Texting and church don’t exactly go hand in hand. Phones are often a source of distraction in church with people not silencing their ringtones and others getting glued to their phone screens instead of paying attention to the service.
Even though phones and churches are not a match made in heaven, it’s important to realize that through church texting services these devices can help the church overcome some of its most basic yet frustrating challenges.
Texting services for churches allow churches and ministries to send mass text messages to congregants who've opted in to receiving SMS communications.
How Do Texting Services for Churches Work?
The mass texting process can be broken down into two easy steps. Here’s how it goes:1. Find a Mass Texting Service Provider
The first step is to find a service provider best suited to your needs. After all, you can’t send mass messages without a reliable platform.Consider factors such as ease of use, cost, reputation, and security of the platform before making any commitments.
2. Grow Your Messaging List
Next, you need to create a list of who you’re going to be messaging. However, note that you can only send SMSs to people who’ve provided consent to receiving messages from the church.You can either grow your list from scratch or have congregants opt-in through a text word. A text word is a word or phrase that members of the church can text to a dedicated shortcode to subscribe to getting messages from the church.
3. Send Your Mass SMS
Once you’ve created a list of recipients, you’ll simply need to carve out a message, type it out and send it or schedule it for sending at some point in the future.How Churches Can Make Good Use of Mass Text Messaging Services
1. Send Out Announcements, Reminders, or News About Important Events
The event announcements at times take up too much time during worship services.The church can cut down on that time by using mass SMS services to communicate important events like holidays, fundraisers, community service events, or even confirm service attendance and follow up with new attendees.
This way, the church can dedicate more time and focus on the ongoing service.
2. Share Bible Passages and Inspirational Quotes
The church can send out inspirational scriptures and passages from the bible to connect with their congregants both personally and spiritually. You’ll find that making this a practice can help increase church attendance significantly.3. Remind the Congregation of the Sermon
Let’s be honest. Not many of us remember the main points of the sermon days after the service. The church can thus use text messages at least once a week to bring a quote or service back to the minds of the congregants.Church texting services are an excellent method for churches to communicate with their congregants. The open rate for text messages is over 90% which makes the method highly ideal compared to email open rates which stand at around 30%.