Messages
Messages are an incredibly powerful aspect of MinistryPlatform. Working with messages is similar to working with emails or text messages in any other program. But MinistryPlatform messages are connected to your database, which is accessible by all of your users. And because ministry is collaborative, MinistryPlatform keeps a log of all messages sent to any contact by any user.
- Messages are related to emails and texts, but messages themselves are not emails or texts. They're stored in MinistryPlatform and may be used to send emails and texts.
- When a contact has an email address, a copy of the message is delivered to their email address.
- Replies are not stored in MinistryPlatform. When a contact replies to an email, the reply goes to the email address of the Platform user who sent the message. When a contact replies to a text message, the reply is logged in Twilio.
- If a message cannot be sent because a contact doesn't have an email address, this is recorded under . If the message was generated automatically by a process, a user is assigned a task to find an alternate way to deliver that message.
Sending Messages
- You can send emails and text messages using the New Message Tool.
- Duplicate messages are removed before sending.
- Each contact receives a unique email and cannot see who else received the same Message.
- You'll be prompted if a selected contact doesn't have an email address or phone number.
- Sending a bulk email? Be sure to include an opt-out footer so people can choose to stop receiving bulk emails. You may even include a link to the My Household Widget in your opt-out footer so users can update their communication preferences for emails and texts.
- Have multiple congregations/parishes and want to ensure each one gets the appropriate messages? Check out these tips:
- Set a gatekeeper so that only your Communications team has rights to send bulk (over 200) emails. This way, you can control the selections and set of criteria used for each bulk message.
- Use publications for each of your congregations/parishes. This keeps those lists specific to each congregation/parish and allows users to update their subscriptions online at any time.
You can send messages manually at any time. Or, set it and forget it using one of the following automatic methods:
- Processes: A Message can be sent as a result of a Process Step.
- Notifications: Notifications are the automated Messages that MinistryPlatform sends on a daily basis.
You can also send messages to a selection of contacts for a Publication, like a Church Newsletter or Prayer Updates.
Viewing Messages
- Once sent, the Message author can find it by going to , and selecting the Sent view.
- The recipient gets the Message in the inbox of their email account listed on their Contact record. Additionally, if the recipient has access to MinistryPlatform, they can see the Message by going to , and selecting the My Inbox view.
API
If you have custom development that leverages our API, you can create and queue emails and texts!
- We support two endpoints:
- /communications, which derives Recipients based on Contact IDs.
- /texts, which sends to Recipients based on phone numbers.
- Set CommunicationType to the ID value of Communication Type Record SMS Text.
- Increased 256-character limit! But beware, you'll have less control over segments with this option.
- If supported by individual carriers, messages exceeding 160 characters are reassembled as a single message.