Church Center

Planning Center is our church management software. It has multiple interconnected products or modules, such as:

• People: our internal database, where we keep track of—you guessed it—people!
• Services: where we keep track of our worship services and other events, as well as the people required to hold those events. This is where volunteer scheduling occurs.
• Groups: where we form groups (think: Film Nights, House Groups, Mens Morning Prayer, Women's Bible Study, etc).
• Calendar: where we schedule all-church events and smaller group events.

Church Center is the parish-facing mobile app and web platform that brings the modules together! Many people at All Souls only need Church Center. Some will benefit from using the other modules as well.

There's information on the top of this page about when you might use Church Center vs Services.

And here's information about Services. If any of these apply to you, we think you'll appreciate using Services in addition to Church Center:

• You lead a team of volunteers and manage your team's scheduling.
• You want to view and manage scheduling for your household.
• Your volunteer role requires additional information beyond the date & time to show up, such as lectionary readings, liturgical colors, and who will serve alongside you.

If you've never logged in, start with the yellow button at the top of this page. Use the email or phone number you provided to All Souls. You'll be asked to create a password.

If you've logged in before and are having trouble logging in, try resetting your password.

If that doesn't work, contact Jennifer Merck for assistance.

Church Center is our parish-facing mobile app. It's also accessible in a browser. You'll find these items in Church Center:

• church directory, available to all parishioners & members:
  • view contact info for everyone in the directory
  • edit your own contact info + your household info (including photos)
• calendar of church events, customized to include your events for your groups
• groups:
  • a place to explore new groups you might join
  • info about groups you've already joined, including the ability to communicate with those groups
• online giving:
  • give online
  • track your giving
• view & manage YOUR serving schedule

Our church directory is for parishioners and members. Only parishioners & members are listed and only parishioners & members can access the directory.

Here's some info in case you're interested in exploring these possibilities:

• on becoming a parishioner
• on membership

If you are a parishioner or member, but you're not listed, that's because you haven't opted in yet! You get to say if you're in the directory and you get to say what info is listed for you.

Click the Church Center button above and get started by creating a password.

You decide what info you want listed:

• Address
• Phone
• Email
• Photo

It's your call! Here are instructions for how to edit your info, add a photo, and give permission for what you want included in the directory.

Here are instructions for accessing and managing your schedule on the Church Center app or web browser.

If more than one person in your household serves at All Souls, you can manage the whole household's schedule in one place through the Services (app or browser). Adults must grant permission for other adults in their household to view & manage their schedule. Adults can view & manage schedules for youth in their household. Here are instructions for how to do that.

If your youth's email is listed in his/her record in Planning Center, All Souls requires that at least one parent receive copies of all communication sent through Planning Center. We can set that up for you, or follow these instructions.

If you know someone is a parishioner or member, but they're not listed in the directory, let them know! They haven't opted into the directory or they've opted in but haven't given permission for their contact info to be shared.

Everyone needs to opt in. If you want someone included, let them know.

If they're not sure how to do it, send them this FAQ page!

If you're someone who's scheduled to serve, check out this introduction to using the Services app (also available on a browser).

Note that once you've logged into Services once, you can access YOUR OWN SCHEDULE from Church Center. On your schedule screen, you'll have the option to "View in Services," which will take you to the Services app. When you get there, you'll be able to view readings, liturgical colors, hymns, etc—whatever you need to perform your role.

If you don't see what you need, contact Jennifer Merck to troubleshoot.

You might have preferences or restrictions regarding when you can serve:

• Perhaps you only want to serve once a month.
• Or perhaps you only want to serve at the early service.
• Or perhaps you can only serve on 1st & 3rd Sundays.

You get the idea. Preferences can be set in Services and only on the browser version. Here are instructions for setting your scheduling preferences.

Most likely, you will only need to set your scheduling preferences once, or perhaps once each year or semester.

You can block out dates when you are unable to service from Church Center or from Services:

• Instructions for blocking out dates on Church Center
• Instructions for blocking out dates on Services

Blocking out dates will help you and your team leader! If you block yourself out, you will not be scheduled that day.

When you block out dates, you'll be asked for the reason. Providing the reason will help your team leader know whether you're truly not an option for serving that Sunday or if it's worth asking you anyway if they're in a pinch.

Note that creating blockouts in Services allows you to specify which household members should be included in the blockout.

We're concerned about your kids' safety. You have two options for your serving youth's email:

• Use a parent email. The parent will be notified when the youth is scheduled to serve. The parent will be responsible for managing the youth's accepts & declines. The youth will not have their own login to Church Center.
• Use the child's email. If this is your preference, we require that at least one parent be set to receive copies of all communication through the system. If you choose this option, you can share responsibility for accepts & declines. Your child will have the option to set up a login to Church Center.

Here's more info about this feature.

You can message your team leader or your team from the Church Center app. Here are instructions for how to do that.

You can also email your team leader from the Church Center app. This page has instructions for how to email your team leader.

You might ask your team leader how they prefer to be contacted.

You can set your serving schedule and other All Souls events to appear on your electronic calendar (Google Calendar, iCal, or other applications). Here are instructions for how to set that up.