Church management software is usually used by church administrators, but the range of tools and functionality provides support for pastors in their roles too. Here are some specific examples of how church software can help five different kinds of pastors.

Executive Pastor

Depending on the size of the church, executive pastor duties are sometimes carried out by the lead pastor or senior pastor, and sometimes the executive pastor is a separate ministry role. In any case, executive pastors are responsible for the day-to-day operations of the church. They oversee everything that could be considered the ‘business’ of the church, from staff oversight to resource management.

• In our increasingly digitally-connected ways of doing church, information security is of critical importance, and it is the executive pastor who is tasked with the unglamorous responsibility of regulatory compliance. Canadian churches are required to make sure all personal and financial data is stored in Canadian data centres. That is something that Sunergo, a Canadian company, can help with.
  
  
• Facility rental management can be an important tool in support of an executive pastor’s management of church resources. Whether it comes to stewarding the church’s building throughout the week in the service of the community, or boosting the church’s income, good church software with facility rental capabilities can help make the most of the blessing of property.
  
  
• The wonderful array of reports that can be generated by church software can provide essential business-style analytics for ministry leaders. Accurate data provides big-picture insights that can help guide important decision making processes.

Children’s & Family Pastor

Ministers who specialize in the spiritual care of children and families possess an incredible set logistical skills. They are able to engage with and entertain very young children, inspire and guide youth, encourage parents, organize supplies, orchestrate the management of volunteers, and so much more. These fun and warm individuals also have to be intensely security-minded. After all, they are responsible for the church’s most vulnerable - and fastest-moving - population.

• So much more than a church directory, the online church contact database is an indispensable tool for family pastors. Pastors can easily track which children are connected to which families.The software also provides quick and easy access to important safety information like allergies and pick-up permissions.
  
  
• Church software can be so helpful when it comes to volunteer screening. It allows leaders to schedule and track volunteer training and criminal record checks. They can set automated reminders about upcoming certification expiry dates, and they can run reports that provide quick information about their team.
  
  
• One favourite church software feature used by children’s pastors is the efficient and secure check-in and check-out system. The streamlined one-click check-in means that ministry leaders and kids can maximize the time they spend together having fun, learning about God, and building relationships!

Worship Pastor

These creative and talented servants lead the body of Christ in unified corporate worship. They subtly teach people how to worship, and also work closely with the lead pastor to ensure that the worship service enhances the communication of the weekly or seasonal biblical teaching. They exercise spiritual sensitivity while coordinating the efforts of both technical and creative volunteers of varying skill and commitment levels, on a rotating basis - no easy feat!

• Scheduling volunteers has never been easier than by using the ministry groups feature in Sunergo Connect. Worship pastors and the leaders on their team can save hours of behind-the scenes work with the auto-scheduler, which takes into account the roles, availability, and preferences of their volunteers.
  
  
• Church software allows for saving and sharing digital resources, so pastors can keep worship-related files in one centralized location where everyone on their team can access them. They can save external links as well as files, and protect sensitive documents by managing viewing permissions.
  
  
• Worship pastors can use church software to communicate with and coordinate their teams efficiently. Time saved by streamlining communication and scheduling can be used for other important work like teaching and shepherding their teams, honing their technical and leadership skills, and prayerfully working alongside other pastors to shape the church into a house of beautiful worship. 

Outreach & Missions Pastor

While many other types of pastors have their hands full shepherding the existing flock, pastors who are outward-focused lead the kingdom work of reaching and loving the lost with the gospel. They plan and lead mission trips and service projects locally and internationally, which involves mobilizing people to support and participate. A key part of their calling requires encouraging the rest of us to join in!

• Pledge drives, tracked through Sunergo’s giving tools, can be a huge help for missions and outreach efforts. They can predict the amount of resources leaders will have to work with when the time for action comes. An outreach pastor may also test the commitment of the community towards a large initiative by postponing significant planning until an appropriate amount has been pledged.
  
  
• A lot goes into planning a mission effort before the trip date. Leaders can send meeting reminders, update their team on milestones and to-do lists, and more with mass email capabilities within ministry groups.
  
  
• Event registration tools can be especially handy for fundraising efforts, since holding events is a popular way to fundraise. Whether the mission team is putting on a dinner, a sports day, a parent’s night out, or a talent show, knowing how many people to expect helps! And when attendees have made the effort to complete the online registration, they are more likely to get it into their calendar and show up.

Camp Director

The primary job of camp pastors is the same as church pastors, but the ministry season is condensed and intense. These enthusiastic and loving servants minister to the spiritual needs of campers, but the setting and logistics are completely different from church. Camp ministers have to be prepared to minister simultaneously as an outreach to those to whom the gospel is new and fresh, at the same time as nurturing the faith of those deeply familiar with church. Sunergo, in our vision to come alongside all Canadians serving in ministry, has designed a unique set of camp-specific tools to support them.

• The skill block placement engine is a time-saving whiz. Once registrations are complete, the system can generate automatic placement results prioritizing the preferences of early registrants. This saves hours of tricky work for leaders. Once the engine has done its job, placements can still be manually adjusted as needed.
  
  
• Camp directors can add cabins and other accommodation types to Sunergo, then adjust which accommodations are available on a camp-by-camp basis. They can generate a list of unassigned campers, with information like birthdate, gender, and friend requests, to make cabin placements so much easier.
  
  
• The online donations platform makes it easy for donors to give, whether they’re camp supporters or parents who want to add a donation to camp registration fees. The online payment system allows for customized camp add-ons, accepts both online and in-person payments, and generates donation receipts for tax time.

Ministry is a team effort, but not every member of the team is the same. Many church software tools such as contacts, the central calendar, and reports, will be used on the regular by all staff, but depending on the ins-and-outs of a person’s role, certain features will be more useful. The body of Christ is made up of many parts, and wonderful diversity exists among us, even under a single job title, like Pastor.