishioners. There are numerous text and email software programs, such as Text In Church, to help churches get their messages heard.
Have a look at the different uses of SMS for these organizations.
Welcoming new visitors
Many churches have started using texting services to help them thrive. For instance, they send SMS to welcome new visitors who recently started attending the house of God. When visiting a particular church for the very first time, most visitors leave prior to having a conversation with the priest or the bishop.
Nevertheless, text messaging is indeed helpful in connecting with churchgoers. The majority of individuals prefer SMS over emails and phone calls. Believe it or not, only forty-five percent of emails are read on a daily basis, compared to ninety-eight percent of texts. Therefore, churches are advised to send a welcome message to new visitors and provide them with a given keyword, which they are supposed to text to get more detailed information about the organizations.
Since all individuals are specific in their needs, your organization should engage them by providing relevant information. Automated welcome messages should contain several keywords for churchgoers to choose from for receiving additional information, such as groups, kids, events, etc. By replying with any of these keywords, individuals will be provided with specific information related to the chosen category.
For example, by replying to the “kids” keyword, people will receive information associated with the children’s program at your church. By replying to the welcome message with the “group” keyword, people will get informed about the different available groups to join. By choosing the “events” keyword, individuals will receive information about the upcoming events in the following months, such as mission trips, volunteer opportunities, picnics, Christmas caroling, etc.
Furthermore, churches can use text messages through direct lines for individual ministries. In general, these religious organizations have between ten and twenty ministries, including early childhood, elementary, high school, senior groups, women’s groups, men’s groups, and others. By using such services, your church can create direct lines for every ministry to get a touch in with interested visitors.
These direct lines can be used for sending updates specific to the ministry, invitations to events, personal communication between ministry staff and visitors, and other tasks. Such lines are designed to provide each ministry with the freedom to establish effective communication both via direct and mass messages.
Additionally, religious communities can take advantage of text messaging for the purpose of following up with visitors. It often happens for individuals to feel confused about the way in which they can connect with a particular church outside of the morning service on Sunday. Follow-up campaigns are specifically created by using sequences, referring to a series of SMS that is automatically sent to individuals at given intervals set by the organization.
These sequences usually consist of four texts sent in an eight-day period. The welcome message is sent on the first day, followed by a video message from your pastor on the second day. On the fourth day, visitors should receive an invitation to an event and be provided with the option to reply with YES if they plan to attend the event. After a couple of days, another text of your preference can be sent to make sure the person gets to know the church better.
Engaging congregations
Another way for churches to use SMS is by engaging their congregations. Sometimes, pastors find it challenging to lead and nurture their flocks. Fortunately, texting is an easy way for pastors to communicate with their congregation more productively. As a result, SMS communication helps more parishioners engage with each other and develop a deeper relationship with God.
Moreover, you can keep your congregation up-to-date on religious information and news with the help of mass messaging. It stimulates better attendance and involvement of churchgoers in community activities. Your organization can send notifications to remind people of service times, announce new sermon series, unexpected event cancellations, etc.
Churches can personalize communication by using first and last names. By addressing churchgoers by their names, there is a better likelihood for parishioners to read and reply to the messages you send. You can also inform your congregation about the various opportunities to volunteer in your community.
Donations and event promotion
Another way for churches to take advantage of text messages is by informing members about donations and events. Nowadays, most people find online donations more convenient. For instance, your church can provide a direct link for raising money for a good cause or collecting tithe. People will be offered a convenient way to pay their regular tithe or give special gifts.
SMS services are also a convenient method for people to pay fees for different activities, like conferences, camps, or youth events. Additionally, such communication can be used for event promotion, including garage sales, breakfast events, clothing drives, fundraisers, community events, youth events, etcetera. You can invite the entire flock or just specific ministries to an event. SMS messaging is also suitable for recruiting volunteers for community events.
Texts can be sent to people to update them on the status of your fundraising goal by informing them on how much money has been already collected and providing a link for them to donate. Emergent community member needs can be communicated via SMS as well. In case a family experiences an unfortunate event like a flood or house fire, community members can be contacted via SMS to donate items or money.
Final thoughts
Churches should use modern technology to update their communication strategies.
