By Rev. John Rudolph, pastor at North Carroll Cooperative Parish.

We live in the golden age of media solutions. No longer is technology a luxury only for large budgets, nor should it be. Churches of all financial means have access to the support and tools of technology once reserved for the select few that could afford costly installs and software packages.

Twenty years ago, to outfit your office with a simple computer, word processor and printer would leave your finance committee uttering everyone’s favorite phrase: “capital campaign.”

With the advent of the “app” age, Apple, Google, Amazon and Microsoft have flooded the market with useful tools. Every imaginable problem — even ones we didn’t know we had — can be solved with an app store search.

Best of all is the cost. Most mobile apps are either free or very low cost, assisting us in being good stewards of money and time.

Consider one of the most frustrating aspects of ministry. Statistical reports? Nope. Charge conference forms? Hardly. Working out the logistics of a counseling session or meeting? Jackpot!

Finding a mutually agreed-upon time to meet leads to voicemails, phone tag and e-mail exchanges. When you finally have the time set, something comes up. Everyone is sent back to ground zero of the when, where and what time.

At the North Carroll Cooperative Parish, we discovered freedom through Simplifythis, a scheduling app that works across platforms. Now when someone needs to see us, technology does all the time consuming work: checking schedules, working out details. It even creates calendar events and sends out notifications and reminders. I’m not trying to sell you the Simplifythis app; I’m not trying to sell anything; you don’t have to buy anything and that’s the point.

Recently, a group of provisional clergy gathered at our church for a technology workshop. During one of our sessions, we looked at Paragraph 340 of The United Methodist Book of Discipline, where Elders find their call divided into Word, Sacrament, Service and Order. It’s actually a daunting task to go through the list, let alone to live it out effectively.

We divided into groups and looked at each ministry task, taking a few moments to discuss apps that would help live out our call more efficiently. The purpose of the exercise was not just to list the apps; we engaged technology as a ministry partner and practiced these efficient ways to use media tools that are already at our fingertips.

Under “Service,” we are called “to build the body of Christ as a caring and giving community.” Leaders know that in order for ministry to take place, a great deal of time can be spent on recruiting, scheduling and communicating with volunteers. There are apps to help with ordering the life of volunteer ministry.

What Simplyfithis does for scheduling, Volunteerspot does for organizing volunteers. This app does all the administrative tasks of managing ministry volunteers, including sending out reminders. It works across multiple platforms at no cost, just another example of technology freeing up leaders to lead and having zero negative impact on the ministry budget.

Other favorite apps and inexpensive technologies include:

• Dropbox for file storage and file sharing;

• iTunes, Spotify and Pandora for worship;

• Mobile phone cameras for visuals;

• Expensify for pastoral expense tracking;

• iPastor for tracking prayer requests and pastoral care;

• YouVersion for various interactive Bible readings;

• Faithlife for Bible study;

• Google hangouts for meetings;

• iPhoto and iMovie for editing content;

• Wiggio for team management and virtual conferences;

• Spreecast for live streaming video;

• Mixlr for live audio streaming.

In all we shared over 50 apps and ideas that day which help support ministry through technology. Using these resources can streamline any ministry, leaving more time to build the community of faith.

More favorites:

• Top 10 must-have mobile apps for church leaders. Ranging from Toodledo to a business card reader to one of the market’s best lectionaries, you’ll want to explore how these tools can enhance your ministry.
• The Lifehack Big List of 50 Top Productivity Apps for iPhone