Top 5 Reasons Why Churches Need a Mobile App
What would you say to having one place where you and your members can send and receive email blasts, communicate frequently via social media, share videos and online sermons, post volunteer opportunities and track schedules, and donate and pay tithes from anywhere in the world?
Well you can have all of that with a mobile app, or use a suite of them for your church. Here is a short list of some of the top things that a mobile app will do to improve your church's attendance and donations: (THERE ARE MORE, BUT HERE ARE JUST A FEW MAIN REASONS WHY AN APP IS GREAT FOR CHURCHES)
1. Tithes, Offering, and Fundraising
Mobile apps are a great way for members to pay tithes and offerings whether they come to church or not because, people can use apps safely and securely from anywhere in the world. It’s also a great tool to ask for donations, or to have members share donation links to their social networks. Mobile applications let you find different and unique ways to engage your congregation in using different outlets for fundraising. Statistics show that 39% of young practicing Christians donate to a church at least once a month online and 11% of all young adults donate to a church or faith-based organization online.
Setting up a mobile app for your members to donate to your church is a great way to make fundraising easier for your members, which will in turn increase the number of donations that you receive. We can integrate your existing Paypal or other merchant transactions, or we can set one up for you.
2. Increase in Communication/More Active Members
If your church leaders want to communicate with church members, and members want to communicate with each other, a mobile app provides them with many different methods that are more likely to receive a response than handing out leaflets or posting fliers on your church bulletin board. Apps provide members with push notifications—short messages that notify users when there’s something new from the church—and members also get access to social media posts and profiles, are able to send messages to each other through the app, and can keep up to date with the whole church community easily. The app will allow you to share schedules of programs and events, service hours, contact information, news and updates, verses, and anything that is fitting to your church. Think about it—time spent on a mobile device by the average US consumer is 2 hours and 42 minutes per day—apps are in the lead, taking 86% of the average US mobile consumer’s time (2 hours and 19 minutes per day). This makes it clear that applications are completely taking over mobile. A church that fails to provide their church with an app is clearly missing out on growth opportunities, and many others as well.
Some good features in church apps include a multi-version online Bible, taking notes, leadership resources, scripture verses, and more.
3. Media sharing
For members who are unable to make it to some events or services, media (photos, video, or audio) sharing capability is really helpful. Vdeos can be shot, uploaded and shared, allowing members to connect, stay in touch and listen to sermons, even if they’re out of town or unable to attend the services or the event. While most Americans would prefer to hear their pastor giving his sermons live, 37% of young adults don’t have a preference as to whether the preaching is live or by video, as long as they get to hear it. 54% of practicing Christian young adults watch online videos about faith or spirituality as well.
4. Increase in Charity Work and Volunteering
When you communicate to your members about volunteer and charity work opportunities, you can get more participation. With an app, you can easily and quickly send out reminders to engage members and keep them interested. It is likely that have a lot of members that would commit to volunteering when you make the offer during services, or at church events, but they may forget or lose motivation over time. If you have a mobile application, you’re bound to keep your members interested and enthusiastic about the opportunities you’re providing, even when they’re not at church. Through the app, they can see pictures of events, messages about opportunities, discussions about other ways to volunteer and do charity work, and even opportunities to donate to charitable causes.
5. Support Between Church Members
Members often discuss their hardships and provide support for each other when they need it. Having a mobile app can make supporting each other much easier; they can even allow your members to submit prayer requests, and view others that are posted as well. Based on a survey from Christian Web Trends, the social/community feature involved in a church app was considered important by 57% of those surveyed, and 75% found that alerts, like prayer request alerts, to be one of the most important app features as well; and considered as one of the top four important features in a church app.
