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Planning Center for Church Planters
Set the culture for a healthy, growing church
Whether you’re a house church or launching a new building—Planning Center can help you build relationships, create space for community, receive donations, and prevent burnout.
Make Planning Center a part of your language and culture from the beginning. It's so much easier to set the culture than change the culture.
Craig Curtis
Executive Pastor and Church Planter
Planning Center is free for all church plants for 6 months.
Lay a foundation of communication and organization without worrying about another bill. Then, as your church grows, we’ll grow with you—you can scale your paid plan up or down based on what your church needs.
Planning Center is a game-changing tool that enlarges a pastor's capacity to care for others and builds teams.
Nick Volkening
Lead Pastor and Church PlanterCreate a connected community
Give people a way to engage with Church Center—a free mobile app and website where congregants can connect.
Small group chat.
Whether your house church is small enough to literally be a small group, or you have a few break out groups, people can chat with each other throughout the week, and leaders can take attendance and share resources.
Simple event signups.
Who is bringing what to the potluck? Can we get a headcount for the number of chairs we need on Sunday? Signups can be quick and easy, and you’ll have all the information you need to plan!
A directory for finding new friends.
Everyone can remember names by seeing each other’s approved contact information and family photo. People can always edit their own profiles and adjust their privacy settings.
Save money by accepting online donations with low processing fees
You can organize funds, create reports, and accept donations easily and inexpensively.
Accept donations at low cost.
Planning Center charges a flat monthly subscription based on the number of donations you receive—and we don't take any percentage of those donations as they come in. Credit card and ACH donations are processed through Stripe at a low rate.
USD Fees
CAD Fees
Planning Center Discounted Rate
- 2.15% + $0.30/donation for credit and debit card donations
- 0% + $0.30 per ACH bank transfer donation
Manage funds and run pledge campaigns.
Organize donations based on separate funds, and then accept pledges for specific projects—like a building fund.
Simple reporting dashboard for all types of reports.
Filter donations based on the kind of data you want to see and share with others (based on their permissions) or print out anonymized data for elders, sending churches, etc.
Minimize burnout by maximizing your time
You are likely short-staffed, volunteer-led, bi-vocational, and semi-nocturnal—you need tools to optimize.
Plan services and events in detail, in advance.
Create an order of service of what is happening when and who is doing what. Even if you’re a house church—who’s bringing donuts? Who’s playing guitar, and which family is responsible for the kids this week?
Empower volunteers to create and own their systems.
Planning Center has tools for every area of ministry. Give your team access to what they need to get organized, whether it’s prayer group, children’s check-in, set-up, leading worship, and more.
Protect your people’s sanity (and yours) by scheduling around availability.
Sometimes it’s all-hands-on-deck but, when you can, ask everyone to set their preferences and then automate the schedule, rather than trying to piece things together yourself.
Reassure families by creating a safe and secure environment for children
Your church might be small now, but it’s never too soon to invest in safety systems.
Require background checks for volunteers.
Even if you only have a few volunteers at the start, verifying their history can add a layer of protection and build trust.
Create a process for secure check-in/check-out.
Check children into events quickly and safely, then match the code on children’s name labels to their parents’ security label for check out.
Planning Center is free for all church plants for 6 months.
We know that no matter what comes, Planning Center can help us grow into the next stage. It’s like having a closet full of coats of the next size.
Hardison Moles
Media Outreach Ministers and Church Planter
Core Features
We have thousands of features across all of our products, but these are the features most helpful for church plants.
Use the technology you already have to do ministry
Desktop/Tablet
Run Planning Center from the web browser on most internet-connected devices.
Mobile
Manage your database, plan services, and check people in from an app.
Printers
Print custom name labels from Citizen, Brother, Dymo, and Zebra printers.
Track donations and make it easy for people to give
Flexible Donation Options
Accept donations online and in the mobile app via ACH bank transfer, credit card, or Apple pay; by text, cash, and check.
Reporting Dashboard
View donation reports and filter by campus, fund, and donation type.
Statements
Generate complete giving statements and deliver to people digitally or by mail.
Manage events from signup to check-in
Simple Signups
Create online event signups, accept payments, and organize details.
Room/Resource Booking
Track requests/approvals for who is using what in which room, and when!
Fast Check-In
Use any internet-connected device to check people in and print labels.
See the big picture through comprehensive reporting
Engagement Dashboard
Analyze attendance, donations, and more from a metrics dashboard.
Custom Reports (Lists)
Filter your database by profile data and activity to create lists of people.
Activity Feed
View participation—events, check-in, small group attendance, donations.
Communicate with your congregation
Push Notifications
Make announcements with the Church Center mobile app and website.
Send emails out to lists of people, or design full campaigns in MailChimp.
Text
Purchase credits to send out mass texts to lists of people.
See participation across every ministry
Event Attendance
Take attendance, offer self-serve check-in, and track who checked in to which locations.
Group and Class Attendance
Take group attendance so you can follow up and track church-wide trends.
General Attendance
Count people as they arrive at services and larger events to get a headcount.
Protect yourself and volunteers from burnout with balanced scheduling
All-Team Scheduling
Create positions for your teams and assign them to services and events.
Blockout Dates
Ask people to set their availability and so you don’t have to scramble.
Monthly Scheduling
Send schedule requests months in advance and set auto-reminders.
Connect your congregation with the life of your church
Events
Let people know about events and give them a way to sign up and pay.
Group Chat and Directory
Give people ways to keep in touch with each other throughout the week.
Online Church
Broadcast services live, create a sermon library, and share links to content.
Equip your worship team to plan and rehearse
Worship Planning
Create a comprehensive plan including an order of service, roles, and songs.
Sheet Music
Customize sheet music and step through with a pedal as you play.
Rehearsal Tools
Organize your song library, transpose chord charts or audio files, and listen to audio.
Keep information private and all processes secure
Permissions
Protect your data, and your congregants' privacy, with powerful permissions.
Check-In/Check-Out
Security labels help verify who is authorized to pick up children.
Background Checks
Order detailed background checks through Checkr and schedule renewals.