Every church needs a database.

I'm talking about a place where information about church members is kept, for the purpose of caring for people, contacting people, and facilitating church activities.

Few churches (that I know of) are using a database that they like, or that they feel is a good solution for their church. Does this describe your church?

In the past, church databases had basic functionality, consisting primarily of contact details for people in the church perhaps with an option to email someone, or print out a church directory. Today, the possibilities have moved to a whole new level, and include features such as:

"¢ Attendance tracking (to aid follow up when people don't turn up for a couple of weeks).
"¢ Grouping (assigning people to groups - Bible studies, areas of service so that these groups can be communicated with, or communicate with each other).
"¢ Assigning facilities and equipment (e.g. data projector for Simply Christianity).
"¢ Create events and enable people to RSVP to them.
"¢ Identify people who would be suited for particular areas of service.
"¢ Give congregation members a log-in to edit their information (e.g. update their contact details).
"¢ Track which people have completed child protection training.
"¢ Create reports (e.g. a list of people who have joined over past 3 months).
"¢ And of course, lots more.

Different databases have different features that will suit different churches. Smaller churches might get away with a well thought-through Excel spreadsheet. Larger churches will benefit from some of the functionality available in more detailed modern solutions.

The goalposts

So what should you be looking for in a church database? I suggest three technical boundaries that churches should stick within when selecting a database:

"¢ I've discovered that lots of churches use Macs. Not everyone in the staff team will use a Mac, but if there's any chance anyone ever will, a PC-only, or Mac-only solution isn't up to the cut.
"¢ Generally avoid offers for someone to build a database for you. This might sound harsh, but it saves a lot of trouble down the track. A congregation member might offer to build you an Access database, but what happens when they leave and something goes wrong with the database?
"¢ For these reasons, a web-based database is the only way forward. There are lots of benefits to this. These databases don't rely on a particular operating system. They don't require any server maintenance skills. They are (usually) regularly updated with new features. No in-house maintenance is required. You can access information on the go (e.g. from your phone).

Those are the boundaries. Unfortunately, there's not a long list of options for web-based church databases. Here's a list of web-based solutions I've come across, in alphabetical order (in case you're wondering!). I'm sure there's more - but I haven't discovered them! Please let me know if you're aware of others:

"¢ Ascribe
"¢ Church Community Builder
"¢ Connection Power  
"¢ FellowshipOne 
"¢ Icon System 
"¢ Logos 360  
"¢ OneBody 
"¢ Salesforce (not a church-specific product)
"¢ Stafftool

I've also posted a list of all databases I've come across at Communicate Jesus (but for the reasons mentioned above, I wouldn't recommend many of them. Perhaps you can persuade me otherwise!).

Two questions I'd like to pose to you, the reader:

1. What features do you look for in a church database?
2. What database does your church use? Would you recommend it to other churches?