Communicating with Your Staff Just Got Easier

Fast, Simple, and Secure Communication through GroupMe

What is GroupMe?

GroupMe was founded by Jared Hecht and Steve Martocci in 2010. This online and mobile application advertises itself as “The best way to chat with everyone you know.” GroupMe is a free, yes free, application that anyone can use to stay connected with friends, family, and co-workers. It is very easy to download on your computer and cell phone and allows you to have a group conversation through a digital medium.

GroupMe for Church?

I have been involved in many areas of ministry for the past 8 years. One problem I continually found no matter the size of the church was lack of communication between its leaders. I began Pastoring in 2012 and I struggled to remember to update members of the body and staff about updates to services, Bible studies, and practices. The struggle became even greater after I became Associate Pastor for a church plant. The church continued to grow and caused even greater breakdown between the leadership of the church as we added multiple services and Bible Studies. Our growth had brought us to the place where we had 6 Pastors and 4 Pastors wives that were all Bi-vocational. We did not have the opportunity to meet on a weekly basis because of time constraints. We were all running in 10 different directions because we did not have the opportunity to communicate with each other on a daily basis.

I was introduced to GroupMe by some of my friends from High School who wanted to stay in touch and plan get-togethers for our friends group. After using the application for a few months I realized that I had already been introduced to the answer to our churches communication problem, GroupMe to the rescue.

I introduced the application to our Pastoral staff at our following monthly staff meeting. Our Pastors ages ranged from 22 to 80. It was still a hit! Every Pastor and his wife were clamoring to download the app for our usage. We have been using the app for almost a year and it has dramatically changed how our church operates. There were learning curves along the way for those who were less tech savvy but after a few weeks, the older leadership was using it more than the younger. We still have monthly meeting to discuss certain things and to establish future plans but there is nothing that even comes close to the convenience of GroupMe. We are now able to communicate and update one another on a minute to minute basis if needed.

Where Do I Get GroupMe?

GroupMe is available online and on your smart phone through the PlayStore for Android and AppStore for iPhone. You can even send yourself the download link to your phone.

How Do I Use It?

In this YouTube video I explain how to use the basic functions of GroupMe for your ministry. GroupMe is Fast, Simple, and Secure. The download process takes less than a minute, it is very easy to set up and it can connect with your Facebook and Twitter so you can connect with social media friends as well. You can also set up multiple groups to communicate with. Our church has one for the Pastoral staff, our Men’s Bible Study, and Media Team. GroupMe is also private to the users. Only people added in your group will be able to see the information sent on it. This allows for Pastors and leaders to discuss sensitive information without worrying about it being seen by others.