Help & Guide

1. Getting started

1. Sign in with Google or your registered email and password. Your email must be verified.
2. Your church administrator must approve access for main-church and assign the appropriate church role.
3. Open the module from the dashboard or sidebar. Different roles see different records.
4. Work online when editing records; confirm each save, then reload to verify persistence.

New church databases begin empty. Example records are not automatically added.

2. Membership and visitors

Members

1. Open Membership and choose Add member.
2. Enter the member's name and status. Contact number, address and family group are optional.
3. Choose Save member. Use View to see a profile and Edit to change it.
4. Membership number is generated for new non-visitor members.

Visitors

1. Under Visitors, register the visitor with their first visit date.
2. Contact number and address are optional. Record contact consent separately.
3. Use Edit to correct visitor details, and History for consent-aware follow-up outcomes.

Do not contact a visitor who has declined consent.

3. Ministries and family groups

Open Membership → Ministry management to add a ministry, choose its leader and assistant, and assign multiple members. The same person may serve in more than one ministry; assignments are tracked per ministry. Family groups are optional and only group members who have matching family names recorded.

4. Children's Ministry

1. Open Classes & children → Add class to establish a class and age group.
2. Add children and associate them with a class and, where appropriate, guardian records.
3. Create lessons in the Lesson library.
4. Create a Session for a class and lesson, then record attendance and activities.
5. Use Reports to review participation and print eligible reports.

Class records are stored under churches/main-church/classes; they are not imported from another application. Only authorized workers should handle children's information.

5. Youth Ministry

Add youth profiles with optional contact number and address, create gatherings, record attendance, maintain discipleship groups, and track non-sensitive follow-up tasks. Avoid confidential counseling notes in general-purpose ministry records.

6. Printing and privacy

Use the available Print actions for member details, membership list, visitor list, youth profiles, attendance and ministry reports. The new profile and list print controls are limited to Church Administrators, Pastors and Membership Administrators. Your browser's print dialog can print to paper or save a PDF. If no window opens, enable pop-ups for Church OS.

Printed reports contain personal information. Keep copies secure, share only with authorized ministry workers, and dispose of outdated reports responsibly. Never print more personal information than is needed.

Backing up and restoring church records

As a Church Administrator, open Settings → Backup & recovery. Export a church-specific JSON backup and store it in a secure location. Select a backup JSON file for import to inspect its church ID and record counts before confirming recovery.

Imports add missing records only; existing records are never overwritten or deleted. User accounts, access memberships, and platform administrators are not included. This manual file is not a substitute for managed point-in-time Firestore backups. Avoid sharing backup files through public links or unsecured messaging.

7. User roles and linked applications

Open Access & Users to submit a church access request or, as an administrator, review requests and assign roles. Church OS roles govern who may access each ministry's Firestore collections; signing in alone does not grant church access.

ChordBox and Church Ledger open as separate applications. Their accounts and permissions remain independent.

Multiple churches

1. Church OS supports separate church workspaces. Select the active church from the dashboard or Settings. Your selected church determines which member and ministry records you see.
2. Users can join multiple churches through Access & Users by requesting access using the church ID. Each church administrator must approve them separately.
3. Only designated platform administrators may create churches in Settings → Create a church. Platform access is provisioned separately by the Firebase project owner.
4. Every new church receives a dedicated set of Firestore collections, with its own administrators and permissions.

The initial main-church workspace remains in place. Church data is not automatically shared between churches.

Install Church OS and use it offline

On Android Chrome, open Church OS, use Install app if available, or choose Add to Home screen from the browser menu. On iPhone, open in Safari, tap Share, then Add to Home Screen. First sign in and open each church and ministry module while online to cache its records and assets.

Previously loaded church records may be viewed while offline. Firestore writes supported by the app can queue and synchronize once connected; sync is not guaranteed until Firebase confirms them. Sign-in, first-time access, church setup, exports that have not loaded all records, and data not yet cached require internet. This is device-local storage and may be lost if browser data is cleared. Do not use shared devices for sensitive member and children information.

8. Frequently asked questions