Shepherding Connections

Overview

Shepherding Connections is a church follow-up tool for reaching visitors and others outside the church’s rolls. It best suits ministry teams that need to turn visitor details into coordinated conversations and next steps. Its mix of forms, messaging, and automations is useful, but SMS requires a paid plan and reaches only U.S. and Canadian numbers.

Connections is labeled Beta, and a “sent” status confirms carrier acceptance, not delivery to a handset. That distinction matters for time-sensitive outreach: teams cannot rely on the status as proof that someone received a message.

Key features

Visitor outreach and workflows

Public connect pages collect visitor details and can trigger welcome follow-up; the maker also describes digital visitor welcome cards. Teams can send SMS announcements, hold two-way conversations, forward calls, and set keyword auto-responses. The combination gives a church a path from first contact to ongoing outreach, rather than just a broadcast list.

Automations can send SMS or email, create tasks, assign team members, branch according to replies, and repeat on a cadence. Scheduled and recurring messages, contact segments, and shortened, tracked links in hand-sent or automated messages support targeted follow-up. Those workflow tools are a stronger fit for teams sharing responsibility than for a church that only needs occasional one-way announcements.

Consent and contact records

Recorded consent is required for announcements and automated messages, and the system handles STOP, START, and HELP keywords. That makes consent part of the messaging workflow. On the other hand, contact spreadsheet import and self-service merging of duplicate contacts are unavailable, so churches moving an existing contact list or cleaning up duplicates will face a constraint.

Security and support

The maker says data is transmitted over HTTPS/TLS, encrypted at rest with AES-256, and isolated by church at the database layer. Support messages receive a reply within one business day. These are useful safeguards and a clear support expectation, though they do not offset the Beta status or lack of handset delivery confirmation.

Pricing

The Free Forever plan costs nothing, with no credit card or time limit. It allows up to 5 user accounts, but Connections is limited and SMS is unavailable. It is suitable for trying the broader tool or coordinating non-text follow-up, not for a church whose workflow depends on messaging visitors by SMS.

Small Church costs $29 a month, or $290/yr billed annually (save $58). It supports up to 10 users, full SMS through Connections, and priority email support. This is the entry point for a small team that needs texting.

Medium Church costs $49 a month, or $490/yr billed annually (save $98), and raises the seat limit to 25 while adding phone and email support. Large Church is $99 a month, or $990/yr billed annually (save $198), for up to 75 users and dedicated onboarding support. Unlimited costs $199 a month, or $1,990/yr billed annually (save $398), and removes the user cap while including custom onboarding and training. The higher tiers mainly make sense when the team needs more seats or additional support; no SMS quota is stated in these plan terms.

Phone numbers and texting are not included on the free plan. Any paid Tracker plan enables them, and custom arrangements may also do so. Messaging is restricted to U.S. and Canadian numbers, so churches needing international reach should look elsewhere.

Platforms

Connections runs on Android, iOS, and the web, with a mobile app for teams coordinating outreach from phones as well as browsers.

Who it's for

Shepherding Tools describes its applications as designed by a pastor for pastors, elders, and deacons. Connections is most compelling for churches in that audience that want visitor forms, consent-aware texting, and assigned follow-up in one workflow. It is a weaker fit for organizations with international contacts, teams that need to import or merge contact records, or anyone who requires confirmation that a text reached a handset.

Pros and cons

Pros: Visitor pages can initiate automated follow-up, and workflows can route replies into tasks and team assignments.

Pros: Segments, scheduled and recurring messages, tracked links, and consent handling give teams tools for more deliberate outreach than undifferentiated blasts.

Pros: Paid plans include SMS, with seat limits and support levels that scale across the four paid tiers.

Cons: The free plan excludes texting, so SMS use starts at a paid tier.

Cons: U.S. and Canadian numbers are the only supported destinations.

Cons: Beta status, no handset delivery confirmation, and unavailable contact import and self-service duplicate merging may complicate dependable or large-scale outreach.

Alternatives

For a broader comparison, see Church Text Messaging Software.

Choose Gloo Communications if a freemium option with a free trial and defined monthly allowances better suits your budget: its free plan includes 500 SMS credits, 500 email credits, 3 groups, and 1 workflow, while Gloo+ costs $49 a month.

Clearstream is a paid option with a free trial and a free 30-day trial that includes 100 credits, 1,000 emails, and 1 local phone number; consider it if a trial with those included quantities is a better starting point.

Flocknote is another freemium church messaging option with a free trial; its Starter plan is free for life for 0–40 members, with monthly pricing varying by church size above that.

Connect With My Church is a paid alternative with a free trial and a $99 a month plan that includes up to 750 texts per month, plus unlimited emails and push notifications.

DialMyCalls offers a free trial and a free church account for automatic calls to up to 25 church members, with a 30-second message once per week; choose it if that calling allowance fits better than Connections’ visitor-texting focus.

Text In Church is a paid alternative with a free trial.

Textiful has a free plan and runs on the web; its On Demand tier provides one keyword on a 10-digit number, with message credits bought as needed and no expiration.

Falkon SMS is a paid alternative with a free trial.

Verdict

Choose Shepherding Connections if your church needs visitor forms tied to team-based follow-up and can work within U.S. and Canadian SMS coverage. Its automation and assignment tools make a coherent outreach workflow, but the paid entry point for texting, Beta status, and lack of handset delivery confirmation are meaningful trade-offs. Look elsewhere if international reach, contact-list migration, or confirmed delivery is essential.