Cedar Hills, a vibrant church in picturesque North Idaho, used innovative ways to connect with its adventurous and outdoors-loving community. Along the way, they transformed how they connected relationally with their people and even increased giving by a remarkable 20%.
Here’s how they did it.
Before adopting Gloo+, Cedar Hills relied on traditional communication methods like email and Sunday stage announcements. Like many churches, they considered these tier-one platforms. However, after decades of success and despite their efforts, email engagement only reached a limited percentage of the congregation, and younger families were almost impossible to reach.
As open rates slipped from 42% to 34% and sometimes lower, Ceder Hills knew they needed a more effective way to engage and nurture their congregation, particularly between Sunday services.
Like every great ministry, Ceder Hills knew that effective communication is essential, and with numbers slipping, they took action.
In February, Communications Director Melanie Hoggin at Cedar Hills, who joined a year prior, read a stat that changed the communication approach at Ceder Hills forever. Melanie read: “SMS is the new frontier. It has a 98% open rate and average response time around 3 minutes.”
Armed with this information and her determination to reach and engage the congregation, Melanie took the bold step of introducing Gloo+ texting into the communication strategy.
By pairing this powerful tool with their church’s storytelling approach, Melanie found a way to not only engage more people but also create a more relational, ongoing conversation with them.
Their lead pastor taught a four-week giving sermon series that ended by inviting members to participate in a 90-day giving challenge. To keep people engaged, Melanie set up a 12-week SMS campaign.
Here’s what Melanie sent over the course of 12 weeks:
This strategy gave the challenge a personal feel, and fostered a sense of community and encouragement. People even responded via text to share their struggles or successes in a way that inspired others.
“Pastors have teaching gifts, and when you pair powerful technology with a powerful message, it's pretty unstoppable, and people super resonate,” Melanie remarked.
The impact was stunning—95% of the people who joined the challenge completed it, and their giving over those three months exceeded their entire giving from the previous year.
After the success of the giving campaign, Ceder Hills knew they were onto something and used a similar approach with their Exiles sermon series.
This series was designed to prepare congregants to navigate polarizing cultural moments. A series the pastor described as “the most important series in 20 years.”
Because she knew how important the series was, Melanie wanted to ensure the pastor’s message got out. So every Saturday night she used Gloo+ texting to send out teasers before each Sunday service. These short texts provided a sneak peek into the next message, and created a sense of anticipation for congregants.
As a result, attendance spiked during the series and remained consistently high, even through the summer months, which are notorious for lower attendance.
As a result of their Gloo+ texting campaigns Ceder Hills increased attendance and giving by 20% and members say they felt a deeper connection to their church and pastor.
For churches looking to adopt texting as a communication tool, Melanie offers some valuable tips:
Cedar Hills’ success with Gloo+ shows that when you combine powerful technology with a clear, personal message, the results can be transformative.
Cedar Hills Church transformed their communication and engagement with Gloo+, and took their ministry to new heights. Between major increases in attendance and giving Gloo+ texting enabled real change.
Most important of all, Ceder Hills continues to use texting to build deeper connections with their congregation. Because at the end of the day, it’s not about the numbers—it’s about bringing people closer to the heart of the church’s mission.