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How the Digital World is Changing the Church

Reverend Nick Mottershead is the Priest-in-Charge at Holy Sepulchre in the City of London, as well as having a full-time job as CFO and Head of Compliance at a fintech company. He lives by a conviction that in doing both roles to the fullest of his capabilities, he's best able to serve the city, understanding the personal and professional pressures that individuals experience and the opportunity for social improvement that the city has to offer across the entire community.  

Nick's spiritual mission is firmly underpinned by an understanding of the practicalities that need to be in place to help the church optimise its impact. Part of that has included the digital transformation of its compliance processes through the design and implementation of a Visitation Module on The Digital Church Platform – a church software that provides an easy-to-use tool to ensure all stakeholders operate effectively and efficiently. 

Here, he talks about the church, its mission in the City of London, and how digital transformation can support higher objectives. 

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What are the current goals of Holy Sepulchre?

When I was asked to come to Holy Sepulchre, it was for three months. At the time, the church was open one day a week, had a congregation of six and had no money for improvements. I don't think I had ever been in a church where I saw so much scope for growing relationships in every area that I looked at, and when I spoke to various groups, I also found significant enthusiasm to get more involved. That was fascinating to me. As a result, I was asked to stay, and I have now been here for two years.  

I have joined what I see as the mission of this church, defined by four personas:  

  1. It is a parish church that should be open seven days a week for its community. 
  2. It is a City church that should welcome people and join in with issues that people in the City are facing. 
  3. It is the home of the Royal Fusiliers Chapel and should, therefore, commemorate all the service men and women and their families to the best of our ability. 
  4. It is the National Musicians' Church and home of the Musicians' Chapel, and in that role, we should be a place to celebrate and support all musicians in all seasons of life, be a place that’s a bold voice for equality, diversity, and inclusivity in music from composition to performance, congregations and audiences. We should be a place that can celebrate the best of the best as well as other stages of musical careers, using music to equip, heal and bring people together. 

Those four personas have driven a lot of what we were trying to do at Holy Sepulchre, and we aim to deliver them through the acronym WHEATS: 

  • W - Worship and prayer  
  • H - Hospitality and compassion  
  • E - Education and evangelism  
  • A - Art, music and creative industries 
  • T - Tourism  
  • S - Stewardship of the building and all we use for it 

With that context, we've gone from being open one day a week to seven days a week as of March next year. If we include tourists and musicians, then we had about 30,000 people walk through our doors last year in different ways, and we hope we will continue to increase the welcome that we offer to all. We want everyone to see this church as a place of sanctuary, pilgrimage, wellbeing, enjoyment, companionship, community and more. 

What did you want to achieve in terms of compliance in the church through digitisation?

As a city worker who is a Head of Compliance and Finance Director, I believe I have very little opportunity with the Charity Commission to say I don't understand the laws I should comply with. I recognise an obligation to meet those and be informed about them. In addition, I want to make the process of compliance as efficient as possible. As such, there were two areas I wanted to address that were taking too much time away from the day-to-day work of the Church:  

  1. The role of compliance  
  2. Dealing with visitation and making that as effective as possible 

Along those lines, I wanted to develop an ongoing system of compliance rather than a one-off event. It had to be a living approach to embedding compliance in all that we do, and I wanted to utilise technology or what they called church software, to make both those things easier to do. 

Which were the key areas you wanted to address with the Visitation Module?

There's a couple of things. Partly because we're early adopters, we wanted to help users feel safe in its use and that it's fit for purpose. That's both users within the church (ours) and those from the Arch Deacon's office.  

It's important to be aware and understand the differences between corporate regulation and compliance, the mechanisms that are in place, and some aspects of church regulation and compliance and how they are lived out and adhered to. Therefore, it’s essential to listen to the Arch Deacon's office to understand the context they're coming from and why, historically, things have been done in a certain way.  

When church management software (CMS) is brought in to help, we need to ask how we can use it to enable conversations and not just tick boxes. 

How important is it for churches to understand their current situation and opportunities for improvement?

I'm doing a sermon series at the moment on flourishing in the workplace, lifting parables and placing them into the context of the city. I find it fascinating because the reason for the parables is to break through cultural differences. For example, I believe the Parable of the Virgins is about business continuity planning and looking forward.  

This comes back to our four personas at Holy Sepulchre. If you don't know who your personas are and who you are trying to meet, how will you meet people where they are? I'm a big fan of meeting people where they are and allowing a fissure to open where God's grace can pour in. Some of that's about dwell time, some of it's about walking their journey with them, some is interpreting scripture afresh - those are some of the many journeys one needs to go on in the church. 

How did you first discover the Visitation module? 

I would say I was the co-initiator of its design with Mark Magnacca from gigCMO. I had built an earlier version of the church software using Google Sheets, and we said there had to be a better way - there was a need to create something that was right for all the user groups, which are numerous.  

My previous church was then the original Beta and pilot church for the platform, and as soon as I arrived at Holy Sepulchre, I implemented it. I hope we've played a role in championing it to other churches so that they have the confidence to use it. 

What challenges was your church facing before implementing the Visitation module?

There are several things. We had a large City church with a big mission but a small staff and a track record of some things that could have been done better.  

I think we need to create places where we can fail safely and learn, and I hope that's what we’re creating now. To do that, you need a culture where people can be open, which requires hard prevention controls to help prevent failure and make clear the things you need to get right. When you have a safe failure, you have people who are prepared to try new opportunities, and when you have new opportunities, you can accelerate growth.  

To achieve all of that, having things organised and well-communicated is extremely helpful. 

What were the key factors that led your church to reframe its approach to visitations?

I suppose there were a few things. My primary reason was the limited time of our archdeacons and their expertise. I want to use every second of that to help with the mission of Holy Sepulchre, not checking paperwork. I think the second factor is demonstrating how an organised church can get more done when it comes to being a good steward. Thirdly, as a City worker with an area of expertise around process, improvement and compliance, I feel called to share some of those gifts with the church.  

As a result, I hope that those who perhaps don't have the same knowledge feel able to contribute their own gifts without being overwhelmed by church regulation and these other areas that can, at times, be barriers to progress. 

What specific services does the Visitation Module provide for your church?

It meant that very quickly on arrival, I knew the scale of work that was needed around compliance with church regulation and that the current state of analysis was one of the things I did on arrival. I used it to put a stake in the ground, which was very helpful. Then, with respect to the role of the compliance tool, again, that was quickly able to give us an assessment of where we were and the action we needed to put in place around the team as it grew. 

Were there other solutions you considered before choosing the Digital Church?

I wasn’t aware of anything else that was delivering to the level that we needed. Obviously, there are solutions like Google Sheets and SharePoint, but we wanted a living, breathing, embedded compliance tool that meant more than the digital sharing of documents; we wanted the best CMS for the church.  

We were trying to enable ease of digital sharing and approval, but also something that's living and breathing. That's what we have started, but of course, there are more steps to go. The challenge with role compliance is that within the church, we're dealing with a whole range of areas of law - cannon law, employment law, health and safety law, etc., and trying to put all of that together in a way that makes it a little bit simpler to manage.  

This is where technology can help, and I wasn't aware of anything existing that could deliver what I felt was needed. 

What tangible benefits have you realised from using the Visitation Module for your church's activities?

I think the most notable benefits have been increased confidence, less time wasted, better conversations between key stakeholders, and the growth of individuals' capabilities in roles. I think tools like the digital church software contribute to enabling people to succeed rather than enabling them to fail.  

How did the Visitation Module map out the way forward for your church? 

We wanted to rebuild our relationship with our diocese and those within it. The Visitation Module has enabled us to start addressing that challenge, as it's enabled people to feel confident that we're doing the right thing in the areas that they/we feel are important. The confidence that we have some understanding of what's important, not just to us but to other key stakeholders, and delivering on that, as well as joining in with others, is fundamental.  

What specific aspects of the Visitation Module made it a suitable solution to resolve the challenges your church was facing?

I think it's because the tools were designed and built as living, breathing entities that are enablers of online churches in processes rather than a one-off repository. They’re meant to be part of the life and workings of a church.  

Could you share a specific example of the value the Visitation Module has brought to your church?

It enabled the team to put together a vision with absolute clarity on our status very quickly, which was helpful to all within the church and outside it to know the scale of the journey ahead. 

Beyond the current benefits, what other advantages do you anticipate in the future from using the Visitation Module?

The more online churches in processes that can or should be automated, the more it frees up our time for our mission. It allows us time to be involved in relationships and to spend with people, not filling in forms. I think that has huge advantages for many in our church. Knowing we have the church website, the best CMS for the church, and having a clear standard to build on will make building a team easier. I also think that the ability to spend more time across the ministry supporting and collaborating with each other has real potential for enabling a greater diversity of backgrounds to come into the church.  

If someone was considering implementing the Visitation Module for their church, what advice or insights would you offer?

Talk to someone who’s done it, and don't believe there's a downside. I don't believe there's anything to be lost, and there's plenty to gain. 

What are the key takeaways for church leaders looking to leverage the Digital Church platform to address the needs of churches in the digital world?

Technology isn't the answer to everything, but it has, especially today when used correctly, great missional potential in almost every aspect of church life.