When Soul Revival Church, a multi-site Anglican church in Sydney, Australia, hit a wall with their old church management system, they didn’t just need a new tool - they needed a system they could rely and build upon.
Years of wrestling with unreliable tech, frustrated members, and patchy data had left them longing for something that worked as hard as they did to care for their community. In ChurchSuite, they found a clean, intuitive platform with a team behind it that wanted to partner with them for the long haul. Here’s their story.
A Growing Church, A Struggling System
This Anglican church isn’t small. With five locations and seven weekly gatherings, they’re a vibrant, bustling community spread across the city. Their heart? To connect people, care pastorally, and keep everyone moving together toward a shared mission. But by late 2019, their tools weren’t keeping up.
They started using a church management system that promised to streamline their operations. At first, it delivered. Auto-generated events for ongoing gatherings? Check. Service plan templates and rotas visible across all locations? Handy. Automated processes kept emails flowing at the right stages, ensuring no one slipped through the cracks. For a church juggling multiple sites and a diverse congregation, these features felt like a win.
But the cracks began to show. The inbuilt messaging solution was a key reason they’d signed up. Yet it rarely worked as advertised. The app shone on iOS but stumbled on Android, leaving half their members in the dark. "Useless," church members called it - too complicated, too unreliable.
People gave up, turning to a messy patchwork of other tools instead. Emails stopped sending consistently, attendance data became a guessing game, and after the system was bought out, the personal touch they’d loved also vanished. "It went from people-oriented to treating us like just another customer," Jai McMordie, Pastor at Soul Revival church, recalled. The system they’d trusted was not delivering the goods - and their church was feeling the strain.
The Search for Something Better
The tipping point came with an email from their church management system: the platform wouldn’t be maintained anymore. It was time to move on.
The team explored various options, but nothing clicked - until a staff member stumbled across ChurchSuite when members of a Facebook group recommended giving it a try. Being able to access a ChurchSuite test account ended up changing everything.
"It wasn’t like our previous system," Jai recalled. "Things worked differently, and better - we fell in love with it". The modules were easy to access, the interface clean and intuitive. Here was a system that felt designed for them, not against them. But the initial excitement came with a caveat: fear. What if this was their previous system all over again? Their members were already disgruntled from years of tech woes. Would they buy in, or would it prove to be too complicated - again?
A Thoughtful Transition
The staff didn’t rush things. They played with ChurchSuite, digging into its features to build confidence. Conversations with the ChurchSuite support team sealed the deal. "They listened to how we’re structured as a church and gave us best practices for the transition," Jai noted. "They were patient - we’re grateful for that." Over a few months, they brought their extended leadership - 72 people - on board. The reaction? "This is not like the previous system." Everyone was blown away by the simplicity.
The big reveal came at their church planning day, with a decent chunk of their congregation present across all ages and stages of life. An hour before the announcement, they sent out email invitations to join My ChurchSuite. Then, live, they asked everyone to download the app. "People were surprised - but they got it immediately," Jai shared. The app’s clean design and intuitive flow won them over. Members could see key info, add photos, and edit details with almost zero training. "Even our least tech-savvy people found it easy," Jai recalls. That was the moment they knew: this had been the right call.
Turning Pain Points into Progress
The migration wasn’t flawless - the nature of how the previous system had stored their data left some "red herrings" that had to be dealt with - but ChurchSuite’s team stepped up. "We were blown away by how responsive they were, despite being on the other side of the world," Jai reflected. "You get this vibe that these guys are pastorally minded, not just system-minded." That ethos - enabling churches to care for their people in their own way - shone through.
Now, ChurchSuite fits their rhythm. Welcomers check people in across adults, kids, and teens - a setup they found "really easy" once dialled in. Rotas? "Our team loves how roles work in the Rotas module - they picked it up quickly." Flows have transformed pastoral care, with private notes on contact cards ensuring key details don’t slip through. Attendance tracking is a breeze, and built-in graphs recently saved Jai three hours of prep time for a leadership meeting. "It’s helping us care better for the people entrusted to us," he said. "Our job’s easier, and hopefully, people feel more encouraged because of it."
A New Chapter
From the frustrations of the previous system to ChurchSuite’s freedom, this Anglican church has found its stride. The app’s clear, simple design, seamless rotas, and robust pastoral tools have turned a tech headache into a ministry asset. Would they recommend ChurchSuite? "No," Jai laughed, "we’d shake them until they say yes!" For a church with five locations, seven gatherings, and a heart for their people, ChurchSuite isn’t just a tool - it’s a partner.
Are you on a journey of exploring whether ChurchSuite might be a fit for you? Whether you're in Australia, the UK, or anywhere else in the world, we'd love to partner with you! Start a no-obligations free trial and check ChurchSuite out for yourself.
