Documentation
Getting started.
Six steps, in the order that actually works. Most churches are live in a week — and we do the data import mapping for you.
Week one, in order
You do not have to turn everything on at once — and you should not. Churches that go live smoothly do it in this order.
1. Import your members
Export a CSV from whatever you use now, including spreadsheets. Our import tool maps your columns to ChurchHarmony profile fields, including custom fields you create. Send it to us and we will do the mapping for you at no charge — this is the step where a free hour of our time saves you a weekend. Giving history imports the same way.
2. Set your administrative roles
Decide who can see financial data and private profile fields before you invite anyone. Roles control access to giving records, donor detail, and admin-only fields, so getting this right first avoids awkward conversations later.
3. Build your groups
Create your Bible classes, teams, ministries, and small groups. Groups can update themselves dynamically from profile criteria, so a group like “all parents of children under 12” stays current without anyone maintaining a list.
4. Invite members and let them fill in the gaps
Members maintain their own contact info, photos, and family details. This is the single biggest data-quality win available to you: stop doing member data entry and let the directory maintain itself.
5. Turn on giving
Connect Stripe, create your funds, and build a giving form. Decide whether donors can cover the processing fee at checkout — most churches enable it. Test with a small real gift before announcing it.
6. Send your first message
Start with an email to a single group rather than the whole database, and confirm it looks right on a phone. Then move up to your full announcement list. Email is included up to 15,000 addresses a month; SMS and voice are billed on actual usage.
Common first-week questions
Can we run alongside our old system for a while?
Yes, and many churches do for a month. Import once, keep both current, and cut over when your staff is comfortable. Ask us before you re-import so we can avoid duplicate records.
What if our data is messy?
Almost everyone’s is. Send it anyway. We would rather clean it during the import than have you spend three weeks tidying a spreadsheet first.
Who should get logins first?
Office staff and ministry leaders. Once they are comfortable, open it to the congregation — the experience is much better when leaders can answer questions.
Keep going
The full walkthrough video shows every module in action, the FAQ answers pricing and policy questions, and help central lists every way to reach us. If your church needs something to work differently than it does today, tell us — we build custom requests rather than filing them.