I have nothing against a custom church app and app creators — I think many of them are doing great Kingdom-minded work. But rather than reading a sales pitch, let’s look more specifically at your church. There are lots of good things you could do as a church, lots of great ways you can communicate. I spend most of my time helping churches simplify their communication strategy. We need to find the best way to communicate. And I’m guessing a mobile app is not the best way for your church.
A CHURCH APP IS ONE MORE THING
Custom church apps add another way to communicate. For some churches, that may be needed. For most, however, it’s just adding to the noise — creating more communication clutter. Depending on how your mobile app is created, it may also be another place you need to manage information — another database, another sermon feed, another calendar to update. Others may integrate and work with other programs you’re already using. But that means the app is replicating a message you’ve already got out there in some other form.
WHAT’S THE PURPOSE OF A CHURCH APP?
Another issue I’ve come across is a lot of churches don’t really think about the purpose of their app. They want to add one because it’s new technology, it’s another method of communication, or because they don’t want to “fall behind the times.” But the vision or goals for the app are imprudent; I’ve heard of churches calling their apps an outreach tool; I’ve watched churches try to sell their app based on push notifications; some others try to push the app as a tool for online giving. These might be good outlier motives, but they shouldn’t be a central motivation for creating an app.
REALITY CHECK FOR A CHURCH APP
Here is why I don’t like mobile apps for most churches:
People don’t use that many apps. We may spend a lot of time on our phones but studies show that, on average, most people only use 5 apps. Think about it — what are your go-to apps? For as much as it will cost to create and upkeep your app, you want it to be one of those apps in regular use. But, chances are, it won’t be.
Successful apps are habitual. There’s a reason for people to keep coming back to the app and interact with it — that could be for news, updates, social content, gaming, or other functions. People go back again and again to their favorite apps because they want to do a specific thing (like play a game or deposit a check) or to get fresh, up-to-date content (such as news or social media). Does your church create enough content that your app could be one of those five go-to apps?
