Administrator Guide

Overview

This chapter is for the person who manages the application for your church — usually the Church Administrator or a senior staff member. As an Administrator, you create user accounts, set permissions, manage families and groups, and configure the system for everyone else.

Managing user accounts

Every staff member, ministry leader, and church member who needs to log in must have a user account. You can create them one at a time from the Users page in the side menu.

Adding a new user

• Open the Users page from the side menu.
• Click "+ Add User".
• Enter the person's name, email, and phone number.
• Choose a role from the dropdown (see roles below).
• Click Save. The new user receives an email invitation with a link to set their password.

Default roles

Church Genius Pro comes with five built-in roles. You can use them as-is or fine-tune the permissions:

Customising permissions

Inside each user's profile, you'll find a Permissions tab. Tick the boxes for what they should be able to do — for example, "View Reports," "Manage Events," "Send Emails," or "Manage Contributions." Untick to revoke. Changes save instantly.

Tip: Start by giving people the standard role, then adjust only what doesn't fit. This avoids missing important defaults.

Adding families and members

Why families?

Church Genius Pro organises people into families/households. This helps you send one email to a whole household, track contributions per family, and keep relationships clear (head of household, spouse, children).

Adding a family

• Open Families from the side menu.
• Click "+ Add Family".
• Fill in the first family member — usually the head of household. Set their role to "Head" and enter contact details.
• Click "+ Add Member" to add a spouse, children, or other relatives. For each, choose a role (Wife, Son, Daughter, Father, etc.) and fill in their information.
• Click Save. The family appears in your list and is searchable everywhere in the system.

Note: You can edit a family any time by clicking its name. Members marked "Inactive" stay in the system but are excluded from active member lists.

Groups and group emails

Groups let you organise members for specific purposes — worship team, men's ministry, youth, prayer team, Bible studies, and so on. From a group you can send emails, post announcements, and message members.

Creating a group

• Open Groups from the side menu.
• Click "+ Add Group" and give it a name (e.g., "Sunday Worship Team").
• Add members by typing names — the picker searches your family directory.
• Save. You can now email the whole group from inside the group page.

Membership applications

When someone applies to become a member through your church's online form, the application appears in the Membership Requests page.

• Open Membership Requests from the side menu.
• Review each application. Click the applicant's name to see their full details.
• Click Approve to add them as a member (their family record is created automatically) or Reject with a brief reason.
• The applicant receives an email letting them know the outcome.

Email preferences and unsubscribes

Some members may unsubscribe from your emails. The Unsubscribed List page shows everyone who has opted out so you can respect their preference. From the same page you can re-subscribe a member if they ask to start receiving emails again.

Stripe Integration (Online Giving)

Connecting Stripe enables online donations, event payments, and recurring giving. You only need to do this once.

• Open Stripe Integration from the side menu.
• Click Connect to Stripe.
• Sign in with your church's Stripe account (or create one if needed).
• Approve the connection. You'll be returned to Church Genius Pro with a green "Connected" badge.

Tip: Your treasurer should be the one to set up Stripe so payouts go to the correct church bank account.