First-Time Setup

This is the “day one” guide for getting SanctuaryOS ready for your church. It walks through the essential configuration steps in order — from your church profile to your first service pattern. Complete these steps before inviting your team.

Prerequisites

• A SanctuaryOS account with SUPER_ADMIN access
• Your church’s basic information (name, address, CRA charity number)

Step-by-Step

1. Set Up Your Church Profile

1. Navigate to Settings → Church
2. Enter your church name, address, phone number, and website
3. Upload your church logo (used in the header, tax receipts, and public pages)
4. Enter your CRA Charity Registration Number if applicable — this is required for issuing tax receipts
5. Save changes

2. Create Campuses

1. Navigate to Settings → Campuses
2. Click + New Campus
3. Enter the campus Name (e.g. “Toronto Main”, “Montreal West”)
4. Enter the Address for the campus location
5. Set the Timezone (defaults to America/Toronto)
6. Repeat for each physical location

3. Invite Users and Assign Roles

1. Navigate to Settings → Users
2. Click + Invite User
3. Enter the user’s email address
4. Assign a role:
   • SUPER_ADMIN — Full access to everything
   • LEAD_PASTOR — Everything except system settings
   • PASTOR — Gather, Flock (read), Care, Plans
   • ELDER — Gather, alerts, check-in
   • FINANCE_ADMIN — Full Steward access
   • FINANCE_USER — Steward data entry only
   • WORSHIP_LEADER — Order of Service (read), Song Library
   • VOLUNTEER — Check-in console only
   • TEAM_LEADER — Serve scheduling for their team
   • CARE_MINISTER — Care module
   • REPORTING_ONLY — Read-only dashboards and reports
5. Assign one or more Campuses the user can access
6. The user receives an invitation email with login instructions

4. Configure Giving Funds

1. Navigate to Settings → Funds
2. Click + New Fund
3. Create your primary funds, e.g.:
   • “General Tithe”
   • “Building Fund”
   • “Missions”
   • “Benevolence”
4. Set one fund as the Default — this is pre-selected when entering giving transactions
5. Mark funds as Tax Deductible if they qualify for CRA receipts

5. Set Up Service Patterns

1. Navigate to Settings → Services
2. Click + New Service
3. Create patterns for each recurring service:
   • Enter a Name (e.g. “Sunday Morning”)
   • Select the Day of Week and Service Time
   • Assign a Campus
4. These patterns automatically generate Service Instances each week

6. Configure Children’s Rooms (Optional)

1. Navigate to Settings → Gather → Rooms
2. Click + New Room for each children’s ministry room
3. Enter the room Name (e.g. “Nursery”, “Pre-K”, “Elementary”)
4. Set the Age Range (minimum and maximum ages)
5. Set the Capacity for the room
6. Rooms are used by the Children’s Check-In system for automatic room assignment

7. Set Up Plan Templates (Optional)

1. Navigate to Settings → Gather → Plan Templates
2. Create templates for your typical service formats (e.g. Sunday Morning, Sunday Evening, Wednesday)
3. Add default items (Welcome, Worship, Offering, Message, etc.) with durations
4. Link templates to service patterns so new instances are auto-populated

8. Configure a Bank Account

1. Navigate to Settings → Finance
2. Add your church’s bank account details for deposit reconciliation
3. Mark one account as the Default — this is pre-selected when creating deposits

9. Verify Your Setup

1. Navigate to the Gather Dashboard — you should see upcoming services from your patterns
2. Navigate to the Steward Dashboard — your funds should appear
3. Open the Calendar — materialised service instances should be visible
4. Try a test check-in from Gather → Check-In

What’s Next