The Questions to Ask Any Church Platform, Including Us

If y'all have ever compared member platforms, you know the feature lists start to look the same. Directory, groups, online giving, messaging. Every comparison chart comes out about even.

The things that decide whether a platform works for a congregation usually aren't on the chart. Below are the questions we'd ask of any platform, with our own answers at the end.

1. Can a member use it without being trained?

Not the person who sets it up. A member.

The sister who's eighty-one and has an iPhone her grandson set up for her, or the young man who's never logged into anything church-related in his life.

If the part members use needs a class to figure out, most of them won't take the class. Ask to hand it to someone who's never seen it, and watch what they do in the first two minutes.

2. What happens to our data if we leave?

Every platform is glad to bring your records in. Fewer are as quick to talk about getting them back out.

Ask plainly. If we cancel, can we get a full export of our directory, contribution history, and attendance?

In what format? Is there a fee? Is there a contract that keeps us here?

3. Who answers when something breaks on a Saturday night?

Something will break eventually. Usually it's the night before the bulletin goes out or the morning a gospel meeting starts.

Ask who y'all will actually reach, a person or a form, and how long it usually takes. Will the person know anything about your congregation, or will you be explaining it from the beginning?

4. Does the part members touch work on a phone?

Most platforms have an app now.

What to check is whether the things members do most, like looking up a phone number, checking the prayer list, or giving, are easy on a phone. Some platforms were built for the computer at the church building and added a phone version later. Members can tell.

5. What does a real workflow look like from start to finish?

Pick a process that matters to y'all and ask to see it all the way through.

A visitor fills out a card on Sunday. What happens next, and who sees it? A member goes into the hospital on Wednesday. How does word get to the congregation, and how does someone sign up to bring a meal?

If getting through one of those takes four screens and a spreadsheet, y'all want to know that before signing up.

Our answers

It wouldn't be fair to hand y'all these questions and skip them ourselves. Here's how the Project Go Hub answers.

Can a member use it without training? That's the standard we build to. If a member who can send a text can't figure out the part they use, we treat that as our problem to fix.

What happens to our data if we leave? Your records belong to your congregation. There's no contract; y'all can cancel anytime. If you leave, your records go with you in a format the next platform can take in.

Who answers on a Saturday night? A person on our team who already knows your congregation. We're brethren, and we're happy to help.

Does it work on a phone? The Project Go Hub is mobile optimized, because that's where members are. Looking someone up, checking the prayer list, and giving are all meant to take a few taps.

What does a real workflow look like? We'd rather show you than describe it. Pick the process that matters most to y'all, and we'll walk through it on a call using your situation.

Use the list either way

These questions work on whatever platform y'all are on now, too. Some congregations run through them and find their current platform holds up fine. That's a good outcome.

Whatever y'all decide, base it on how the platform handles an ordinary week in the congregation, which a feature chart won't show you.