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It's January, and you're still working on last year's contribution statements and payroll taxes. Wish you could ease those tasks? Relax. Reach for a cup of coffee and read how church-management software could help you welcome in a happier new year.

Church-management software has been around since the early 1980s. Currently, such programs offer churches two kinds of assistance: tracking people and tracking finances. The first kind of software offers these features:

Databank information. People programs offer a database of information that can include people's addresses, activities, skills, important dates, and notes. Most membership modules will also allow you to track visitors and prospective members. After keying in relevant information for each individual that you want in your databank, you can use the list to print labels, telephone lists, statistical reports, and personalized letters.

Cross-referencing. Membership modules will link family members together. This means that if you change an address for one member of the family, the address will change for the rest of the family. Membership modules can also be linked to other modules, such as attendance or contributions.

Such cross-referencing makes church-management systems far more sophisticated, says Hal Campbell, president of Automated Church Systems (800-736-7425) in Florence, South Carolina. Once information has been entered into the system, it can be sorted any way you wish. The programs are flexible enough to be used by any size church. "Smaller churches can't afford to spend as much as larger churches, but they still need a program that does everything the expensive programs do," says Michelle Bowsher, marketing manager for Membership Plus 5.0 from Parsons Technology (800-644-6344) of Hiawatha, Iowa.

Applications. Vineyard Fellowship of Anaheim City in Anaheim, California, doesn't have church members in the traditional sense. So it uses software to identify people who are the essence of the church. "We use software to help us answer questions like: Who gives regularly? Who attends regularly? Who helps out?" says Pat Deane, business manager for Vineyard Fellowship. The task of tracking 10,000-plus names is eased considerably with Servant Keeper from Servant PC Resources (800-773-7570).

Church-management software also helps with financial tasks, such as accounts payable, general ledger, bank reconciliation, payroll, and fixed assets. These modules can work together or separately, depending on your needs. They can help with:

Payroll taxes. Kay Maycumber, treasurer of a church in Beaverton, Oregon, says that Logos Management Software (from Lowell Brown Enterprises: 800-266-3311) has saved her staff hundreds of hours in doing payroll taxes. "It used to take three days to add up the year-end payroll taxes for 60 employees—and that was just getting the numbers to type in the W-2s!" she says. "Now I can do the whole thing in 45 minutes."

Crediting the right account. Shelby Systems (800-877-0222) of Memphis, Tennessee, offers a product called CrossCheck, which will scan a check and enter essential information, including the account number, in a database. The next time a check comes in, the information is matched against what's in the database—not just to a person's name, which could be the same as someone else's in church.

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