Website or Church Management System: Which is right for our church?

The goal of any church communication strategy must be to reach your members and your community with the timely, relevant information that they need to equip them to fulfill the Great Commandment and the Great Commission.

There are several tools out there that help equip churches to reach the people in their care, and these tools fall into two major categories:

1. Church Website Platforms.  Church website platforms like Koinonia and others are designed to serve as one-to-many communication tools.
2. Church Management Systems.  Tools like Community Church Builder and The City are designed to enable peer to peer communication, and function much like a private social network for your church.

This article explores the strengths and limitations of both church websites and church management systems.

Church Website Platforms: Built for accessibility.

Church website platforms excel at creating a highly customizable place for your congregation and your community to find vital information about your church, like service times and directions, your ministry offerings, sermons and articles, and other public information.

Strengths of church websites:

1. Fully customizable design
2. Accessible by anyone
3. Ability to implement custom features

Limitations of church websites:

1. Limited “members only” functionality

Church Management Systems: Built for connection.

Church management systems are designed for more intimate sharing and engagement, and often include “members only” content like your church directory, prayer needs, and other information that you want to keep out of the public eye.

Strengths of Church Management Systems:

1. Built for peer-to-peer engagement
2. Often include built-in functionality for online giving, event registration, etc.

Limitations of Church Management Systems:

1. Can be difficult to get buy-in from your congregation.  (Learn how I utterly failed at my first ChMS rollout.)
2. Limited customization options
3. No option to add new features

Which one is right for my church?

Church Website Platforms and Church Management Systems serve two very different purposes.  An effective communication strategy will combine both to equip your congregation and community and then to connect and engage your members.

The Koinonia church website platform links to many church management systems, including CCB and The City.  Get in touch with us today to discover how to build a communication strategy that helps you meet your ministry goals.