Pastoral Care & OutreachPurpose
1.2. Reduce manual tracking and message sending workload for pastoral staff.
1.3. Enrich pastoral care by ensuring special dates are never missed.
1.4. Enable consistent, multi-channel outreach to respect individual communication preferences.
1.5. Offer analytics on member engagement with messages sent.
Trigger Conditions
2.2. Optional: Trigger based on user timezone on special dates.
2.3. New member addition with valid date in the database.
2.4. Pre-configured schedule for recurring checks (daily at 00:01 church timezone).
Platform Variants
3.1. Twilio SMS
• Feature: SMS messaging API
• Setting: Configure message body, sender number; map member mobile from database.
3.2. SendGrid
• Feature: Transactional email API
• Setting: Setup dynamic templates; populate subject/message with member names and dates via API.
3.3. Mailchimp
• Feature: Automated email campaigns
• Setting: Use date-based automation; connect to members’ list and personalize from database.
3.4. Slack
• Feature: Incoming Webhooks
• Setting: Send direct message to member or group channel using webhook URL.
3.5. Microsoft Teams
• Feature: Bot Framework/Graph API for messaging
• Setting: Send cards/messages via bot on scheduled triggers.
3.6. WhatsApp (Cloud API)
• Feature: Send templated message
• Setting: Use event-based flow to trigger messages with personalized content.
3.7. Gmail API
• Feature: Automated email sending
• Setting: Compose and send personalized messages via SMTP or REST API.
3.8. Outlook 365
• Feature: Mail Send API
• Setting: Schedule email with rich HTML content using Microsoft Graph.
3.9. Facebook Messenger (Send API)
• Feature: Direct message
• Setting: Send templated greeting via Messenger bots.
3.10. Viber
• Feature: Public Account Messaging API
• Setting: Push message to church contact base from backend system.
3.11. Telegram
• Feature: Bot API (sendMessage)
• Setting: Use bot to deliver messages to individual chat IDs.
3.12. HubSpot
• Feature: Workflow Automations
• Setting: Create date-based workflow to trigger email or SMS with member details.
3.13. Salesforce
• Feature: Process Builder/Flows
• Setting: Trigger process on birthday/anniversary fields; connect to Email/SMS APIs.
3.14. Zoho CRM
• Feature: Workflow Rules
• Setting: Use date field as trigger to send mail merge emails/SMS.
3.15. ActiveCampaign
• Feature: Date-based automation
• Setting: Craft automation with messaging actions on specific contact dates.
3.16. Constant Contact
• Feature: Email Scheduling
• Setting: Date-triggered emails from segmented lists.
3.17. Pabbly Connect
• Feature: Workflow automation
• Setting: Schedule date checks and trigger communications on multiple platforms.
3.18. ClickSend
• Feature: SMS Messaging API
• Setting: Integrate with contact database, send templated SMS on schedule.
3.19. Zapier
• Feature: Multi-platform workflow automation
• Setting: Use date matcher, send messages through chosen connected apps.
3.20. Google Calendar API
• Feature: Reminders/Notifications
• Setting: Create events for each date; configure email/SMS reminders via API integrations.
3.21. Airtable
• Feature: Automations
• Setting: Tie date field to scripting block to trigger external messaging via integrations.
Benefits
4.2. Reduces pastoral workload for greetings.
4.3. Multichannel outreach increases reach.
4.4. Data-driven tracking of communications.
4.5. Enhances church member experience.
4.6. Reduces risk of missing important member dates.
4.7. Improves pastoral care resource allocation.
4.8. Real-time scheduling accommodates global congregations.