Small Church, Big ImpactHow St. Francis Lutheran Church Transformed Their Care Ministry
Discover how Pastor Bea helped St. Francis Lutheran Church organize their pastoral care effectively with a small but committed team, ensuring confidentiality and sustainability while empowering caregivers.
Time Saved
⏳
Eliminated coordination meetings
Team Size
4-6
Scalable care team
Communication
💬
Asynchronous updates
Security
🔐
Fine-grained permissions
The Challenge
St. Francis Lutheran Church, a small but committed faith community, struggled with organizing pastoral care effectively. Their care team of four (possibly expanding to six) found it difficult to coordinate care visits, track follow-ups, and hold efficient team meetings. Zoom meetings were time-consuming, and care notes were not centrally recorded or easily shared. Pastor Bea also needed a solution that could ensure confidentiality, support transitions in leadership, and distinguish between sensitive and general care updates.
Core Obstacles
Time-Consuming Meetings
Zoom meetings required synchronous participation from all team members, creating scheduling challenges.
Disorganized Notes
Care notes were not centrally recorded or easily shared among team members.
Confidentiality Concerns
Need to distinguish between sensitive information and general care updates.
Leadership Transitions
Lack of system to support smooth transitions when team leadership changes.
Scheduling Challenges
Difficulty in organizing and tracking care visits and follow-ups.
Limited Flexibility
Need for a system that could adapt to a small team with potential for growth.
The Solution
Pastor Bea adopted CareNote to bring structure, security, and flexibility to their care ministry. CareNote's comprehensive platform allowed the small team at St. Francis Lutheran Church to organize their pastoral care efforts efficiently while maintaining the highest standards of confidentiality.
With CareNote, the team could coordinate care asynchronously, eliminating the need for time-consuming Zoom meetings. The platform's role-based access controls ensured that sensitive information remained protected while still allowing team members to collaborate effectively.
The care groups feature enabled any team member to pick up care tasks without needing a meeting, while the scheduling tools helped maintain continuity of care for long-term assignments. This structure also supported the team's potential growth from four to six members.
Role-Based Access
- Admin, Manager, and User roles
- Fine-grained permissions
- Customizable visibility settings
- Secure information sharing
Care Coordination
- Care groups assignment
- Quarterly visitation schedules
- Long-term assignments
- Continuity of care
Security & Flexibility
- Tagged notes for visibility control
- Session timeout customization
- Volunteer integration
- External form integration
The Impact
Time Saved
Care team no longer needs to coordinate live Zoom meetings to delegate tasks.
Improved Communication
Updates are shared asynchronously, freeing the pastor to focus on training and pastoral conversations.
Confidentiality Maintained
Fine-grained permissions protect sensitive information while enabling collaboration.
Scalable Structure
They can start with a small team and expand gradually, promoting sustainability.
Increased Empowerment
Pastor Bea is freed from administrative burdens and can focus on mentoring caregivers.
"This is going to be a game changer for us."
We are a very small congregation, and we are so stretched—everyone is doing a million things. We used to spend our care team meetings just trying to find a time that worked for everyone, and then by the time we checked in on all the care needs, the whole hour was gone and it felt like we hadn't really accomplished much.
With CareNote, I feel like if we don't have to find a common Zoom time and everyone can check in on their own, we could be so much more productive. We can finally focus our meetings on what matters most—training our caregivers, strengthening their care conversations, and supporting them through the trickier parts of pastoral care.
The logistics—assignments, follow-ups, reminders—an app can do that. So I can thank you only from the bottom of my heart.
— Pastor Bea, St. Francis Lutheran Church
Ready to Focus on What Matters Most in Your Care Ministry?
Join churches like St. Francis Lutheran in creating efficient care systems that eliminate administrative burdens, allowing you to focus on training caregivers and strengthening pastoral conversations.