Understanding roles and permissions in Church Social
Privacy and security are treated with utmost importance in Church Social. Church Social has a role based security system, which can be used to give certain members increased access within the app. In addition to roles, office bearers are also given additional access to certain pieces of information. This document outlines the various permissions within Church Social.
Note that your congregation's Church Social Administrator can run a report to view which congregation members have special roles assigned to them.
All Members
By default members do not have login access to Church Social. Access is granted by administrators by setting the Can login setting to Yes in their account. Members must have an email address in order to be given access, as it is required for logging in. Members then receive an email invite to access Church Social, which includes their new (unique) login credentials (email and password).
By default all members have access to the following areas of Church Social however for many modules your congregation's administrator can choose to allow only administrators and/or office-bearers to post:
- Calendar
- Members (including the church directory and general church statistics)
- Messages
- Groups
- Schedules
- Prayers
- Giving (to view their own contributions only)
- Files
- Sermons
- Bulletins
- Library
- Photos
By default all members have the ability to change their login credentials (email address and password), phone numbers, as well as their family photo.
Administrators
As part of the sign-up process, each church selects one or more members from their congregation to be their Church Social administrators. These individuals have full access to all areas of the software, with the exception of the "Giving" section. They are able to change member passwords, enable and disable online access, send invitation emails, etc.
The primary responsibility of the administrator is to assign permissions to other members in the congregation. For example, they can assign some members the sermon editor role (so they can manage the sermon archive) and they can give the church statistician access to the member management tools.
Important: Only administrators can edit member roles, and the role of administrator can only be set manually by Church Social staff or an existing Church Social administrator on your church's account.
Statisticians
Statisticians have access to the member management ("People") section of Church Social. This gives them full access to all membership information, and they have full access to make changes to membership information with the exception of member roles (which can only be set by administrators). Only statisticians and administrators have access to the member management section of Church Social.
Reporting is also found within the member management section of Church Social, meaning that only statisticians, report managers and administrators have access to them.
The statistician role is assigned by administrators.
Report Managers
Report managers have access to the "Reports" tab in Church Social. This allows them to run existing reports, and to create, edit and delete custom reports. Otherwise only statisticians, administrators and office-bearers (pastors, elders and deacons) have access to the "Reports" section of Church Social.
The Report manager role is assigned by administrators.
Treasurers
Treasurers have access to the "Giving" section of Church Social. This gives them full access to all member contribution data, and they are able to create funds, enter deposits, generate statements, create tax receipts, and perform other related tasks.
The treasurer role is assigned by administrators and, for security purposes, when this role is given to a person, all other administrators and treasurers are emailed a notification making them aware of the access change.
Office Bearers
Office bearers are assigned by administrators within the member management section of Church Social. Generally office bearers share the same permissions as other regular members, with a few exceptions:
- Within the member directory, office bearers will see past family members in addition to current members. Knowing information such as the date of a loved-one's death or when a family member left the congregation can be helpful.
- Within the member directory, office bearers are given a "more Information" button beside each family member. This provides the office bearer with detailed information about a member.
- Office bearers are able to create private folders within the "Files" section. This allows office bearers to share more sensitive documents between themselves, without the rest of the congregation having access to them.
Bulletin Editors
Bulletin editors are able to upload and delete bulletins from the bulletin archive. The bulletin editor role is assigned by administrators.
Calendar Editors
Calendar editors are able to add, remove and edit any calendar event whether it was created by them or by another member. The calendar editor role is assigned by administrators.
Sermon Editors
Sermon editors are able to add, edit and delete sermons in the sermon archive. Additionally they are able to adjust the livestream, podcast and website integration settings. The sermon editor role is assigned by administrators.
Visit Manager
Visit managers are able to add, edit and delete visits to members whether they participated in the visit or not. This roles can be assigned to clerks who need to report on past visits or schedule upcoming visits. The visit manager role is assigned by administrators.
Librarians
Librarians are able to add, edit and delete books and categories in the library. The librarian role is assigned by administrators.