Digital Tools for Ministry

Digital Tools for Ministry

• Communication Tools

  • Padlet A collaborative space where people can share ideas or thoughts around a common idea or question. People do not have to have accounts to post on a Padlet wall, but you do want to have an account to create and save them.

    PollEverywhere Create a variety of kinds of questions/polls that allow for input via a web browser or mobile device. Best use for real time response so can be useful in a presentation, to generate discussion in a youth group or other place where you want to begin discussion.

    Sendsteps An audience response system that can be embedded in a PowerPoint presentation and attendees can respond by mobile devices. Free and paid accounts.

• Scheduling Tools

  • Getting Things Done (Scheduling Tools)

    Doodle Simplifying the process of scheduling appointments ranging from group polls to professional booking service

    When2Meet Uses a quick and visual way of gathering people together. Sync calendars from Outlook, Google, iCal.

• Images

  • Canva A simple to use graphic design program that many churches are using to create web graphics, bulletin covers, Facebook images, posters, etc. It can be used in a web browser as well as mobile platforms.

    Comprehensive List of Open Source Image Websites Open source and copyright free images frequently only need attribution and not permission.  Follow this link to see options for these images.

    Easelly This is free (with pro option) website for creating striking infographics that display data and information in new and interesting ways. Rather than building an infographic from scratch, Easelly includes many built in templates and tools for great looking graphics.

    Gimp A free, open source photo editor that can open PhotoShop files, among others.

    Pixlr Very good editing tools for free. Desktop, browser based and mobile app options for photo editing.

    Quozio An easy way to add text to predesigned photo backgrounds. Particularly useful for uploading to social media sites.

• Mobile Apps

  • Parallel Bible and discuss and share these images with others in the community. The creators describe it as a social, visual Bible. A video about the app can be found here. Available for Apple and Android devices in the appropriate app store.

    Toontastic Primarily a storytelling app, this app is a favorite of church school teachers for getting elementary students to retell Bible stories. Cartoon character sets are available, but you can also draw your own story participants and tell the story with video, audio, and music. Previouly a paid app, it was purchased by Google in early 2015 and is now totally free and one hopes there will be an Android app coming soon.

• Online Course Creation Sites

  • Coursesites Free Coursesites Free, hosted online course creation and facilitation service, add a web-based component to courses, or even host an entire course on the internet

    Eliademy Instantly create and edit online courses, forums and quizzes, share documents and embed any multimedia content straight into your course.

    SlideShare A place to upload power points and presentations to be accessible via the Internet

    Voice Thread Cloud application based software, Upload, Comment on and Share presentations. Uses both Visual and Audio. Here’s a tutorial to get you started on VoiceThread.

    WordPress Self-hosted publishing system for blogging purposes that also includes plugins, widgets and themes. (This links to the free version. WordPress.org is a more robust content management system that can be downloaded for free but must be hosted with a webhost of your own choosing.)

• Volunteer Management

  • Google Forms Create your own form and embed it in your church website or Facebook page, or send out a private link to potential volunteers.

    Sign Up Genius A free online software tool for volunteer management and event planning.

    Volunteer Spot Online signup sheets, volunteer scheduling software and volunteer management software at schools.