Congregations or Parishes
These are made up of households or families that worship together in the same place, at the same time, under the same pastor.
- For a multi-site church, the congregation may be synonymous with physical location (campus or site).
- For a multi-venue church, the congregation may be more closely associated with the style of worship or even age demographic.
- For a multi-ethnic church, the congregation may be more closely associated with language groups.
- For a traditional church, a separate congregation may be needed to temporarily manage the households that are part of a new church plant sponsored by the church.
From the standpoint of the database, the Congregation/Parish is a parent entity for the following:
- Households/Families: The primary congregation with which the household/family worships.
- Groups: Depending on the type of Group, the Group may serve that Congregation, be made up primarily of people from that Congregation, or be based in the same location as that Congregation. For example, Main Campus 10 AM Hospitality Team.
- Programs: The ongoing ministry efforts overseen by the Ministry Departments that engage this Congregation. For example, Main Campus Worship Service.
- Events: The calendared activities of this Congregation. For example, 10 AM Worship Service Main Campus on June 3rd.
Congregation Fields
Congregation records can be found in the Church Structure folder.
- Congregation Name
- A short, friendly name for the congregation.
- Description
- An optional text description for this congregation.
- Start Date
- The approximate date when this congregation was formed.
- End Date
- The date this Congregation ceased to meet.
- Accounting Company
- The legal entity that controls the bank accounts and other accounting-related information pertinent to the money received by this Congregation.
- Available Online
- Set to Yes if this Congregation should be visible as a filter on various pages of the Public Portal, including Online Giving, Event Calendar, Opportunity Finder, and more.
- Location
- The physical campus and address where the majority of this Congregation's activities take place.
- Contact
- The person who would answer questions about this Congregation and possibly be responsible for tasks received from the MinistryPlatform workflow system.
- Pastor
- The pastor responsible for this Congregation.
- Online Sort Order
- An optional field to control the sort order of the Campus drop-down lists the Public Portal.
- Front Desk SMS Phone
- Used by Classroom Manager to allow you to communicate with the front desk of your specific campus.
- Plan a Visit Template
- The congregation-specific email template sent to the user once they plan their visit at this location.
- Plan a Visit User
- The staff person at this location who is notified when a user plans their visit.
- Time Zone
- Indicates the time zone which corresponds to this Congregation's physical location.
Note: This is the time zone that will be set for events happening at this physical location. If you have Congregations in different time zones, be sure to set them correctly.
Congregation Best Practices
- Avoid using abbreviations or initials when naming Congregations.
- Attempt to make Congregation names as short as possible.
- All MinistryPlatform churches would benefit from at least one "Friends of ..." Congregation. This can be assigned to companies, missionaries and others who may not attend any of your Congregations. This Congregation would rarely, if ever, be used for things like Events, Opportunities, Groups, and so on.
- Multi-site churches would benefit from a "Church-wide Activities" Congregation. This can be used for Groups and Programs that serve all or several Congregations. The Portal can be configured so that giving opportunities assigned to this Congregation are visible under all congregations. Use the Configuration setting, Common: GlobalCongregationID to set the church-wide congregation.
- When a multi-site church launches a new campus, it is possible to copy the basic Group and Program structure of an existing Congregation by opening that Congregation record on the Congregations page and clicking Copy. It is advised to modify the names of the Groups and Programs copied so they are clearly related to the new campus.
- You can set which Congregation is defaulted when a new Household record is created (and the entry point does not otherwise specify/require Congregation). To do so, go to , locate the DefaultCongregationID, and enter the Congregation ID number in the Value field.
- Be aware that when you rename a congregation, any custom views that you have created that filter using that congregation name will need to be updated. Contact Support for assistance.
All Programs must first be disassociated from the Congregation. To delete a Congregation in this situation, you should first perform a quick search on the Programs page (make sure the All Records view is active) to see which Programs are associated with the Congregation. Any Program associated with the Program should be re-assigned to another appropriate Congregation. If a duplicate Congregation is inadvertently created, it is recommended to first change the name of the duplicate Congregation record that needs to be deleted, then perform the search.
Congregation Reporting
The following reports are unique to the Congregations page. For information on some of the other reports that may be available on the Congregations page Alphabetical Listing of Reports.
This report provides a summary of the number of Households, Groups and Programs by Congregation.
Page: Congregations
This report provides an analysis of giving by Congregation for a range of dates grouped by date, week, month or year.
Pages: Congregations, Donations, Programs
This report summarizes ministry involvement by the type or roles participants are engaged in, as well as by their status in regard to that role (past, current, future).
Pages: Congregations, Ministries