No matter what Church Management System (database) you use at your church, one thing is for sure. Your data is out-of-date! I've rarely been to a church that didn't apologize on some level for the job it was doing managing data. This is a bit like proper exercise and diet. A few people are really good at it. The rest of us not-so-much. So, let me break the topic down a bit:
How to have current data:
- Enter data completely and carefully into a central
location.
- Scrub your data routinely for problems like duplicate
records
- Keep your data as current as possible by having as many eyeballs on it as possible (especially the eyeballs of the people to whom it relates)
For each of the above points we could list challenges and break them down into a few categories:
- Challenges related to systems
- Challenges related to processes
- Challenges related to personnel
To stay with our exercise and diet example you can picture the system as your gym, the processes as your coach, and the personnel as you!
This explains for me why so many churches dislike their ChMS (Systems) while not being willing to upgrade them. They believe that a better gym isn't going to improve their processes or change their personnel.
This also explains why some churches succeed with fairly inadequate systems. The have effective processes and stable personnel.
I personally wouldn't pay for a gym membership if I weren't willing to first jog around my neighborhood on a regular basis. Someone else might not pay for a gym membership because they put their energy into cycling or rock climbing.
Have you invested time into your processes? Define, simplify, and clarify are a few words that matter when working on new processes.
Do you have the right personnel? Some churches have incredible detail people who work very hard, but they lack process-oriented people.
One final word about systems. Before you buy one, ask yourself if that system will motivate your personnel and if there are clear processes in use by other churches like yours who use that system. Finally, look at the people behind the system and ask if you would hire them to be your database coach.
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