Church Software

Baptists are using technology to communicate with parishioners and enhance their ministries through Church Management Software (CMS). CMS software is indispensible in organizing the membership and financial data accumulated by the church. Many church software management systems are available for Baptists churches that are considering making investments in this area.

Logos Management Software is a leader in the church supplier field. Logos Version 7.1 is available for Windows systems including Vista. Logos carries programs specifically designed for Southern Baptists that can be customized for a particular church's needs.

Another church management system from Concordia Technology Solutions, a non-profit organization, can be personalized for specific denominations and reports can be created using Southern Baptist terminology. The different modules may be added as needed by the church. Small church versions are available.

A third CMS package is available from CCIS. This management system is set up to handle membership, accounting and payroll in different sizes. The lower priced modules are incapable of handling networking, so expect to shell out big bucks for this capability.

CMS is not the only software needed by today's tech savvy churches. One ministry, The First Baptist Church of Danville, Ky., has created free software for churches to use in their ministries. The Church Hymn Tracker is one such program. It is designed to help the music director locate church music and plan new services by reminding those involved in music selection, how previous services were handled.

Another free program is the Technology and Media Scheduler which gives churches an easy way to keep up with the scheduling of equipment and facilities so that conflicts are avoided and the proper equipment reaches its destination on time. This program requires Microsoft's .NET Framework to run the program.

Data Recall stores the data accumulated by the church from different sources. This data is stored at your fingertips but encrypted and organized so that ease of inquiry is obtained.

Personal Computer System Information gathers and displays info about the PC including which video card is being used, which operating system is on the hard disk and which applications have been installed.

A computer system is only as good as the software uploaded on it. For quality programs, church administrators would do well to send their evaluation and purchasing committees to other churches to see what software these churches have found valuable.

Then, the committee members will need to plan on spending several days with the vendors explaining the specific church requirements before selecting software for trial. Only then should purchasing be considered. And don't forget-up-dates and supports services are important considerations when purchasing software. The complex pricing schemes of software vendors necessitate careful study to obtain the best deal for the church and its community.