How to Stay Connected with Your Church Congregation

It would be a vast understatement to say this season of ministry has been uniquely challenging, but I feel there’s no other way of saying it.

This season has been UNIQUELY challenging.

COVID alone brought numerous challenges for us to keep our congregations connected, and now, across the country the hardships of winter are adding fuel to fire.

Places like Texas are experiencing unprecedented hardships from snow and cold, creating even more disconnection. (Texas and snow are not two words I typically think of together!)

So while it may be an understatement, it bears mentioning one more time, this season of ministry has been uniquely challenging.

So, how does your church stay connected with your congregation, when connecting seems impossible?

Reaching Out Beyond In-person Meetings

Pre-COVID we were blessed with being able to meet and connect with our entire congregation in person on a weekly basis.

We were able to speak into their lives, check in and see how they were doing, talk about their week, and pray for them.

Now, for many churches, that's changed. 

Because of this, it’s critical to have a plan in place to ensure your church is connecting with your congregation outside the four walls of your building.

In this season, it’s important that your church is proactively reaching out to your people to check in and see how they’re doing.

I would even encourage you to schedule communication throughout the week to remind your congregation you are there and praying for them.

It can go a long way to providing the positive connection people are looking for in these inconsistent times.

There are a lot of great tools out there to help you accomplish this.

Church management systems like Breeze allow you to send or schedule emails and text messages to individuals or whole groups of your congregation.

No matter what tool you use, I encourage you to use something!

Create an Outlet for the Congregation to Connect With the Church

Many churches have some form of a physical prayer request and/or connection card for people to fill out when attending in-person services.

But, with many people streaming services online, does your church have a means for your congregation to provide that information digitally?

There are people who are hurting, in need, and even looking for more information about your church, yet not attending services in person.

It’s important to provide them a means to fill out and submit a prayer request and/or connection request digitally.

Oftentimes, people won’t pick up the phone to call, but if there’s an easier, straightforward approach to submit those requests, they will jump at the opportunity to share their needs.

Through church tools like Breeze Church Management you can easily create forms to fill this need and provide people a means to connect with your church.

You can embed the forms on your website or share them as a link in your live stream chat.

Following Up With Those Who Need Special Care

Every congregation has people that need extra attention and care.

In a season like this, it can be very easy to overlook those that need a special touch.

Having the ability to keep track of those specific people and assign follow ups to your ministry team is vital. 

If your church does not have a means to do this automated, you might consider looking into a church management system.

With Breeze, you can create automated follow ups for yourself or someone on your ministry team.

Those follow ups will help ensure no one is overlooked.

As someone completes each step in the follow up progression, they will be automatically assigned the next phase of that follow up, ensuring your congregation feels that support from their church no matter where they are!

Wrap Up

We know these are uniquely challenging times (that’s the last time I’ll be Captain Obvious I promise,) but Breeze wants to support you and your ministry however we can.

Find out what else Breeze has to offer your church, and keep up the GREAT work!

Titus Johnson is an Customer Advocate with Breeze Church Management. In addition to Breeze, he is the lead pastor of First Apostolic Church of Sandwich. He loves getting to do life with his better half, Lauren, and their precious daughter, Parris. And in case you're wondering, yes, Sandwich is a real town.