We've seen thousands of churches and ministries reach their organizational goals through customized apps, here are a few important benefits, from increased giving to more connectedness with your community...
Client Spotlight: LifeGate Denver
It was only a year ago that Pastor Nirup Alphonse and his family moved from Indiana to plant a church in the busy, urban center of Denver. With support from back home, he and his wife, Hannah, settled into one of the fastest-growing cities in the U.S. with the hope of advancing the kingdom of God, and helping people start new lives in Jesus. At LifeGate Denver, their deepest desire is to “make Jesus famous and to make heaven crowded.”
Subsplash (aka The Church App) has been working with LifeGate Denver almost as long as the church has been in existence, and it has been a joy to partner with them to see the Gospel move forward, and the good news of Jesus spread throughout the city of Denver.
LifeGate Denver utilizes Subsplash mobile apps and it has made a huge impact on their ministry. Nirup and his team have definitely maximized the use of their app to reinforce their church’s vision. Though the church is still growing and averaging about 250 people in weekly attendance, their app has been downloaded nearly 600 times and has received close to 15,500 impressions.
Here’s what Nirup had to say about how their app has helped them move the message of the Gospel forward:
TCA: What goals are you aiming to accomplish with your app?
NA: We really want people to know what’s going on at our church, so we make full use of the Events feature and social integration so that people can stay connected to the life of our church. We just started using the app as a “program” of sorts so that as soon as people show up on Sundays they can open their app and know what that week’s service is going to look like.
TCA: How has your app added value to LifeGate Denver?
NA: The app is a great way for people to learn what we are about. We even market our app separately. It’s one of the first things I tell people about when I first meet them. When I tell them about our church, I tell them about the app right away. So many people are taken back by the quality of the app. In a city like Denver, where it is difficult to see the Gospel take root, it is so helpful to have a high-quality app to show to people who really value creativity and commerce.
TCA: What results have you seen through the app?
NA: Hundreds of people have downloaded our app. I get emails all of the time from people all over the world who have downloaded the LifeGate Denver app. It’s a really attractive aspect of our ministry.
TCA: Would you like to share any other comments about your app or the Subsplash Platform, and how you’re using it to engage your audience?
NA: I love the simple design of the Subsplash Dashboard. The push notifications are so helpful. I’ve always really appreciated the quality of customer service at Subsplash. Everyone always goes above and beyond to answer my questions and the support team are some of the most patient people in the world to talk with. They walk with you step by step.
I really appreciate that the Subsplash Dashboard allows you to create an app that is unique and customizable. The Subsplash Platform allows churches to showcase their personality. In the future, we hope to focus on getting more messages out on push notifications and take advantage of music, blogs, and other features as our church grows.
We love partnering with churches like LifeGate Denver and seeing how different ministries’ apps bless people all over the world. Learn more about The Church App and find out how a customized app can benefit your organization. We’d love to hear from you!
Best Practices Part 6: Media
Media concludes our best practices for reaching and engaging your audience. Whether they’re on a morning run or commute, you can easily connect your audience with your media anytime, anywhere. We really did save the best for last!
Media
So why media? As both mobile app use and media consumption continues to rise, delivering media through your app enables you to meet your audience directly where they’re at:
Mobile apps account for 52% of digital media consumption
Mobile video will represent 69% of all mobile traffic by 2018
App use makes up 88% of total time spent on mobile in the U.S.
With weekly recurring media content, utilizing the media tab provides an effective medium for expanding the reach of your content beyond the Sunday service. Not only can users instantly access your sermon collection, but they can download for offline listening wherever they are. Many churches have seen a strong increase in sermon downloads through their media tab alone!
The media tab is the most robust way to present your media on a mobile device. Built and designed for multiple devices and operating systems, the Subsplash Platform enables you to deliver a beautiful and intuitive cross-platform media experience. Easily customize the artwork and display of your media with multiple layout options, making the user experience more delightful and catered to your brand.
As our series comes to a close, these are a just a few ways we’ve seen churches use their apps to increase engagement and enhance their communication efforts. Your app should not only be a tool for presenting content, but also an effective way to directly remind, notify, and encourage users to engage. If you’d like to add any of these features, or would like to get started with your own Church App, we’d love to help!
Best Practices Part 5: Events
By providing a visible and effective way to promote your events, the events tab enables your audience to easily discover and sign up for events directly from their devices.
Events
LifeGate Church has done a great job of integrating all the benefits the events tab has to offer. In addition to promoting your upcoming events, this feature also gives your audience the ability to save them directly to their iCalendar. By including a description, map location, contact information/sign ups, and more, having this tab in place enables your users to easily sign up and share events in your community.
Like sending out a push notification, the events tab gives you another effective way to increase awareness for your ministry's events. Download LifeGate's app here to see it in action, and stay tuned for Part 6!
Best Practices Part 4: Social Sharing
Social Sharing has a well-earned spot in our best practices for outreach and engagement by enabling your community to share content quickly and effectively.
Social Sharing
We’ve heard incredible stories of users sharing sermons with friends and resulting in new relationships with Christ. With the ability to share sermons, blogs, and content directly through your app, users can easily share the right resources with the right people. I know when I’m listening to a sermon or reading a blog, sometimes I’ll think “wow, this person would really enjoy this.” Rather than opening a browser, copying links, and then sharing on Facebook (or forgetting altogether), I can share directly through the app to any of my social channels, email, and text.
These sharing capabilities enable your church network to reach their individual networks with the tap of a screen. A few ways you can encourage your users to share include adding a reminder in the Sunday service announcements, at the end of your sermon audio and video, or sending a push notification reminder. Happy sharing and stay tuned for part 5!