21 Reasons Your Church or Ministry Needs a Mobile App

James,

Great questions. I will try to answer the best I can. I am the writer of the article and I was in a local church as a Family Pastor for 10 years and work with youth pastors and children's pastors on a weekly basis.

So here goes (by the way you have a lot of questions :-))

1. Differentiation of vision?: I've spoken at and speak to many different church leaders. Each one has a slightly different vision. Sure it boils down to Jesus but their approach, who they are trying to reach, and their overall message is different. Sure we are all a part of THE Church and not my church but you will reach different people than I will. You have a different brand and even calling to a different people group. How we communicate will differ as well. That is all a part of the vision.

2. Loyalty?: If you use or interact with anything on a regular basis then you are more loyal to it. The easiest way to interact with the message and communication of a church today is through a smart phone. People no longer carry their laptops to coffee shops but they will carry their phone with them everywhere they go. In fact studies have shown that in every culture, every community, and every country people leave the house with 3 things: money, keys, and their phone. Making it easier to get to the messages, events, and information of your church or ministry will increase loyalty.

3. Branding?: Again branding is not a bad word or just a business word. Every church has its own "brand" or flavor. Some churches play country music and others don't play music at all. Some do Sunday School while others simply do small groups in homes. All of these decisions make up the brand of the church. So do the logos, names of the ministries, and a lot of others things. People identify with all of this whether we think about it very much or not.

4. The Medium?: The medium will always change but the message of Jesus Christ will always be the same. My point in writing this article was to bring awareness to the fact that we have an opportunity to let the message of our church and our ministry travel with students, adults, and seekers with them wherever they go. Jesus Christ will always be relevant and I believe his message should take advantage of any medium that can be used for good.

This article was not written to sell a bunch of apps. It was to inform. If I wanted to make a lot of money I wouldn't be focused on THE Church or Jesus. I want nothing more than to equip, train, and help my fellow ministers in getting the message out.

Thanks again for your comment.

I have some questions:

12 - It will differentiate your vision and values from others.
What does this differentiation refer to? The fact that we're a church, rather than some sort of other group? Or are we trying to distinguish our church from another? Is it helpful to 'brand' ourselves as different than another congregation in Christ's one Body?

14 - It drives loyalty.
How does an app drive loyalty? I appreciate what you were saying about getting people to engage with the church when they're not in the building on Sunday or Wednesday. But I'm not sure I want my youth to be loyal to church in the same way they're loyal to, say, ESPN or Abercrombie.

15 - It puts your branding in front of potential guests before they walk in the door.
Again, where does this idea of 'branding' come from? What sort of brand does an app communicate?

21 - It creates a buzz that you message is relevant in today’s culture.
I guess I can understand the importance of 'buzz'. But I haven't heard my youth to ask me to relate Jesus to their iphone. I hope His relevance transcends the medium.

I hope I've not been too harsh here. I just think we need to be careful when, like Paul we become all things to all people, that we don't lose something and become too much like, in this case, a company marketing something with less than eternal importance.

keep in mind too that you don't have to have a smart PHONE to have an app either. if it's an apple platform kids with an iTouch can have that same app. which opens up a whole lotta kids!

I agree that ministries need to use mobile tech in ways to engage and communicate, I don't agree that you need an app to do it.

(1) Application development (as has been talked about in the comments here) is expensive unless you are using a turn-key solution such as Nokia's Ovi App Wizard

(2) At that point, its free, but you are merely just repeating what's on your website - and now you'd be doing this for every mobile platform represented in your congregation.

(3) Most people *do not* own a smartphone - there are 6 major smartphone platforms they could be using - and unless their parent's are really nice with getting into app stores without supervision, you'll have to figure out the best means to promote your application which costs you time and more money.

(4) Going the route of taking your existing website, and making it mobile-friendly (use a service like mobify.me, or if you already are using a blog/CMS like WordPress, Typepad, etc., there are plugins for those platforms). If you haven't made your church's site mobile-friendly, or at least made it appear nice in a Google Local search, then you don't need an app as much as you just need to make your content findable.

(5) Mobile interactions aren't the same as PC; therefore you need to decide what you are going after with mobile. If it is just communications, do you need a mobile app/website, or just SMS and MMS. SMS/MMS isn't just less expensive, but its already understood, costs less for the user/receiver, and offers faster and better response rates than other forms of communication.

(6) Maybe you are under the assumption that they will sit on a mobile and wait for a downloaded song or sermon; nope. These items are usually downloaded while at a PC and then sideloaded to the mobile device.

(7) Social networks are already mobile-friendly, and your youth are already there; why not just engage them there, and use the mobile as another window for you and them to communicate and connect. Create wallpapers and ringtones specific to your ministry and post them a Facebook/MySpace and encourage them to download and share them with others. Heck, go really ahead of the game and use QR codes and multimedia as an alternative to handing out tracts. This is mobile too.

Don't get me wrong, apps are good. But, when looking to engage folks with mobile, you've got to look at not just what seems popular, but what is actually going to work. I ask and experiment in this space often, and can tell you that there's no silver bullet. As with anything engaging in media, you've got to use several methods, not just the loudest ones.

Looks like I'm late to the party so I will try and catch up.

@Jeremy Zach,

Thanks for the kind words. I would talk to the senior leadership of the church about an overall mobile strategy and a ministry specific mobile strategy. You might be able to do one app for the whole church or you could do one per ministry. It depends on strategy.

@Josh Jensen,

Thanks for letting people know where R04R can be found. Appreciate that a lot.

@Scott Firestone

Thanks for taking up for people who are trying to bring innovation to the church. Change is never easy and having people see past what is happening now is always a good thing.

@everyone else

Apps range in a variety of prices depending on what you want to get done. There are web apps that Josh does at http://mobilesalt.com or native apps that my company does at http://r04r.com. Both are under $1000 to set up and a small monthly fee for hosting and maintenance. Believe me when I say that you can spend a lot more than that if you want to though. Just know that I would go with a company that is passionate about getting the message of the Gospel on mobile phones.

How much cost is required to develop an app?

It is a tool that most churches will need to do soon just like how churches made websites. It gives members the ability to listen to a sermon again, view church blogs, and even comment to other members so I see it as a major plus.

Nice hyperbole, anonymous...

First, no one is "forcing" anyone to spend more money on anything. Is there no one in your congregation who already has a smart phone? Are there more people with smart phones this year than last year? Wake up.

Every point of the article is an add-on feature, not a replacement for something that exists now.

yeah, great idea. Not only can we get the church to spend money, but we can force our congregation to spend more than the need on hardware and monthly plans, is this really the best way to be stewards of what God has given?

@Matt Thanks for the great article.

Some of you were asking about mobile app development. I know Matt has a company called R04R.com and I run a company called Mobilesalt.com. Both companies are passionate about helping churches go mobile.

@Jeremy - Helping churches understand how valuable a mobile app can be is one of the greatest challenges we face at Mobilesalt. We try to help leaders understand that when they can extend the experience of church outside the four walls it has a greater impact. A youth pastor can only be in one places but when you take those messages and resources and put them in the young persons pocket it instantly becomes a powerful, always on, always accessible catalyst for change.

I LOVE IT, but how do you build one?

@Matt
You have a very compelling list here. I will be honest your list was so compelling that I would argue that majority of student ministries may need to think about getting an app. How cool would it be to give your students an face of youth group identity right on their phone which is where they are already spending a large amount of time.

How would you convince your senior leadership that getting an app for your youth group is a worthwhile financial investment?

Okay, I believe you. Now, what are some good sites that will develop apps?

Question-

How does one get an app created?