Keeping your congregation informed shouldn't mean burning through your budget. Gloo Communications is a text messaging platform built specifically for churches and ministries, and it gives you 10,000 free message credits every month — no strings attached.^1 With a 98% open rate on texts (compared to just 20% for email), your weekly updates, event reminders, and prayer requests actually get seen.^2
Gloo Communications is more than a bulk texting tool. It includes automated Workflows triggered by keywords (think "new here" or "prayer request"), a centralized Prayer Inbox for your prayer team, broadcast messaging to your whole church or specific groups, messaging analytics, and even video messaging and polls for Gloo+ subscribers. It integrates with Planning Center and sits inside the broader Gloo Workspace — a suite of tools designed to help ministry leaders manage communication, outreach, and engagement all in one place.^1
Built by Gloo, a technology company in Boulder, Colorado, founded by Scott Beck — who previously scaled Blockbuster, Boston Market, and Einstein Bagels before devoting his career to serving the Church through technology. With a team of 150+ people and partnerships with organizations like Cru, American Bible Society, The Chosen, and Outreach Magazine, Gloo has become a trusted name in the faith ecosystem, serving over 40,000 churches.^2
Why Churches Love Gloo Communications: "Email is dead — broadcasting a text to our church is more effective. We use the memo feature and create email-quality info, plus in the text we add short videos and links to our worship music with lyrics. It is now super easy to get prayer requests, feedback, and a lot more. Also, we are a small church and the free ministry tools are the only way we could get into using this system."^4 Pastors describe it as the "best messaging provider for churches," noting that "Gloo can't be beat for the price point — so much more bang for the buck compared to other texting providers." Churches that switched from other platforms highlight the generous free tier: "We kept running out of credits each month, and it was the same price to switch to Gloo and have unlimited texting."^4
"Having texting at no cost is a huge benefit to us," shared one pastor. "Not everybody checks their email — it gets pushed into the junk folder. But everybody has the time to quickly check their phone. This level of engagement really helps us reach and connect with our people."^2
Platforms: Web, iOS, Android Pricing: Freemium (free tier with 10,000 monthly credits; Gloo+ subscription available with additional features like video messaging and polls)
