Techie rethinks church record-keeping system

Maurice Njagi, founder myKanisa [File]

Are you the type that’s always asking about which activity will be in church in the WhatsApp group? Have you ever bothered to know how many congregants are in your church? Well, there just might be a way to answer your questions.

When Maurice Njagi noticed the struggle most churches were going through when managing congregants, he created the first prototype of myKanisa application. But after testing it, he noticed that was not the most urgent need of the churches.

He later developed a better version of the application which now addressed more data classes like age, contact information and marital status.

MyKanisa application, which took him almost a year to develop, is available on the Google Play Store for download by the congregants of a church. However, for the church admin, there is an admin backend where all congregants’ information is curated.

The 24-year-old created the platform which allows congregants to connect and get devotional materials.

“The app allows you to know what events are scheduled, when there will be cell groups and bible study meetings, live-streamed events on social media and any other important content,” Njagi says. “It even has a calculator and record keeper for all the offering given by the congregation.”

Apart from the quantitative data that the platform provides, it gives the pastor or spiritual leader exact information on what to address with the congregants.

“For example, if the info on the platform shows there are fewer married people in the church compared to the married, then the pastor can make the decision to have sermons and seminars to address marriage issues and their importance, as deemed fit,” says Njagi.

On challenges, the techie says there are clergymen who want the product for free while others, because of little technology knowledge, don’t understand the importance of the application.

So far, 10 churches have signed up to the app since its inception in April 2021. Njagi says the data on the platform is basic and properly secured, dispelling any fear of a data breach.

It costs a church Sh3,000 monthly to access the application which has a three-month trial. However, cost also depends on the size of the church, and a church gets a free bulk SMS service. For churches that have many branches, each is charged differently.