How Can Churches Handle Their Top IT Concerns?

By Brittany Fugate, CEO at Cenetric

Most people don’t think about the IT infrastructure of their church or other place of worship, but these institutions have many of the same primary tech challenges as any other business or organization — and some unique issues of their own. If you’re leading a congregation — or its IT efforts — you know just what we’re talking about.

Churches need unique IT support

More and more churches and other places of worship are offering a wider range of services to their congregations and communities. 

Online services became more common with the pandemic, but many churches have maintained the practice to help their congregants fit services into their busy lives, attend services when they’re ill or out of town, or share the experience with friends and family who aren’t local.

But livestreaming isn’t always so simple, making it important to work with a managed services provider who not only understands the complexity of the issue but also is available for support 24/7. When something goes wrong, you need help that’s just moments away — from a team like Cenetric’s. 

In addition to offering support on Sundays (and any other day and time), we’ve worked with all the top church software and tech solutions, including Planning Center, Breeze, PowerChurch, Servant Keeper, Tithe.ly, and TechSoup — even Microsoft and Apple. Because we’re vendor-neutral, we can help you find the best solution for your team’s and congregation’s needs, not for any vendor.

We also understand that your church isn’t just a church these days. Many places of worship have daycares, libraries and other services as part of their offering. These each have their own set of IT challenges, making the entire infrastructure challenging for you to manage on your own. 

While smaller churches might not have an IT staff and need fully managed services to help tackle these challenges, larger church organizations usually have an IT team. But even churches with a tech staff can use a hand from time to time, making co-managed services a great option. 

Common networking challenges for churches

While they do have their own particular IT needs and challenges, in many ways, today’s churches, synagogues and temples use technology just as much as any other organization, from laptops to security systems to Wi-Fi. But their networks in particular can be a challenge. 

Large, multi-site churches usually have an IT staff on board, but they often have so many duties to manage that they need the help of a managed service provider to help design and secure their networks — especially across campuses.

That was the case for Lenexa Baptist Church, which needed help designing and implementing networks at several smaller satellite churches they were spinning off into autonomous organizations. Each church needed its own network, but they needed to be connected to the resources of the main Lenexa Baptist Church network as well. 

As their longtime IT partner, Cenetric was ready to help. We migrated terabytes of data and dozens of assets to the new networks, providing a seamless transition for each individual church. We did this several times over the years for Lenexa Baptist, ensuring tight security along the way.

Networking was also a challenge for Blue Valley Baptist Church, which was struggling to work globally using local servers in their main office. The servers were expensive to maintain and upgrade and made it hard for their staff, which was spread across the world, to access the files they needed. 

Cenetric moved them to a cloud server, migrated all remaining server-based applications to web-based apps, and transitioned all local workstations away from traditional Active Directory to a cloud-based device management and user authentication system.

“Cenetric is a key partner in our business,” said David Neely, Elder Emeritus at Blue Valley Baptist Church. “They provide great value and I trust them to always do what it takes to keep us up and going as far as our IT management goes.”

Cybersecurity for places of worship

Of course, any organization needs tight cybersecurity practices, and churches are no exception. Your network holds your congregants’ personal data and often financial information. It also contains personnel data about your staff, as well as the financial information of the church itself. Protecting your network should be a top priority.

A place of worship is just as susceptible to cyberattacks like ransomware and phishing as any other organization — perhaps sometimes more than others. Cyber criminals may be likely to prey on churches because they think their security measures will be less robust. That makes working with a managed services provider that deeply understands both the needs of churches and the importance of cybersecurity a must.

In fact, according to Datto’s latest Global State of the MSP Report, cybersecurity was the top reason any organization sought the help of a managed services provider. To protect your congregants and employees and maintain their trust you have to safeguard their data. Cenetric can help you do it.

Turn to Cenetric for help with your church’s IT challenges

Kansas City-area churches were among Cenetric’s first clients when we first began serving the metro’s IT needs. We’re still helping organizations like yours in Wichita, Dallas and Kansas City today as your technology needs grow and change.

Looking for IT support from a business that cares about the communities we serve and knows the intricacies of church IT? Cenetric has the experience and availability to meet all your tech needs. Tell us about your organization and we’ll get back to you right away.