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You do have a ChMS, right? If not, prepare to have your world changed, and your job made much easier. Because an effective Church Management Software is among the biggest time and money savers available to any church. Let’s talk about the wide world of ChMS and how it relates to the Anglican Church.
What’s the most useful software tool at your church? There’s probably a list of helpful resources you depend on daily, but we’re willing to wager that your Church Management Software (ChMS) is at least on the list.
You do have a CMS, right? If not, prepare to have your world changed, and your job made much easier. Because an effective Church Management Software is among the biggest time and money savers available to any church.
Let’s talk about the wide world of ChMS and how it relates to the Anglican Church.
Every church, regardless of denomination, has a few things in common.
The question is: how do we keep track of all of these donations, worship, volunteers, groups, and people? The simple (and yet not-so-simple) answer is: Church Management Software.
This is the central system that church leaders and staff use to organize, manage, and analyze the information behind all of these important data points. Without a ChMS, your church is forced to do all of these tasks manually and separately.
Every Church Management System is essentially a large database that keeps track of all the key information within your Anglican Church. But more than that, the ChMS is built specifically with the church in mind so that it accommodates things like worship, volunteers, and tithes.
These systems have most of the key features built-in and they even integrate with many of the other technology you’re already using. But you still need training and regular maintenance of these systems to keep them working properly.
Comparing different Church Management Software is not always like comparing apples to apples (Garden of Eden variety or otherwise). Each ChMS is created differently, just like each Anglican Church is unique.
However, there are still a few key features that are important to look at when selecting the right ChMS for your church:
There is no right or wrong choice with ChMS for any Anglican church. Therefore, there’s no right or wrong way to create a list of best Church Management Systems to choose from.
When compiling this list, we selected some of the top ChMS based on their balance of pros and cons, the price, and how well each fit for the Anglican Church specifically.
<a href="#list-1" class="toc-link">1. Breeze ChMS</a>
<a href="#list-2" class="toc-link">2. Tithely</a>
<a href="#list-3" class="toc-link">3. Churchteams</a>
<a href="#list-4" class="toc-link">4. Servant Keeper</a>
<a href="#list-5" class="toc-link">5. Shelby Systems</a>
<a href="#list-6" class="toc-link">6. WildApricot</a>
<a href="#list-7" class="toc-link">7.Elvanto</a>
<a href="#list-8" class="toc-link">8. Pushpay</a>
<a href="#list-9" class="toc-link">9. FlockBase</a>
<a href="#list-10" class="toc-link">10. Fellowship One</a>
Breeze ChMS costs $72 per month. There are no other tiers or pricing options to choose from. The cost includes all of their features for unlimited users with no onboarding fees.
Tithe.ly’s ChMS option costs $72 per month with a $149 one-time setup cost. This can also be bundled with the rest of the Tithe.ly suite for $119 per month.
<a class="listicle-link" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://go.churchteams.com/">3. Churchteams</a>
Churchteams has a more complicated pricing structure based on features and how many people are in the system. This starts at $37/month for the Starter plan with up to 200 people and goes up to $227/month for the MVP plan with up to 10,000 people.
<a class="listicle-link" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.servantpc.com/servantkeeper/index.php">4. Servant Keeper</a>
Servant Keeper offers a small church option at $250 for up to 50 families. Their unlimited plan is $499 plus an initial fee for unlimited users. There is also a $50/computer license fee.
<a class="listicle-link" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.shelbysystems.com/">5. Shelby Systems</a>
Shelby Systems’ pricing is based on the size of your church starting around $35/month.
<a class="listicle-link" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.wildapricot.com/">6. WildApricot</a>
The cost of WildApricot depends on the number of contacts and admins. This begins at $60/month for up to 250 contacts and extends to $350/month for up to 5,000 contacts.
<a class="listicle-link" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.elvanto.com/us/">7. Elvanto</a>
Elvanto is $72 a month for access to all features on the platform.
<a class="listicle-link" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://pushpay.com/">8. Pushpay</a>
Pushpay offers three pricing tiers for their ChMS—core, advanced, and complete—based on what features you need. The specific pricing for these tiers is not listed.
<a class="listicle-link" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.flockbase.com/">9. FlockBase</a>
They have two different pricing models based on locally-hosted or cloud-hosted solutions. Cloud-based prices range from $24 to $59 per month, while the desktop options range from $139 to 269 one-time costs.
<a class="listicle-link" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.fellowshipone.com/">10. Fellowship One</a>
Fellowship One does not list public pricing and develops contracts based on individual churches. However, they do have a 30-day free trial so you can test the system.
The Bible says that the love of money is the root of all evil (that’s a paraphrase from 1 Timothy 6:10), but managing money well is still a valuable part of a successful church. You don’t have to love money, but you still must handle it wisely and honorably.
One key step is having an internal accounting system. Follow industry best practices and ensure that there is a separation of duties to prevent any potential fraud. Hire people in financial roles (or recruit if they’re volunteers) whom you can trust. But also give them appropriate oversight to reinforce accountability.
There’s far more to church finances than just that. However, you can also remember that a ChMS is a major tool for your church finances. Putting your financial records in one place makes it that much easier to manage.
Managing a church is different from running a business, however, there are plenty of similar principles. Having the right leaders and systems in place is a big first step.
Whether you’re a large or small church, build processes that aren’t dependent on one person. Keep records and documents that allow someone else to take on any role within your ministry. This protects you in the case of turnover or illness.
There are plenty of bad ways to run a church. It’s worth taking the time to learn from mistakes (of yourself or others) and grow your church in a way that is admirable and sustainable.
An effective Church Management Software essentially operates like a church database. All of your important information is stored in one place. So how do you manage this database?
Start by understanding what information you want to store. Make a list with your team and figure out what you already have or need to obtain. Import the information on hand and spend time (yes, this takes time) verifying that it’s correct.
As you grow and things change, be sure to update your database accordingly. Appoint someone (or a group of people) whose job it is to maintain these records. Create ways for people in your church to share their new information so that you have reliable data.
