ChurchDesk is always aiming to create the best tools for the church so we can support its growth, both today and in the future; so it’s a big day for ChurchDesk! Today, we’re adding the possibility of coordinating tasks between staff and volunteers to our system. We believe we have to make it as easy as possible to get involved in the church and its work, and we hope our new feature goes some way to aiding this.
The new “Planning” application is designed with the purpose of giving volunteers (and staff) the opportunity to participate in church tasks and activities in a flexible, hassle-free way. We believe some of the greatest opportunities for the church lie within getting more volunteers engaged. At the same time, we can see that there is often a natural limit as to how many resources the church can put aside for facilitating and coordinating people and tasks. This will only get more challenging. The volunteer culture is changing and there are certain expectations regarding flexibility, overview and easy access to information. It is, in other words, a challenge to support volunteers without hurting the administrative resources of the staff.
When we started preparations for this feature at the beginning of the year we visited a number of churches. The response we received everywhere showed a great deal of interest in involving more volunteers - but that it needed to be approached from a new direction. Volunteers are busy, and sometimes only get involved for short periods of time or in specific projects or tasks. They expect it to fit into their everyday life, and want it to be easy to get the necessary information and notifications. This demand on the church can be troublesome, and this is where we think digital tools can make a great difference. We can help by combining easy workflow within the church with a personalised and flexible experience for volunteers. We think “Planning” is the first step in that journey.
With the new application it will be possible to create tasks with events, and coordinate which groups or users are assigned to the tasks. It is all included in the church’s calendar, and open tasks, assigned tasks and personalised messages will all be automatically communicated out via email and SMS. Volunteers don’t need to be active users of ChurchDesk. We have designed it so that anyone can respond to messages and stay up to date directly via emails.
A big thank you to those of you who gave feedback and came up with ideas for “Planning”. We look forward to hearing your response, and to see how we can continue creating the best features for volunteers in the church.
Good luck with your work,
Christian
Founder of ChurchDesk
