Google Voice for Churches #4

Free Text Messages for Churches

#1 – Yes, it is FREE!
#2 – How did you know my name?
#3 – Mobile Ministry Command Center

A functional feature of Google Voice is the ability to text and make calls inside the Google Voice account.

The calling feature is not quite as valuable as the texting at this point. To make a phone call from Google Voice you enter the number and it calls your personal phone first then connects you through your phone. Obviously I could have just called on the phone in the first place. The only benefit would be to make the calling process quicker using your Google contacts, but I have my Google contacts integrated with my phone anyway.

The texting feature is really helpful however. We have used Google Voice in our Church Nursery specifically numerous times to contact parents when their child needs them. I realize that many church check-in software systems have that texting feature built in. But some require that you enter the carrier of the person’s cell phone. I think that is a strange piece of info to ask parents to give you unless you absolutely have to. Google Voice does not make you enter a carrier. You just enter their number and text.

Texting on your computer and typing it in is so much faster. [For all of us who are not teenagers at least!]. We have our account open during services to quickly get in touch with parents for Church Nursery communication purposes.

I can type way faster on a computer than a phone. Many of your adult volunteers would feel the same I am sure. You could have the Google Voice App on your phone, but if people can type it in with a computer keyboard they will probably appreciate it.

This also brings up the benefit of copy and paste. If you wanted to take the time to create stock messages that you regularly need to send people all of the time like Nursery Alert: Your child needs assistance.

The benefit of stock messages is that you can create the wording you want. This would help reduce awkward wording from random desk attendants. Texts, like emails, have a high potential of coming across wrong if written by the wrong person. Reduce that possibility by creating the messages ahead of time.

Nursery is not the only ministry where a free texting option would be useful. With a church Gmail account and dividing your Google contacts into Groups, you can group text using Google Voice too.

How could you use Google Voice for texing in your church?