The goal of most religious organizations is to provide spiritual and family guidance to their members. In support of this objective, these organizations are maintained through the contributions of their members. Religious organizations can now research new technologies to help them achieve both goals. One such technology is audio conferencing. Here are five new apps that use audio conferencing that can provide spiritual and family guidance to organization members, as well as increase new contributions to their coffers.
Administrative calls. Religious organizations consist of a formal structure of hierarchical levels within a denomination, beginning with the local church or parish, up to the state level, diocese level, then up to the national headquarters, and finally to the universal headquarters or the Vatican, as in the Roman Catholic religion. Each religious denomination has communication needs that run up and down their respective hierarchies. Audio conferencing can be used to provide instant meetings without having to travel, saving time and money.
Ask for a sermon. Dial A Sermon is one of the most popular audio conferencing applications out there. Local churches and parishes want their sermons to be heard by as many members and guests as possible. At any given time, there are many members who are at home, sick, or out of town and cannot enter the church. Thus, these members cannot hear the sermon. With audio conferencing, the lectern’s microphone can be connected to a phone line and the conference bridge can be connected, allowing the pastor to deliver the sermon on the bridge, in addition to the members in the church. Now people at home and out of town can connect to the bridge using their home or mobile phone and listen to the entire worship service. Each sermon or worship service could be recorded and stored for later playback by members, who were unable to listen to the service live.
prayer line. Another popular conferencing application for religious organizations is the prayer line. With this app, the scheduled date and time (usually in the evening) for a prayer service is posted using the Conference Bridge. The prayer line schedule is then published in all written church publications and online. A phone number with a passcode is posted with directions for members to call at a specific date and time to pray with the pastor or pastor on each occasion. The pastor or priest would lead the participating members in a prayer session, which usually lasted an hour.
Fundraising appeals. Teleconferencing can also be used to increase contributions from members. Whether the church is raising money for family members of a parishioner, those in crisis, missionary work abroad or campaigning for capital to add a building, conference calls can be used to get the appeal out to many members at once. A trigger from the conferencing service provider can be used to hold a question and answer session with the members on the call to answer all their questions and concerns. The resumption call can also be recorded and played back later by members who missed the original call.
convergence software. Affinity programs can be developed to enhance the use of conference call services throughout the religious organization in order to reduce conference costs by increasing the volume of minutes. With conferencing services, the more you use, the lower your costs. Therefore, when negotiating your rates with a conference service provider, inquire about affinity programs and what discounts are available by volume.
There you have it, the 5 conference apps religious organizations can use to get the message out to members and raise additional funds for special projects.