Hello Serve App, Goodbye Apathy

Hello Serve App, Goodbye Apathy

The Table just took a giant leap toward enabling real life interaction. We just launched the long-awaited Serve App.

What's the Serve App?
Glad you asked. It's a simple application that makes it easy to match skills and items with people in need. Help is a click away. People can browse volunteer opportunities within their community or view items available to share. They can also post needs and offer up items they're willing to loan or give to the community.

The digital world meets real world. It's an echo of the healthy faith community found in Acts 2.

Apathy doesn't stand a chance.

Let's Take a Closer Look:

Volunteer Opportunities
So let's say your grandma needs someone to mow her lawn. You can post that need in the Volunteer tab. You can include how many people are needed for the job and a day it needs to be completed on or by.

You can also list specific tasks that people can sign up for. So say the Cortez family needs help after their new baby is born. You could list several tasks including provide a meal, babysit the older kids and give a ride to the doctor.

"I want to serve but don't know how," is a thing of the past.

Give & Share Items
In addition to volunteer opportunities, the Serve App also makes it easy to give and share items within the community. So if you have a baby crib in the attic you don't need any more, you could offer to give it away to your church community. Or maybe you have a table saw that doesn't get much use—you can make it available for fellow church members to borrow.

Remember sharing in kindergarten? The church can bring it back.

Building Community
And it all happens within your Table's intimate, authentic community. You're not sharing your beloved crockpot with the entire world—just your church community. There's a level of safety there you won't find when you post items to Craigslist. Sensitive volunteer needs don't have to be blasted across Facebook—you can limit it to your trusted church community.

It's feasible your church community could grow thanks to the Serve App. It starts with a neighbor asking to borrow a wrench and you tell them how your church shares stuff with the Serve App. Next they're visiting your church, joining the Table and posting items in the Serve App right along with you. No need to keep the Table (and your church) all to yourself. In the end the Serve App is just a tool and a conversation starter, but your faith community is the real attraction. (Note: We recommend loaning out that wrench without the Serve App. Don't make your neighbor go to church just to use your wrench!)

How Do I Get Started?
If you're a new church on the Table the Serve App will be installed by default. Churches that are already on the Table can add it from the app menu.

You can also add the Serve App to your My Page tab and it will serve up opportunities that match your location and interests. Serving your neighbor just got easier.

Our next Round Table webinar on April 13 will give a full tour of the Serve App's features. Register now for the guided tour.

What's Next?
We're super excited about the Serve App, but it's important to remember that it's only version 1.0. We've got lots of tweaks and improvements in mind that we'll roll out over time.

Yes, serving one another will get an upgrade. But for right now we wanted to get the basic functionality out there and let churchgoers begin serving their communities.

If you have ideas for features and improvements we should add to the Serve App, please share them in Get Satisfaction.

Big Picture
We may offer a high tech, digital tool, but encouraging local and authentic community has always been one of our goals. Connecting online is great, but getting people face to face is even better. That's one of the major bonuses of the Serve App. It's just a tool to help us connect in real life.

That's why we're so excited about it—the software fades to the background as we connect skills and resources with community needs. Mobilizing your church to serve has never been so easy. Hello Serve App, goodbye apathy.