When visitors come to Bethany Presbyterian Church in Bridgeville, Pennsylvania, for the first time, they are not likely to be forgotten. In fact, none of the 900-plus members get overlooked, thanks to a powerful church management system they've implemented.

Roy Burford, the church's business administrator, says their church management software (CMS) program has a direct impact on membership management. "We use the membership segment to track those who may be inactive or deceased. Then the contribution module interface blends with membership and tracks visitors, too. We easily migrate the visitor information into a 'potential member' file. We also tap into availability of ministry skills and practical experience so that members and visitors can be attached to volunteering and Sunday school classes."

The Power Of CMS
Church administrative functions typically operate in "silos" with no ability to interact or share data. For example, names and addresses in the church membership database must be duplicated for the tithing and donation records. Tithing must be recorded for each individual and then entered into the general ledger. Then if someone moves or gets married, each database must be updated.

With integrated CMS, however, a single database links all related information internally. When you update a membership record with a new address, the software knows where to send the annual giving statement. Membership data can also be linked to Christian education, tracking the participation of every family member in classes and small groups. Participation information can be used to aid facility and event scheduling. And the schedule information can be "dropped" into the Sunday bulletin, the newsletter, and the church's web site.

Different forms of CMS have been available to churches for over 20 years. First, specific information modules were created. Then the CMS packages were refined into systems that transferred information from one module to another. In recent years, software developers have "drilled down" to enable better storage and more "data mining" in membership and finance. It is much easier to get a "vertical view" of a single family or individual, their participation in the church's life, their giving history, and the ministries in which they are involved. Or the "horizontal" view may be important, in which total giving and financial activity can be reviewed, or the comprehensive view of membership activity across age and family size.

Scheduling
An example of this combination is scheduling activities and facility use. Some congregations still use a giant paper calendar or laminated scheduler, or a master calendar on Microsoft Outlook. But scheduling programs within a CMS product are generally capable of much more, automatically checking for conflicts and making sure the right resources are assigned as needed.

"We were over-scheduling rooms and facilities," says Pamela Alexander, business administrator at First United Methodist Church in Port Orange, New Jersey. "Now, with the scheduling program, things run much more smoothly. Not only do we make sure that all sorts of congregational meetings and ministries don't interfere with each other, but we also open our doors to the community—Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, AA, Al-Anon, Narc-a-Non, and other groups. We want to be an open door to the community, and the scheduling software helps us to function more effectively and efficiently."

Marla Becker at Power Church Software says their scheduler not only keeps track of church events and their locations, but also the equipment to be used, contact people, and duties associated with each event. This kind of comprehensive resource is difficult to manage on paper. A computer-based scheduler, accessible by everyone involved and able to be constantly updated, is a much more viable solution.

Some churches use a scheduling module to help operate their Christian school or day care program. Page Eney, treasurer at St. John's Episcopal Church in Kirkland, Washington, says their scheduling software solved their weekday scheduling headaches. "Our Christian education director loves the scheduling part," she says. "We have 200 children in our pre-school every weekday morning and afternoon, and this software schedules rooms and equipment use so that there's never an overlap."

Randy Clay at Suran Systems says a new function in their program incorporates a childcare check-in/checkout system. "It interfaces with bar code readers and attendance tracking for the child's security. It also tracks who's attending different classes and activities."

Fund Accounting
Ministries that charge a fee to participate, such as a pre-school or a senior-citizen day tour, or others that collect donations, such as a carwash, can also be handled by CMS programs. A CMS financial program module can sort through this data, along with tithes and contributions, capital fund drive contributions, planned gifts, and memorials.

St. John's Episcopal Church has 450 members, and the finances can be complex. "We track each individual memorial fund and work closely with each family to tell who gave to the fund, and how much money is available to use, says church treasurer Eney. "That's a great example of fund accounting."

Part of the church suffered severe fire damage in 2001, and the church is still paying for repairs. "We conducted two capital funds drives—a three-year program to rebuild the building, and another three-year program to pay down the overall mortgage," says Eney. The church's CMS tracks all capital expenses in rebuilding, accounts for the insurance reimbursement, credits each member's financial contributions, and notes on the membership record that the family participated in the capital fund drive (or helped to lead it).

E-Giving And E-Paying
Another function in some CMS financial modules is electronic debiting of tithes and gifts, which provides a more dependable cash flow. Also, accounts payable tracking can generate checks or electronic transfers to pay bills.

Another financial function is in managing the church's payroll. After all, the church is an employer. Some churches have only four or five paid employees, while others have 150 to 200 employees. A payroll module deals with every aspect of the paycheck. Most CMS payroll functions have a basic tax and benefit deduction for each position. But the church business administrator or financial secretary no longer needs to issue a paper check. Instead, the program can create an ACH transaction and transfer an electronic deposit into an employee's bank account.

A payroll module can authorize electronic funds withdrawal from the church's bank account to pay federal payroll taxes and Social Security withholding via Form 941 through the U.S. Treasury's Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS). The payroll function also electronically files employee W-2s with the IRS. Alexander of First United Methodist Church values this function. "The payroll function is a dream," she says. "In five minutes I can get payroll done for 20 employees, and all the information transfers seamlessly to the financial software."

Jill Owenby, the pastor's assistant at Calvary Fellowship, a recent church plant in Arden, North Carolina, oversees the administration of the 150-member congregation. "We use a CMS that has modules that link accounting, contributions, membership, and visitation," she says. "I ordered QuickBooks thinking that we could get started with an accounting system, but the program didn't work for me. It was confusing. There was nowhere to go with it."

	CMS programs continue to grow with the needs of local church ministries and the challenges of data management and security.

Owenby uses CMS to track member and visitor giving, and much more. "We can pull full information for a person—from first visit to baptism," she says. The software also reports visitation and follow-ups, which the pastor finds very helpful. "The pastor can see who was visited and when, and look through various reports to determine how to follow up with them."

A more recent CMS development is the integration of various modules with other software products. For example, it now is possible to use the Postage $aver software with the mailing database in your CMS for easy bulk mailing and first-class mailing set-up. Some childcare check-in software products interface with CMS records to inform childcare workers about children's birthdays, medication requirements, and food allergies.

Purchase Or Pay Monthly
Most vendors offer their modules separately, allowing churches to add functions as needed, integrating their data over time. But the cost of a basic, integrated system is reasonable—as low as $400 for the needs of a smaller church. The cost of a complex system with large data capacity can be up to a few thousand dollars.

In addition to software, you should also budget for training administrative workers and pastors. Training opportunities range from online training sessions to software "camps" to individual consultation with experienced users. Another expense to include in your budget is the cost of regular upgrades, since most vendors are constantly developing their software. You might also need to add at least one server to your office network, depending on the size of the program and the data files you will generate.

But additional hardware investment is not necessary for CMS programs that operate over the Internet. All the program functions and data storage are handled on the vendor's Internet servers. For example, ACS offers Access ACS and the new ACS OnDemand program. "This program offers all of our church management software over the Internet," says Lauren Hunter, the company's spokesperson. "The church does not have the responsibility of managing data through its servers."

Churches might be nervous about data moving through cyberspace, but Hunter says that the benefits of cyber products include no worry about an internal network and the regular updating of software. In addition, the administrative functions can be accessed from any Internet-ready location. "Cyber programs provide flexibility for people to get into their secure software through any Internet connection."

Some CMS providers take a hybrid approach, by running the application on the church's computers but keeping all the data stored on their servers. This Internet-based records retention plan offers several important advantages over local data storage. Clay of Suran Systems says their Internet-based data system offers great flexibility for the church. The church uses all the power of their computers and doesn't need digital storage space for the data. Plus, the church does not need to maintain archives of their data.

All Secure
Whether using a desktop program or an Internet-based program, data security is a critical issue. In either case, CMS providers offer locked programs so that only designated church employees can access the system. With some programs, an administrator grants individuals the right to access the information they need in their church administration role. If a person does only small group ministry attendance, he or she can access only the screens and reports of that ministry. All other data, including sensitive financial and membership information, is protected.

Another form of security is highly detailed tracking that reports who has interacted with what data. The church business administrator can review the history of any record and see changes in the structure. The administrator can also see who made the changes.

"With volunteers in ministry, this 'traffic monitor' becomes critical," says Clay. "So if there is an unauthorized entry into the data, or any corruption of the data, this monitor can detail exactly what happened and who did it."

CMS programs continue to grow with the needs of local church ministries and the challenges of data management and security. While some people balk at the expense of these programs, keep in mind that it's the "back office" work that enables the ministry work to continue. Effective use of high-tech provides more time for the high-touch side of ministry.

John R. Throop is a management consultant, freelance writer, and Episcopal clergyman. He can be reached at yceditor@yourchurch.net.