I pastor a small church, with a small budget for tech. In fact, the computer used to do our bookeeping is running win98 (gasp!). That’s right, and we bought it in , you guessed it 1998. I would love to replace it, but it works and it does what we need it to do. Therein lies the true crux of the matter, need. I happen to believe that it would be poor stewardship to spend God’s money just to get more whiz bang. That brings me around to the point here, if a free alternative (or inexpensive shareware, donationware, etc…) will meet the need , shouldn’t we use it in the church? I think so, but there are many factors to consider. Will it be too unfamiliar for volunteers who use commercial packages at their jobs? Is the development reliant on only one or a small number of individuals? Will development continue for a long period of time or will it stop when the well meaning developer gets too busy with other things. I know there are no guarantees with commercial packages either, but revenue is a pretty good motivator. Fortunately, there are software packages that are being developed by large communities and they have good track records. These “opensource” projects are becoming more numerous, and they have become truly viable alternatives. I’ll be posting about some of the software I use personally in my own ministry. Blessings!
