User Guide

What is FaithCommunityOS?

FaithCommunityOS is one home for your faith community: a member directory, shared calendars, and volunteer signups, organized around how your community is actually structured (for example a diocese, its parishes, and the ministries inside each parish).

Getting started

Starting a new community

1. Click Get Started Free and create your account.
2. Name your organization and describe its levels (for example Diocese → Parish → Ministry).
3. Add your groups, then invite people or import a member list.

Joining an existing community

1. You'll receive an email invitation from someone in your community. It shows who invited you and which group it's for.
2. Click the button in the email to accept the invitation or set your password. Setup links last 7 days; if yours has expired, just click it anyway and we'll email you a fresh one right away.
3. Sign in at any time using Log in. Forgot your password? Use the "Forgot your password?" link on the login page.

Communities & groups

Your community is organized like a family tree: a church or network at the top, with parishes, campuses, ministries and small groups beneath it. What you see depends on the groups you belong to.

• Where am I? bar: the bar just under the top menu shows where you are (for example Diocese › St. Mark's › Youth Ministry). Click a name to move up, use its arrow to switch to a neighboring group, or use Select… to go into a group below.
• Multiple organizations: if you belong to more than one, switch between them from the first segment's arrow.
• "Only {group}" switch: on Calendar, Members and Signups, turn this on to show only the current group and the groups beneath it (events shared down from higher groups are hidden too). It stays on for your next visit until you turn it off.
• Roles: Admins manage a group and everything under it; Members see their groups; Associates see only their own group. Groups can also have custom roles (for example "Lector" or "Usher"). Admins can hold custom roles too, so an admin can also be a "Pastor".

Dashboard

After signing in you land on your dashboard: with cards that take you straight to the Guide, Members, Calendar and Signups. Admins and VisitorWatch members also see a Visitors card for visitor follow-up. Each card uses the same icon as the matching item in the top menu.

Members

• Pick a group to see its members (including members of groups beneath it). Search by name or email.
• Each person appears once, with phone numbers (mobile marked "(m)") and their roles.
• Admins see each person's status: Joined, Invited · pending, or an Email Invite button.
• Click View Profile to see someone's details.

Member profiles

• Edit your own contact info, address, and emergency contact at any time.
• Link family and other relationships between members.
• Admins can edit profiles, change group membership, view the member's history, and send a welcome email with an optional personal note.

Inviting people Admins

• Invite by email: on Members, open the invite panel, enter the person's name and email, choose a role (and custom role if any), and optionally write a personal note. Review and confirm to send.
• Email Invite / Resend for someone already in the list opens a small window where you can add a personal note before sending.
• Email Invite to All Listed sends the standard invitation to everyone shown.
• Add a person individually or use the Import wizard to bring in a spreadsheet of members.
• Every invite email shows who sent it and which group it comes from. If an email can't be delivered, no half-finished invitation is left behind.

Calendar

• Switch between Month, Week and Agenda views; use the arrows or Today to move around.
• Use the options button to choose which calendars to show: your own groups, included parent/child calendars, and (for admins) groups beneath you.
• Admins can create, edit and delete events, including repeating events (daily, weekly, monthly) with exceptions.
• Sharing: an event can be shared down to child groups or up to the parent group.
• One copy per event: you can't add an event with the same name, start and end as one already on your group's calendar or on a group above or below it (for example the same Sunday worship on both a charge and its church). Edit the existing event, or turn on sharing so it appears on the other level.
• Signup positions: events can list volunteer positions (for example "Greeter, 2 needed") for specific dates.
• Exact times: event start and end times and each signup slot's start and end can be set to any minute. To split an event into equal slots, enter a position name and the slot length in minutes, then tap Generate slots.
• Export a month to PDF for printing or bulletins.
• Changes made by others appear automatically, no refresh needed.

Volunteer signups

• The Signups page lists open positions on upcoming events you can see. Tap to sign up, and tap again to withdraw.
• See your own commitments at a glance.
• Admins see coverage (how many spots are filled) and can send a signup invite: a shareable link, optionally emailed to all members or to a custom role, with a personal message.

QR codes, visitors & prayer

Scanning a code

• Point your phone camera at the code and tap the link.
• Visitor cards and prayer requests work without an account.
• Calendar, signups, members and event codes ask you to sign in first, then take you straight to the right group.
• If a code says it's no longer active, it was turned off or expired. Ask a leader for a new one.

Visitor cards

• Fill in your name and email (other details are optional). Tick I have a prayer request to add one.
• The group's admins review your card. Once approved, you'll get an email to set your password. You'll start as a Visitor, and a leader can welcome you in as a member later.
• Visitors can sign in, but the calendar, signups and member list open up once a leader makes you a member.
• To keep things safe, each email can have only one card waiting for review, and the forms limit how often they can be sent.

Prayer requests

• Requests are shared only with members who have the Prayer Team or Pastor role in that group (or a group above it). Admins don't see them unless they have one of those roles.
• Prayer team members get an email for each new request and can see them all under your name menu › Prayer requests, where they can mark each one as prayed for.
• Leave your name and email blank to stay anonymous.

For admins Admins

• Open the gear menu next to your group (or your name menu) and choose QR codes. Pick the group, what the code opens, an optional label and expiry date, then Create.
• Use Print for a ready-made poster, or download a PNG/SVG for bulletins, slides or social media. You can see how many times each code was scanned.
• Turn off a code at any time. Printed copies stop working immediately.
• Create full set makes one code for each page a group uses (group home, calendar, signups, members, prayer inbox, visitor card, prayer request and the guide), skipping any it already has.
• New visitor cards email every admin of that group with a Review and approve button. You can also open Visitor cards from the gear menu to approve, decline, or make a visitor a member. Approved visitors then appear on the visitor follow-up board.
• Guests who aren't signed in get a friendly email asking them to tap Yes, it's me. Until they do, their card shows Waiting for email confirmation and can't be approved yet, though you can still greet them by phone or in person. Prayer requests asking for follow-up are marked the same way until confirmed. Signed-in members never need to confirm. If the email can't be delivered, nothing is saved and the guest is asked to check the address.
• To choose who receives prayer requests, give people the Prayer Team or Pastor custom role on their membership.
• Custom roles only apply to the group they're created in and the groups under it. If the member's profile shows no Pastor or Prayer Team option for their group, click Add "Pastor" role to ... under Custom Roles, then tick the new role.

Visitor follow-up

Every guest deserves a warm welcome and a second hello. When an admin approves a visitor card, FaithCommunityOS starts a simple follow-up plan for that person so nobody slips through the cracks.

Who can use it

• Admins of a group are always on visitor follow-up for that group and the groups under it.
• Anyone else can help by being given the VisitorWatch role under Custom Roles on their profile (View Profile). It works like the Prayer Team role: it covers the group it's given in and every group under it.
• Admins and VisitorWatch members see a Visitors card on their dashboard that opens the visitor board.

How it works

1. A guest fills out a visitor card and confirms their email.
2. An admin taps Approve. The guest gets a welcome email and their plan starts that day.
3. The visitor appears on the board under New. Each card shows their phone and email (tap to call or write), the plan steps with due dates, and shared team notes.
4. As your team reaches out, tap the circle next to a step to check it off. Finishing the first personal step moves the visitor to Contacted. Late steps turn red.
5. Use the stage list to move someone to Attending once they come back, or Closed if they've moved on.
6. When they're ready, an admin taps Make member. They become a full member, their plan finishes, and the calendar, signups and member list open up for them.

The plan

• The built-in plan is: a welcome email right away, a personal call or visit by day 3, an invite to a small group by day 14, and a friendly check-in email on day 30.
• Steps marked as email are sent automatically (the app checks every hour). If an email can't be delivered it's tried again later. Visitors who become members or are closed don't get them.
• Admins tap Edit plan on the board, pick a group, and add, remove or change steps and their days. Check Email for steps the app should send. A group without its own plan uses its parent's plan; Use inherited plan goes back to it.
• Plan changes apply to visitors approved from then on; people already on a plan keep their original steps.

Notes and visitor details are visible only to admins and VisitorWatch members for that group.

Emails you'll receive

All emails are branded FaithCommunityOS messages that greet you by name, say who sent them, and show which group they come from. Some include a personal note from the sender.

• Invitation: join a group; the link expires after a set time.
• Account setup: choose your password for an account created for you.
• Welcome: a friendly reminder with a sign-in link.
• Signup invite: a request to help with an event.
• Account emails: email confirmation and password reset.

Appearance & preferences

Use the theme menu in the top bar to switch between light and dark mode, pick a color palette, and show or hide the "Where am I?" bar. These choices are saved on your device.

For administrators

• Use the menu on the bar under the top menu to add, rename or delete groups (only empty groups can be deleted).
• New levels: an organization's levels (for example Diocese → Parish → Ministry) are set up when it starts. To add a new level to an existing organization, ask the administrators of the group where it should go.
• Assign roles when inviting; change a member's groups and custom roles on their profile.
• Each calendar has settings for which parent/child calendars it includes.
• Every important change (imports, invites, joins, role changes, profile edits, welcome emails) is recorded in the member's history.

Privacy & security

• You only see people and events in groups you belong to (and, for admins, the groups beneath them).
• Passwords are never emailed. Invitation and setup links are single-use and expire.
• Everything you send and see is protected with a secure connection.

FAQ

Is there a free option?

Yes. Signing up is free for a limited time, with no credit card required.

Can I add a new level (for example a new kind of group) to my organization?

Ask the administrators of the group where the new level should go. They can request it for you.

How do I change my password?

Sign in, open your account settings from the top bar, and choose Password. If you can't sign in, use "Forgot your password?" on the login page.

Who can see my phone number and address?

Only people in groups you share, and their administrators.

My invite link expired. What now?

Ask the person who invited you to resend it.

I can't see a group's calendar or members.

Check which group is selected in the bar under the top menu, and make sure the "Only [group name]" switch is off. If it's still missing, ask an admin to add you to that group.

How do I stop seeing other groups?

Select your group in the bar under the top menu and turn on the "Only [group name]" switch.