FIVE OPEN SOURCE APPS THAT COULD BE BENEFICIAL FOR CHURCHES

Helping you manage your church tech needs on a low budget.

Today, we are diving deep into the field of technology by looking at five open-source apps that could be beneficial for churches, helping you manage your tech needs on a low budget. Since we all know that one of the main concerns for most churches is the cost of buying or using software, I thought it would be a great service to highlight some open-source apps that are available online and can be beneficial for your church.

Before we get started, it's important to understand the different categories of software available online. We have various types: free, paid, freemium, open source, non-profit, and premium apps. Among these, the most confusing are the free and open-source categories. While an app can be free, it doesn't mean it is open source. Open source means that the developers or the company behind the app make the code available online.

This means you, as a user, can modify the code and even create your version of the app.

The best thing about open source apps is that they are community-backed by highly skilled developers. Since anyone can contribute to them, there are always extras available online, making things easier for users.

Additionally, it means that you will always have a community to answer your questions and help you solve issues faster and better.

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Now that we've cleared that up, let's look at five open-source apps that could be beneficial for churches:

1. ChurchCRM:

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ChurchCRM is an open-source church management software designed to help churches manage their membership, track donations, and communicate with congregants. Some of its key features include member management, event scheduling, donation tracking, and communication tools. It is a tool worth checking out if you need to carry out these tasks and are seeking a free alternative to costly apps.

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2. OpenLP:

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OpenLP (Open Source Lyrics Projection) is a worship presentation software that allows churches to project song lyrics, Bible verses, images, and videos during services. Licensed under the GNU General Public License, it features the ability to search through lyrics, find Bible verses, display them in a friendly way, and interact with popular presentation programs. Key features include importing and managing a library of worship songs, projecting Bible verses from multiple translations, multimedia integration, and remote control from a mobile device. OpenLP enhances your worship experience by providing a seamless way to display lyrics and multimedia content, keeping the congregation engaged and focused.

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3. OBS Studio:

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Arguably the most popular open-source software ever and highly beneficial for churches, OBS Studio is a free app for screencasting and live streaming. Written in C/C++ and built with Qt, OBS Studio provides real-time capture, scene composition, recording, encoding, and broadcasting. It can stream videos to any RTMP-supporting destination, including YouTube, Twitch, Instagram, and Facebook. Popular features include live streaming, recording audio and video for later viewing, scene composition, and managing audio sources with filters and effects. OBS Studio enables churches to reach a wider audience by live streaming services and events and recording high-quality videos for those who cannot attend in person.

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4. GIMP:

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GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is a free and open-source raster graphics editor used for image manipulation, retouching, and editing, as well as free-form drawing, transcoding between different image file formats, and more specialized tasks. It is extensible by plugins and scriptable. GIMP can serve as an alternative to Adobe Creative Suite, which is quite expensive. It is available for Linux, macOS, and Windows. Key features include editing and retouching photos with advanced tools, creating graphics for church bulletins, social media posts, and promotional materials, supporting plugins and extensions, and being available on multiple platforms. GIMP helps maintain a professional and visually appealing online presence by producing high-quality visual content for various church activities.

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5. Audacity:

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Audacity is a free and open-source digital audio editor and recording application available for Windows, macOS, Linux, and other Unix-like operating systems. Key features include recording live audio or sermons through a microphone or directly from a mixer, editing, cutting, copying, splicing, and mixing audio tracks, applying various inbuilt effects like normalization, compression, and equalization, and supporting a wide range of audio file formats. Audacity is ideal for recording and editing sermons, podcasts, and other audio content, helping the church create high-quality audio recordings for distribution and archival purposes.

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Other free and open source software you should be aware of includes BibleTime for Bible study, Rock RMS, Mattermost for effective team communication, Shotcut for video editing, Inkscape for graphic design, Blender for 3D animation and design, Darktable for photo editing and management, HandBrake for video transcoding, and SermonAudio for sermon management.