Automated email and SMS notifications for event reminders, prayer requests, and community news

Purpose

1.1. Automatically distribute timely email and SMS notifications for key church events, prayer requests, and community news to enhance congregation engagement and minimize manual effort.
1.2. Reduce no-shows and forgotten activities by sending reminders for services, events, and scheduled meetings.
1.3. Ensure urgent prayer needs are circulated immediately to focused groups or the entire congregation.
1.4. Share important updates, newsletters, and announcements rapidly and uniformly across multiple communication channels.

Trigger Conditions

2.1. New event creation or update in church calendar or event management system.
2.2. Scheduled time or date approaches for an already-listed event.
2.3. Receipt of a new prayer request from form submissions, email, or SMS.
2.4. Publishing of community news or newsletters in CMS or designated document.
2.5. Manual trigger by staff for emergencies or unscheduled notices.

Platform variants

3.1. Twilio SMS
• Feature/Setting: “Programmable Messaging” API; configure webhook to receive trigger, auto-send SMS to group or list.
3.2. SendGrid
• Feature/Setting: “Mail Send API”; map template to event type, populate dynamic fields, set scheduled send.
3.3. Mailgun
• Feature/Setting: “Messages API”; send templated emails, manage recipient lists, integrate with trigger source.
3.4. Amazon SNS
• Feature/Setting: “Publish SMS/Email”; set topic for event type, publish on trigger, subscribe members by preference.
3.5. Microsoft Graph API (Outlook/Exchange)
• Feature/Setting: “SendMail” function; automate staff notifications and reminders via Office 365 mailboxes.
3.6. Google Workspace (Gmail API)
• Feature/Setting: “Users.messages.send”; auto-schedule and populate event-based messages from templates.
3.7. Plivo
• Feature/Setting: “Send Message” API; handle international SMS, set delivery confirmation, trigger from event DB.
3.8. MessageBird
• Feature/Setting: “SMS API”; group segmentation, personalize messages, handle delivery reports.
3.9. Vonage (Nexmo)
• Feature/Setting: “Messages API”; batch send, triggers for time-based events, manage opt-outs.
3.10. ActiveCampaign
• Feature/Setting: “Automations”; configure email/SMS for event flow, use triggers from forms or CRM.
3.11. Constant Contact
• Feature/Setting: “Email Campaigns API”; auto-create and dispatch mailings for recurring events.
3.12. Salesforce Marketing Cloud
• Feature/Setting: “Journey Builder” triggers; map to event or prayer request flag, connect SMS/email steps.
3.13. Pusher Beams
• Feature/Setting: “Publish Notifications”; deliver event or prayer alerts as SMS-like push to subscribed users.
3.14. ClickSend
• Feature/Setting: “Transactional SMS/Email”; automate based on calendar update webhook.
3.15. Postmark
• Feature/Setting: “Email API”; fast transactional sends for urgent news or reminders.
3.16. Intercom
• Feature/Setting: “Outbound Messages/API”; schedule and target groups based on event interest.
3.17. HubSpot
• Feature/Setting: “Workflows”; auto-enroll contacts into notification sequence on trigger.
3.18. Mailjet
• Feature/Setting: “Transactional Send API”; define templates for each message type, variable injection for dates/names.
3.19. Airship
• Feature/Setting: “SMS Notification API”; trigger by event, personalize by congregation segment.
3.20. Braze
• Feature/Setting: “Campaigns/Canvas”; trigger communications based on behavior or schedule.

Benefits

4.1. Eliminates manual notification tasks, saving staff time.
4.2. Consistent, timely outreach increases event attendance and engagement.
4.3. Delivers urgent prayer requests instantly, strengthening community connection.
4.4. Reduces errors and missing recipients via automated list management.
4.5. Multi-channel approach ensures message delivery regardless of user preference.