Better together: combining
your ChMS & giving platforms
How to deepen engagement with an end-to-end
church management solution
By Troy Pollock
Since I started my journey with Pushpay in 2012, there have been so
many changes, innovations and developments in technology to help
the Church.
In fact, at the time, digital giving was a revolutionary concept.
I remember having to pitch the idea of online and mobile tithing and
how technology could really make a difference for church admins
and donors alike.
However, as technology evolves and has become more embedded in
our day-to-day lives, digital giving is simply an extension of the church
technology toolbelt.
For better or worse, the recent COVID-19 pandemic really uncovered
the possibilities, and gaps, for churches as they were forced to shift to
a digital strategy — literally overnight. In fact, a recent Barna study
indicates that 48% of pastors said the most growth their church has seen
during this unprecedented time was in innovation and technology.
Now, more than ever, is the time to research and evaluate what your
church really needs to help move your congregation forward. In meeting
with some of the leading churches day-to-day, I can’t tell you how many
times I’ve heard that one of the biggest pain points is the lack of seamless
integration between their systems and tools. More specifically, between
their ChMS and giving solutions.
You might have recently read that Pushpay and Church Community
Builder merged and are now under one umbrella. We could not be more
excited about this merger and what it means for the Church. As we
combine our solutions into an all-in-one church engagement platform,
we are building toward delivering tools that will empower churches to
know, grow, and keep their people. Here’s what we’re most excited about
in the coming months:
The power of integrated solutions
There is a significant difference between a partner and an integrated
solution. In fact, we are just beginning to tap into the potential of
being a fully integrated solution. Some of the benefits of having
your ChMS and giving solutions more deeply aligned are things like
streamlined sign-on between systems, better data integrity, and deep
links that enable admins to easily transition between tools and
quickly navigate to where they need to go — saving your church
considerable time. In addition, having one support line to call for
help with both your giving and ChMS needs.
Yet, one thing will remain strong. We truly value our partners
and have invested years in building and maintaining relationships
with other technology solutions, which we know is beneficial
to many churches. As a result, Pushpay and Church Community
Builder are still dedicated to maintaining an open API.
Intentional engagement
Our goal is to fuel engagement that provides deeper connections
between a church and its congregation, and to build technology to
support ministry — which we know is really about reaching and
connecting people.
Expanding on Pushpay’s recent Donor Development tools, churches
now have the ability to send a list of donors or community members to
a Process Queue within their Church Community Builder software.
What does that mean? A church now has more visibility to how
engaged individuals are in the church. More so, this prompts a stepby-step
path that ultimately helps move people forward on their faith
journey. This is really step one in unlocking the true potential of both
the Pushpay and Church Community Builder software.
Bundled pricing & customer support
One of the benefits of combining solutions is the opportunity to
deliver a bundled product offering — which today includes a ChMS,
digital giving and app solution. Customer support for joint Pushpay
and Church Community Builder customers has also been integrated
into a single care center. Meaning one point of contact for questions
and support. How easy is that? For questions, visit https://pushpay.
com/chms-software/.
As we embark on this opportunity, we could not be more excited
about the future ahead. We truly know that Pushpay and Church
Community Builder are better together, and combined we are able
to deliver a more holistic solution for the Church. Watch this space
for more updates in the coming months!
Troy Pollock is the chief ambassador at Pushpay, a software company based in
Redmond, Wash. [ www.pushpay.com ] As the first U.S. employee, he has been
an integral part of the development, strategic planning, and growth at Pushpay
the last seven years. Prior to joining Pushpay, Pollock was the executive pastor at
a church in southern California.
20 CHURCH EXECUTIVE | MAY / JUNE 2020