Development of Strategies and Transformation Paths for Structured and Targeted Digital Change: The Case of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana Trinity Congregation
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Date
2019
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Digitalization Cases, Management for Professionals
Abstract
The situation faced: The Church, irrespective of its steady growth from
4 members in 1965 to 2910 members in 2015, struggles to reach out to
larger (newer) communities and improve money collection. It struggles as
well in reaching its local community especially its members at the right time
with the right message. In brief, for the Church to engage its members and
the public concerning worship service, publicizing its social activities
(evangelism, donations to the needy, visits to prisons, etc.) and payment of
voluntary contributions, it had to count on their physical presence in its
premises.
(b) Action taken: The Church developed an interactive online presence
(website) with payment integration for payment of tithe, offertory, voluntary
thanksgiving, etc. Social media accounts were established to help create an
online community with the secondary objective of driving traffic to the
website and engaging the congregation remotely outside church service
hours. Mobile money and a point of sale (POS) device were used to facilitate
cashless transactions. Supportive committees were set up while
interconnecting existing ones. Some of the pastors upload videos to social
media as a supplement to morning devotions. Events were promoted on the
website and social media.
(c) Results achieved: Amongst the lot, there is currently an increase in social
media engagements through event posts, live streaming, images, and other
post formats and also an increase in participation in church events by almost
50% on average as well as an increase in the number of website visitors from
2558 (901 unique visitors) in the first year after deployment to 11,612 visitors (5841 unique visitors) in the third year as of September 2017. Even
though membership statistics surprisingly indicated a 638 decline in 2017,
which is worth investigating.
(d) Lessons learned: Although deploying the online system was successful, it
came with its lessons drawn from challenges that cannot be ignored. These
include trust in electronic payments, the need for a strategic framework in the
adoption of technology, and the need to educate users. Other lessons include the
need for management support and readiness of employees/volunteers and
resource availability as a precursor to achieving strategic IS innovation
objectives.
Description
Research Article
Keywords
Digital Change, Presbyterian Church, Ghana, Trinity Congregation