Both are useful
Email and texting are both means of communication between two or more people.  They are both appropriate to use for church communications but both have particular areas in which they prove more effective.

Texting is for short, immediate, timely messages
Because texts are often limited to a specific number of characters (120 to 160), text messages need to be short and to the point.  They are useful for sending out short updates like meeting time/date changes but not long messages or documents.  Many providers do support Multi-Media Messaging which would allow you to send pictures as well, however, some people are on contracts which have limits on the amount of text data they can receive and are charged for overages.  Check with your recipients to make sure you aren’t using up their text quota.
Because texts come directly to a receiver’s phone, they are also perceived as being of more immediate concern.  Even if they don’t answer it right away, most people will look at the content of a text when they receive it.
There are quite a number of Text Messaging services (Google Text Marketing for a list) that range from free for a limited number of messages or free with the inclusion of advertising to fairly expensive monthly charges.  You’ll have to decide which service fits your needs for texting based on how many people you need to send messages to and how often.  I don’t, however, recommend the advertising-based systems as this not only subtracts from the text you can send but also puts your congregations phone numbers in the hands of marketers.

Why not just call?
If you want to carry on a conversation, a phone call is an effective way to do so.  There are a number of services that allow you to make group phone calls as well, so you can carry on a conversation with multiple people.  However, phone calls are an interruptive process: They require that everyone participate at the time of the call.  Texts, on the other hand, can be handled at a time convenient to the participants, without interrupting what they’re currently doing.

Email is for longer messages, including documents and pictures
Email can be received on any Internet-connected device (desktop, laptop, tablet, phone) and has a much larger size limit than texts, if any.  That makes email useful for sharing documents and getting back comments.  Email also keeps a more permanent record of the conversation.  This can be useful to refer back to at a later time to determine such things as who’s responsible for what and what the consensus of the group was.
There are other tools which allow collaboration on documents, including remembering revisions.  We’ll discuss these in a later post.
One thing to keep in mind in sending out email is that some service providers will label any email sent to more than 50 or 100 addresses as potential “spam” (unwanted, unsolicited email; usually advertisements).  If you have a large group of recipients, you probably need to break the list up into several groups.
There are several services that help you manage email lists and send email easily to groups.  Two of the most functional and popular are MailChimp, which is free for under 2000 subscribers and Constant Contact, which starts at $20 per month.

Messaging Etiquette
It’s easy to expect that electronic communication will be nearly instantaneous.  People often expect answers to text and email immediately.  That’s really not fair to the people with whom you’re communicating.  It’s arrogant to assume that they have nothing better to do than to answer your text or email right away.  If you need a response by a particular date, make sure to include that in your message, then practice a little patience as people respond in their own time.
In addition, many ministers have times when they choose to be free from interruptions by any means.  These may be person prayer or study times, family times, or times for visits with congregation members.  Respect these times and leave non-interrupting messages.

Protection and Policy
Just as with any form of communication, the church needs to be concerned with protecting its people from inappropriate use and to establish policy and oversight for how the tools are used.  Personal information should never be included in messages unless you have the specific permission of the people involved.  For instance, the church shouldn’t send out information about who is in the hospital and what treatment they’re receiving without consulting the family.  Prayer concerns also shouldn’t reveal private or privileged information.  The church should have a policy on how personal information is handled, including what is sent out electronically.

Once you understand the strengths and the weaknesses of each method, texting, email, and phone calls can be a coordinated and highly effective suite of communication tools for your congregation, allowing your staff, volunteers, members and others to stay connected and informed.  Like all tools, proper care needs to be used to make sure they’re used responsibly and effectively.

Godspeed on your journey on the Internet highway.

Bio: Russ Smith has worked computer programming, hardware and software sales, web design, and as a consultant to small businesses and non-profits (including churches).  He is also an ordained minister with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and is currently serving as Senior Associate Minister with DisciplesNet, an online church.