Sometimes, you can’t help people take the next step in their journey unless you know some very specific things about them.
Are they a member, but not baptized?
Do they attend a specific campus, but not a local group?
Do they have a spiritual gift or a testimony to share?
And then sometimes it’s the more basic things, like their t-shirt size or do they consent to receiving texts?
Now you can ask people to fill out custom fields in their profiles for themselves and their family right from the Church Center app or web!
Much better than getting people to fill out a form (either by chasing them around with a clipboard or by emailing ‘til kingdom come).
So let’s walk through how to make custom fields editable and then how to get people to actually update their info.
Give people view-only or edit permissions (it’s easy)
Some custom fields (like whether or not someone is an elder, etc.) probably need to stay view-only. But you can decide which custom fields people can edit on their own. This happens from the Church Center settings in People.
You can provide view-only or edit permissions for each custom field, and then—ta-da—it's all done!
Get people to update their profiles—purposefully and practically
Accurate information is only as important as the people behind it. It’s about them—belonging and being known. Remind people this is why accurate information about them matters, that this is why they should care.
Do you plan baptism events? Celebrate anniversaries? Are you ordering t-shirts? Tell them so they can update their profiles so you can know them better!
Then start getting the word out and making it easy for them. Here are some suggestions for doing that.
Set up a custom link to send people to their Church Center profile
You can create a QR code or a link that will send people directly to their Church Center profile!
Create a list of people with missing custom fields
Depending on how many custom fields you want people to verify, you can create a list of everyone in your church to ask them to make sure their information is up-to-date, or stick to something of people with missing custom fields by adding a rule like this:
Then you can send people that link right from the list in a few different ways. 👇
Share the update link: Text, email, push notifications, announcements
Only a few detail-oriented people are going to update their profiles the first time you tell them. So you might have to plan on a few rounds of communication to get the word out!
- Text them a link. Some of us aren't great at responding to texts, but sometimes tapping a quick link while you're in task mode is much easier on the spot. Maybe something like:
2-minute request: Can you double-check that we have your family's contact information, baptism dates, etc.? We want to make sure we don't forget important days!
You can send a mass text to everyone using People text credits, or use one of our add-ons, Clearstream or Text-in-Church. - Send them a Church Center announcement. Push those notifications! This is a great way to get on their radar.
- Email them. Keep it simple, like your text message. Email is also a great way to invite a conversation with some of your less tech-savvy congregants.
- Send a push notification, a text, or put a QR code on the screen during in-person announcements. Maybe create a link to send during announcements and have your pastor, MC, or a volunteer tell people to open their phones and do it right away!
And don’t forget to tell them why it matters! Busy parents, burned-out volunteers, and the elderly need a reminder that you’re trying to help.
We know keeping your database current isn’t about the data—it’s about the people. Every little detail is an opportunity to remind someone they belong by knowing them, and that’s work worth doing.
💙 The People and Church Center teams