Church Attendance Software

Church attendance software can help keep people from falling through the cracks. It's hard to remember who was here and who has been missing for a few weeks. Software can help prevent that.

But what should you look for in attendance software?

Here are a few thoughts.

• Keep it simple. If all you are looking for is attendance tracking, you don't need full- featured church office software. Some of the church directory software programs have what you need.
• Tie it to an email system. It is helpful to be able to send a person an email. You should also be able to send emails to individuals, groups, or the entire congregation. This is important. When people aren't in attendance for a few weeks, your software should show this. You can then follow up with an email. You can also send email reminders about special activities – to groups or to the entire congregation.
• Give access to multiple people. Attendance records aren't anything that need to be kept overly private. So make it easy on your staff. Give several people the ability to update the attendance logs.
• Tie it to a visitation record. If the person hasn't been to church in several weeks, someone should at least send a note, call them on the phone, or go visit them. Some church software packages allow you to keep track of visitation.
• You want to keep it simple, but you might have to purchase a church software package that does more than what you need it to do. That is because you don't have a lot of options. Some of the church financial software packages have attendance capabilities. You can just not use the accounting portion of the software. Plus, the accounting option will be there if and when you need it.
• If you are looking for only an attendance package, you might consider something that you could already have. Microsoft Access is a great tool for this type of function. You will need someone who knows how to set up a database. But once it is set up, anyone can easily enter attendance records. You could also use Microsoft Excel or even Word. Just put the names of people in one column and then a check box in the next column. At the top of each column, put a date. Using these software tools limits your ability to do things like email people directly from the software. But if you already have any of these programs, free is something to be considered.

Church Attendance Software Conclusion

You don't have to get a full-featured software program if all you are looking for is something to record attendance. Unfortunately, there are few software packages dedicated to just attendance. You might want to consider church attendance software with a few more features.