TL;DR: Digital Ministry News Recap 

This edition of the Digital Ministry Journal provides a hand-curated recap of digital ministry news. Brady Shearer of Pro Church Tools shares tips for editing sermons on social media. Text In Church evaluates top church texting platforms and online giving services. Church Leaders explores church use of facial recognition technology and its ethics and privacy implications. Church IT Network announced its 2023 national conference will be held in West Palm Beach, Florida, this fall. For readers of our previous post on digital evangelism via Plan-A-Visit solutions, our next post will cover Plan-A-Visit cost and implementation considerations.

Evangelism

Vertical Video on Social Media

Brady Shearer of Pro Church Tools shares “The Secrets To Editing Your Sermons For Social Media” on Apple podcasts (30 minutes) in response to a question regarding landscape versus vertical video format and unveils their recently launched SocialSermons service as an alternative to in-house and agency publishing sermon excerpt videos to popular social media platforms. Brady also provides a downloadable resource, “The 1-Page Church Social Media Plan” which outlines best practices for do-it-yourself editing and publishing sermon excerpts to social media platforms.

Messaging & Communications

Text

Church Tech Today states that “texting is a more intimate form of communication than email” and shares “Top 28 Church Texting Platforms” (15-minute read). The article provides brief highlights of each texting platform’s key features, and pricing (where available). Readers can request an email copy of their “Top Churc Texting Platforms Report”.

Stewardship

Top 21 Online Giving Software Services for 2023

Church Tech Today asserts that online giving platforms can help churches increase donations by an average of 40% and shares “Top 21 Online Giving Software Services For Your Church [2023]” (15-minute read). The article provides brief highlights of each platform and a comparison of features supported ranging from the availability of channels like giving apps, text-to-give, and kiosks to support for Apple Pay and Church Management System (ChMS) integration.

Church IT Network’s 2023 National Conference

Church IT Network announced that registration will open in the spring for its “2023 National Conference” to be held in West Palm Beach, Florida on November 7-8, 2023. The conference expects to bring together over 400 IT, Church Management System and Online Ministry staff and volunteers. Registration is $99.

Relationships

Facial Recognition in Church? It’s Happening Right Now

Church Leaders shares a brief article by Phil Cooke “Facial Recognition in Church? It's Happening Right Now (churchleaders.com)” (5-minute read) which cites examples of its use for security and attendance tracking and brings up privacy and ethics considerations. This technology and related practices have relational implications for churches, their members, and visitors.

Closing

We trust that you’ve found this news useful. Our coverage of digital evangelism via Plan-A-Visit solutions resumes in our next post, covering Plan-A-Visit cost and implementation considerations.

Disclosures

In the interest of “shunning the appearance of evil” resulting from undisclosed relationships and/or potential conflicts of interest, we disclose our relationship(s) with the providers mentioned.

Provider/Product Relationship/Affiliation Notes

Church IT Network  Member N/A

Church Leaders  None N/A

Church Tech Today  None N/A

Pro Church Tools  Podcast subscriber N/A

Text in Church  None N/A