Getting Started With Church Connect
This article covers the navigation, setup, and management of your church's Church Connect.
- Navigating Church Connect
- Initial Setup
- Cards
- Page Setup
- Connect Users
- Form Responses
- Add My Family
- Online Giving
- Pro Tips
- Some Next Steps
Navigating Church Connect
To navigate Church Connect, use the tabs across the toolbar at the top of the screen. These include Cards, Page Setup, Connect Users, Form Responses, Add My Family, and Online Giving.
Initial Setup
These are the steps we recommend you take to set up Church Connect before launching it to your members:
Step 1: Customize Church Connect
Start by customizing your Church Connect URL, found at the top of the "Page Setup" section. Select, "Customize Your Link Now" to pick your own unique keyword.
Next, search for and select a 'keyword' using the search box. Choose a word that helps to uniquely identify your church or ministry.
Your account keyword will be used to generate your custom Connect Page URL. For example, if you select 'sample' as your keyword, your custom Connect Page URL will look like this: "https://sample.churchtrac.com".
Step 2: User Settings
Before your members start creating accounts in Church Connect, you'll want to configure your Church Connect User Settings. This includes customizing features available to users and notifications that are sent to church leaders for new registrations and profile updates.
Step 3: Add Content
Now that your Church Connect page is set up, it's time to add content. This is done by adding/customizing cards in the "Cards" tab and building/designing your website in the "Page Setup" tab.
Cards
Cards are the heart of Church Connect, with each serving a specific purpose. You can choose the type of card you want to create and begin customizing it.
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Page Setup
In the Page Setup tab, you can modify cards, and customize your nav bar, header, body, and footer. You can choose between a curated list of website templates or build your own, with custom fonts and other customization options to choose from.
Connect Users
The Connect Users tab us where you can see who has created a Church Connect account and manage those accounts. You can reset their password, remove their account, and control if they can access the online directory.
Form Responses
You can add forms to your Church Connect page with Form Cards. This allows you to gather information digitally, rather than relying on pen and paper forms.
When someone fills out one of your Form Cards, that response will be stored in the "Form Responses" tab. You can review the responses and generate a PDF or CSV report.
Add My Family
With Add My Family, your people can fill out a form to submit their information to your church database. Once they submit the form, you'll review the submission on this screen and then add them to your People screen.
Online Giving
The "Online Giving" tab appears in both the Giving and Church Connect screens. Donations made online automatically appear on the Giving screen.
Pro Tips
You can customize the background color of your Church Connect to any color you want. However, we recommend using a very light background to keep your app "easy on the eyes".
When creating your Connect Cards, you can also view what your app looks like on different devices. To do this, select the "Connect Preview" buttons on the right-hand side of your "Cards" tab screen. You can preview mobile (small), tablet (medium), and desktop (large) devices.
You can customize the order the cards appear. We recommend placing the most important cards at the top so that anyone visiting your Connect app will see those cards first. You can easily select and drag cards to arrange them to your preference.
The online directory is an "opt-in" feature. You can activate the directory, but no one will be listed until members consent to display their information in the directory. Minors are NOT included in the directory. Learn more ›
Next Steps
Now that you know the ins and outs of getting started with Church Connect, here are some next steps: