| Group text messaging is a great tool for churches of | | | | to practice and any last-minute service changes. Text |
| all sizes. If you have ever tried to do this from a cell | | | | messaging would also be a great way for the |
| phone, you know that it is not easily done. Instead | | | | worship pastor to keep the congregation in a |
| there are services that offer group texting or bulk | | | | worshipful spirit the rest of the week through |
| SMS. (SMS stands for Short Message Service and is a | | | | inspirational quotes or messages. |
| technical word that generally means text message.) | | | | - Children's Pastor - The children's pastor would |
| Generally speaking, churches tend to be behind the | | | | benefit from group texting when it comes to |
| curve when it comes to technology. I am not sure | | | | communicating with parents. If a young child is in |
| why this is, but one way to help push the Church | | | | need of their parent, an instant and discrete message |
| forward is by embracing the fact that text | | | | could be sent to their mother or father. Group text |
| messaging is a popular and reliable avenue of | | | | messaging could also help the pastor send event |
| communication. With this in mind, let me suggest a | | | | updates and volunteer reminders throughout the |
| few areas where it may be beneficial from the | | | | week. |
| perspective of typical church staff positions. | | | | - Community Pastor - The pastors who are in charge |
| - Lead Pastor - Group text messaging is a great way | | | | of bringing the community together may also reap |
| for the lead pastor to keep his team or staff in the | | | | big benefits from text messaging. They could send |
| loop. He or she can send out updates on meetings or | | | | small group meeting reminders, leadership meeting |
| church functions. The pastor could also send | | | | updates, prayer requests, topical or scriptural |
| occasional reminders, inspirational messages or a | | | | reminders and even motivational messages. |
| verse of the day to the congregation, perhaps even | | | | Group text messaging could be a wonderful and |
| tying the theme of these messages to a current | | | | natural avenue of communication for the church. |
| preaching series. | | | | There are many benefits and churches across the |
| - Youth Pastor - This one is probably obvious. Youth | | | | United States have already begun to reap the |
| are always on their cell phones - often even during | | | | rewards. |
| youth group! Could there be a better way to get a | | | | A word of caution: There are some services with |
| message to the whole group? The youth pastor | | | | extremely low rates, offering unlimited texting or |
| could send reminders of special events, updates on | | | | even advertising free services. Many of these texting |
| meetings and even mid-youth-group-meeting | | | | services do not use SMS gateways and rely on |
| reminders to "Turn Off Your Cell!" | | | | email-to-text conversions which are unreliable and |
| - Worship Pastor - The worship leader or pastor | | | | generally restricted by cell phone carriers to very |
| could, like the lead pastor, use text messaging to | | | | small groups. |
| keep his or her volunteers in-the-loop when it comes | | | | |