Many churches struggled during the pandemic, with their congregations having to stay home, many had to quickly embrace aspects of technology they had previously not been familiar or comfortable with.
This meant that some of the church staff had to figure out VPN connections to quickly and easily connect with the church network and an adaptive video and broadcast ability to still reach the desired audience and take calls from the main parish office even when they weren’t there.
Religion News discussed how many worship groups had to grapple with the future of the hybrid style of reaching out to the community. While many members have migrated back to services being held in the church building, several will stick to the virtual option and it does allow a larger reach and demographic smaller churches weren’t capable of getting before going virtual.
“For some, shrinking congregations and dwindling donations have forced closures; more than 4,000 churches shut their doors in the U.S. in 2020, according to research from Barna Group, a religion polling firm,” the Religion News article stated. “Others have experienced a broader reach as new viewers have tuned in from afar via video outreach …. What will these churches do with this new online audience? What was once a temporary measure has begun to feel like a necessity for many churches.”
We always discuss with each church and school the exact features that they want and truly need in today’s day and age. Some churches want to migrate toward big pushes for video conferencing, while others like to keep it to the basics. Since DataComm has a wide-range of solutions, we can fit them in what they truly need today, with the ability to grow with them if their needs change.
Some of our solutions even have the option to integrate with applications like YouTube, so recorded sermons can then be stored and archived which will allow their congregation to re-watch older videos when need be.
Also, with many staff members often being volunteers within the church, helping to automate most processes and lower the need for them to answer the phones regarding simple and repetitive questions allows those volunteers to tackle the truly important tasks they’re at the church to handle. Never again will they have to answer “what time is Mass on Easter Sunday?” for twelve different people calling in.
Dwayne Morris, Associate Pastor for Youth and Family Ministries at Calvary Baptist Church and School, gave DataComm the following testimonial related to a phone system solution recently implemented at their facility:
Calvary Church and School engaged DataComm after hours of investigating the best phone system for us in terms of cost, quality and service. The information they shared with us ahead of the install was very helpful so that we felt prepared for our ‘go’ day. Their technicians installed our new system so efficiently that we had few if any snafus. Since then we’ve connected with DataComm regarding a few questions and changes and their responses have been helpful and prompt. We’d heartily recommend DataComm.
Safety always being a high priority at churches and private schools, the E911 secondary location feature that all DataComm systems have becomes mission critical if a phone dials 911. New technology now allows for not only the main address of the location, but also the important secondary exact location of where that phone is within the building. When emergency responders arrive, they know exactly where they’re going, sometimes before others in the building are even aware someone dialed 911.
If you’re managing a church/school, please don’t hesitate to reach out to DataComm at sales@datacommplus.com or call 262-784-2311 so we can help as a trusted resource to bring your organization with a technology solution and imperative safety features that will meet all of your needs while you continue to grow.
