A conversation with Chesterfield Church in the Peak:
As a member of the Newfrontiers family of churches, Chesterfield Church in the Peak has steadily outgrown its original status of being a church plant, and into a thriving community of its own.
This community is at the very heart of the church, giving shape to their vision of ‘changing the expression of Christianity across Chesterfield’. Within this vision, the church is working to build a loving, Christ centered community, which extends itself to rescue, reconcile, restore and renew the people of Chesterfield within the love, grace and mercy of Jesus Christ.
Having a community and people centric vision is important, but it also requires robust administration tools that can fully equip the church for mission. Too often, visions can be overcome by complicated administration, as churches grow, key members move on, and structures change.
Being a Christian company, iKnow Church understand the challenges that face the modern church, which is why we created the iKnow Church database system to be more than a simple administration tool, instead, as a truly integral tool to assist and serve the vision of each church.
Chesterfield Church in the Peak first came to iKnow Church seeking help with the new GDPR legislation, and quickly found that not only did iKnow help the church to comply with GDPR but it also provided a host of other beneficial elements, such as rotas, a church diary, the ability to securely send emails and text messages, and much more, which they are still exploring.
Christopher Calow, trustee of Chesterfield Church in the Peak, was given the responsibility of researching GDPR, as part of his research he also undertook an internal audit of the current data which the church held, and found that, like many churches, this was being stored across multiple locations.
Holding data across multiple locations and systems is something that many churches have become accustomed to doing but under GDPR this will be difficult to manage, as Christopher says, “A data audit showed that several church members were using their own devices to undertake church business, which under the new GDPR legislation, would have been a ‘nightmare’ to oversee – iKnow Church came to the rescue!” 
Under the new GDPR rules, it is important that information is stored in one, easy to access system. Should a Data Subject Access Request be made, then having all the church data in one, accessible system will make it a breeze to promptly comply, rather than the need to trawl through various filing systems.
Being fully GDPR compliant has been a priority across many churches over the past couple of months, and for Christopher Calow, being tasked with this for Chesterfield Church in the Peak, it has been the biggest advantage of implementing iKnow Church. Security is a high priority for our team here at iKnow, as a Christian team, we understand the importance of securing church protocols, and in particular, church communications.
Communication within a church can often involve information of a sensitive nature, it is therefore paramount that this remains secure and within the right hands. iKnow Church can be likened to a walled garden, where information can be shared, but it remains tightly secured within the hedge of the church and only between those with the appropriate access rights.
For Chesterfield Church in the Peak, secure communication has been the most immediate benefit of the iKnow Church database, as Christopher Calow has found, “Emails sent via iKnow are safe and secure, there is no longer the risk of email addresses being shared accidentally and it is making it much safer for us to communicate as a church.”
Chesterfield Church in the Peak are still exploring the many benefits of iKnow Church, as the system contains tons of features that assist every area of church, such as our CCPAS endorsed child check-in feature, finance tools, service planning, rota management, group discussion areas, room booking module, and so many other tools to help churches run smoothly.
Christopher says, “I am very grateful for the introduction of GDPR because it has brought my attention to the database software of iKnow Church, and it is bringing our church into 21st century, streamlining our administration and making it much safer to communicate. The team at iKnow has been a great help and support during this very difficult and stressful period, following the introduction of GDPR, being a Christian organisation they understand the needs of a church and are very patient and understanding.”
If you would like to explore iKnow Church for your church, we offer a free 30 day trial, which is a great, no obligation way to try it out for yourself. You can also give our team a call on 0121 651 1125, or email hello@iknowchurch.co.uk
“The trial was most helpful as it enabled me to check that the software met our needs. It must have been easy to use, as this was all completely new to me and yet I got there! The free trial gave me the opportunity to really explore the software and the iKnow team was always there to help.” - Christopher Calow
iKnow Church - Church Admin Made Simple!