How The Grove Church Stayed Connected with Their Congregation Through COVID-19

65% of all donations are given through Pushpay

Summary

The Grove Church was founded in 1932 and is a multi-site church that is based on “Loving God, Connecting with Each Other, and Serving All.” They provide services to communities in Marysville and Snohomish, Washington but most recently have been fortunate enough to welcome communities and families around the nation through their online services, due to the statewide COVID-19 health mandates.

A diverse church made up of young families, a strong youth group, and healthy seniors, The Grove serves about 1,300 people any given weekend and acknowledges that while their community might have different day-to-day lives, they are bonded together through a common belief.

Problem

In early March 2020, due to the growing number of COVID-19 positive individuals in Washington state, gatherings of more than 10 people were prohibited to reduce the spread of the virus. Unfortunately, this resulted in The Grove no longer being able to physically serve the 1,300 people across both campuses.

As the leadership team racked their brains on how they could still connect with their congregation without meeting in the building, Jon Rich, The Grove’s Business and Administration Pastor, threw out the idea of having a drive-in church. He got the idea from remembering how Robert Schuller first started his ministry in the 1950s. They met at a drive-in theater and he preached on top of the snack shack on Sunday mornings. Rich thought, “Well why can’t we do that?”

Using the FM transmitter that some people use for Christmas light shows, the team set up everything they needed on the roof of their church, and the idea took off. The Grove was able to serve their community in their parking lot, as their congregation sat listening safely in their cars. From worship, to the sermon, and prayer—there was still a strong sense of community as people sat behind their windshields for Sunday service.

However, only weeks later, Washington Governor, Jay Inslee, issued the Stay Home, Stay Healthy order on March 23, 2020, pushing The Grove to move all and any services online. But would online services and giving translate to all 1,300 of their congregation?

Pushpay

Roughly a year-and-a-half ago, before today’s push for online services and giving, The Grove inherited a small church in Redmond, Washington, formerly known as Venture Church, which became an additional campus for them. With the additional campus, they inherited Pushpay. As the two church campuses became more integrated, one of Rich’s top priorities was to get both campuses under the Pushpay umbrella.

Prior to the COVID-19 epidemic, when The Grove first migrated to Pushpay services, 40% of their giving came from the Text-to-Give feature.

Most recently, Pushpay and Church Community Builder have teamed up to provide an integrated Donor Development Platform for customers. Pushpay’s tools now allow users like The Grove to see segments of givers in their church for a comprehensive view of their donor’s health. While the Church Community Builder integration can take the list of donors and add them in Process Queues to customize the donor follow-up and nurture process.

Result

Today, 65% of The Grove’s giving is from the Pushpay platform. The first big instance of how much Pushpay services have helped them through the COVID-19 epidemic was when they started doing the drive-in church and communicated that Text-To-Give was the most sanitary and simplest way to give.

Through the Pushpay integration, they’ve also been able to provide a live stream to four services on Sunday mornings, as well as Youth Group and Life Group meetings; they’ve learned how to communicate remotely; and they’ve leveraged the use of social media by scheduling pre-recorded watch parties to keep-up the sense of community and communication amongst their congregation.

Since the push to digitally connect with their congregation, The Grove has seen about 300-400 people per service join their livestream sermons. And a few more than usual, thanks to a viral video and news coverage of the drive-in services they provided earlier in March.

For The Grove, the current times navigating the current situation is a walk of faith. And with the help of Pushpay and Community Church Builder, it’s about trying to stay connected with the church, caring for people, delivering a message of hope, and trying not to make the administrative side of things too crazy.