At ChurchDesk we are proud to have such a hardworking team. We want you to see their brilliance too, so we will be giving you an introduction to some our employees and an insight into what they do over the following series of articles.

Churches work hard to collect data on their members and others who visit the church in order to communicate with them digitally via e-mail newsletters and other online channels. Hence, we have asked a ChurchDesk customer to share the four key points they used to go from 0 to 600 contacts. Take a look at their advice in the infographic below.

The United Kingdom’s biggest and most beautiful buildings are its churches. But they are also its emptiest. Recent church reports indicate more than a quarter of churches have fewer than 20 worshippers on a Sunday, and in rural areas this slips to fewer than 10. Left alone, these buildings may slowly start to shut, and then rot. To avoid this we need a communal solution.

ChurchDesk prides itself on being there for its customers round the clock, with multiple online tips, helpful guides and Customer Success Managers to solve whatever your question might be. With rapidly expanding membership (currently boasting over 10,000 members), customer success is a huge priority for us.

At ChurchDesk we are proud to have such a hardworking team. We want you to see their brilliance too, so we will be giving you an introduction to some our employees and an insight into what they do over following series of articles.

The church currently faces a dilemma. Where have its young adults gone, and how can it get them back? Over the last few decades it has become clear that less and less young people are joining and staying within the church.

At ChurchDesk we often hear churches commenting that they’re too old or too small to really benefit from a church management system. They mention that not enough of their congregation use computers, or that it’s difficult to set up; It’s too costly, and they wouldn’t save enough time on admin. We disagree, and want you to know why.

We are launching the greatest improvement to our app so far, making it possible to communicate with your congregation from your phone. When we launched “People” last autumn it was with the ambition to make it simple to use for direct and personal communication with the congregation and other interested people. We believe that the church is under increasing pressure - it must find a way to communicate that resonates with the youth group, and have the tools to support the employees and volunteers in the church in the best possible way. Since smartphones have recently overtaken laptops as the UK internet users’ number one device, these tools cannot be restricted to computer use, they have to also be available via phone. Therefore it is with great pleasure that we announce this update.

How to break down the barriers to (positive) change at your church?

Most people who are involved in the activities of a church accept the undeniable fact that making decisions related to the church can be an extremely lengthy and complex process. Many stakeholders’ opinions need to be taken into account and in order to convince the committee a careful evaluation of the alternatives must be completed. Many church workers involved in the decision making process can only offer their services part time, and the larger the group of decision makers, the harder it gets. Scheduled committee meetings are practically the only setting where decisions can be taken. Here, the more topics there are that need to be addressed, the less likely a firm decision will be taken on each one, and a good proposal might be shot down simply due to the fact that there is not enough time to debate the topic.

Many of us remember putting our coins on the collection plate as it was passed around at church service. But people have been predicting the end of cash for more than 60 years and now, in 2016, that is starting to look real. With more than 50% of all payments in the UK being made by card or online, and with 40% of Brits believing they won't use cash 10 years from now, the church must find an alternative way to collect donations. This is why digital payments, and ChurchDesk’s Contributions, are so important.

Targeted communication, such as e-mail, results in more uptake and participation in church events. It is important that we make it quick and simple for the church to get in touch with the right people.

Church Management Systems have a plethora of built-in features, so the answer to this question can be unique to each individual church. However, there are common objectives that all churches work towards: growing the congregation by improving the way the church engages people and increasing the ability to give back to their community. Some specific features will be more beneficial to certain churches over others (better Calendar, Database, Website, Bookings, Communications, etc.), but all features are designed to collectively reach these overarching goals.

At ChurchDesk we have a clear goal: we want to help churches towards simpler workflows and more engaged members. It is no small vision, but nonetheless, we have already helped thousands of church staff towards an easier working day. With a simple yet strong management system, built and developed specifically for the church and its needs, we have proven we live up to the expectations set for us. Now is the time to share our knowledge with even more churches across the world. As such, we have hired Troels Bødker Feodor Nielsen as our new Chief Marketing Officer.

We are rolling out an important improvement. This isn’t just a new feature, but an entirely new way of using ChurchDesk, with a centralised dashboard with important personalised insights. What if we could help you make better decisions based on data that you have already built? We want to help you in your daily work by presenting insights that are relevant to you, enabling you to learn more from and about your congregation.

Some of you might be wondering what the people behind ChurchDesk are working on these days? Well let me tell you...