Shepherding Connections

Overview

Shepherding Connections suits church teams that need to coordinate visitor follow-up across staff or volunteers, rather than simply send bulk texts. Its blend of intake pages, messaging and assigned workflows is compelling, but texting requires a paid Tracker plan and delivery status does not confirm receipt on a phone.

Key features

Visitor intake and outreach

Public connect pages collect visitor details and can start automated welcome sequences, while digital welcome cards offer another intake route. SMS announcements, two-way texting, call forwarding and keyword auto-responses cover common outreach needs. The free plan cannot send SMS, so churches evaluating Connections at no cost can assess the broader product but not its central messaging function.

Automations and targeting

Workflows can send SMS or email, create follow-up tasks, assign team members, branch based on replies and repeat on a cadence. That combination is useful when a church wants responses to prompt clear next steps rather than leave follow-up in one person’s inbox. Teams can segment contacts and shorten and track links in hand-sent or automated messages. Scheduled and recurring messages are supported.

Consent and contact handling

Connections requires recorded consent for announcements and automated messages, and handles STOP, START and HELP keywords. That provides practical controls for ongoing outreach. However, contact spreadsheet import and self-service merging of duplicate contacts are unavailable, making an existing contact list harder to bring in and maintain.

Reliability and safeguards

Connections is labeled Beta, and its “sent” status means the carrier accepted a message—not that it arrived on the recipient’s handset. That distinction matters for time-sensitive or high-stakes outreach: teams should not treat the status as proof of delivery. Messages go only to U.S. and Canadian numbers. 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.

Pricing

The Free Forever plan costs nothing, is billed forever and has no time limit or credit-card requirement. It allows up to 5 user accounts but excludes SMS messaging, so it is suitable for trying non-text workflows, not running text outreach.

Small Church costs $29 a month, or $290/yr billed annually (save $58). It supports up to 10 users, enables full SMS messaging via Connections and includes 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), for up to 25 users and phone and email support. Large Church costs $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 includes unlimited users plus custom onboarding and training. These higher tiers make sense as team size or support needs grow; the core SMS access begins at Small Church. Any paid Tracker plan enables texting, and custom arrangements may also enable it.

Platforms

Connections is available on Android, iOS and the web. The mobile apps suit staff coordinating follow-up away from a desk, while web access supports team-based administration.

Who it's for

Churches seeking a shared process for visitor intake, consent-aware texting and assigned follow-up tasks are the strongest fit. Shepherding Tools describes its applications as designed by a pastor for pastors, elders and deacons. Connections is a weaker choice for outreach beyond the U.S. and Canada, teams that require handset delivery confirmation, or churches that depend on importing and deduplicating contacts themselves.

Pros and cons

• Pros: Connect pages can trigger welcome sequences, and workflows can turn replies into assigned tasks, helping teams carry outreach through to action.
• Pros: Segments, scheduled and recurring messages, tracked links and consent controls support more deliberate, accountable outreach.
• Cons: SMS requires a paid plan; the free tier is limited to five accounts and cannot send texts.
• Cons: Beta status, no handset delivery confirmation and U.S./Canada-only texting constrain reliability and reach.
• Cons: No spreadsheet import or self-service duplicate merging creates friction for churches moving an established contact list.

Alternatives

Church Text Messaging Software is a useful category overview for comparing church-focused texting options. Choose Gloo Communications if its free tier of 500 SMS credits and 500 email credits monthly, with three groups and one workflow, better fits a church starting with capped usage; Gloo+ costs $49 a month.

Textiful is worth considering if web-only access and buying message credits as needed suit a low-commitment approach: its free On Demand plan includes one keyword on a 10-digit number and credits that never expire, while Essential costs $19 a month. Flocknote may fit a small congregation prioritizing its free-for-life email tier for 0–40 members; its monthly price varies by church size above that range.

Clearstream is an alternative for teams that want a 30-day trial with 100 credits, 1,000 emails and one local phone number; its US $35 plan costs $35 a month. Consider Connect With My Church if a $99 a month platform with up to 750 texts monthly and unlimited email and push notifications better matches the outreach mix.

DialMyCalls is another option for church calling and messaging. Text In Church and Textline are also alternatives for teams comparing messaging tools.

Verdict

Shepherding Connections is a good fit for churches that want visitor intake, texting and team-owned follow-up in one workflow, and can operate within its geographic and delivery-status limits. Its strongest reason to choose it is the link between conversations and assigned next steps; look elsewhere if confirmed handset delivery, international texting or straightforward contact migration is essential.