How to use Church Vault

This is the working guide for someone creating a church app and for the admin who keeps it up to date.

Create the church

1. Choose Start a church app and make the church admin account. That person can edit only this church.
2. Write the welcome, a short about section, beliefs, and the pastor or other lead contact.
3. Answer “When and where do you meet?” with the address, time zone, weekly services, parking, accessibility, and what a first visit feels like.
4. Add the events you want on day one. You can add more later. Each event needs a title, a date, and can include a place and signup note.
5. Answer “How can I connect?” with a phone number or email, office hours, and any social links. Phone numbers and addresses become tappable in the app.

Languages

American English is always included and is the language you type into the main forms. Pick the other languages the app should offer. The base plan includes the number shown on the pricing page, starting at three. Each language after that is an annual charge.

The app has a language switch. Interface words such as “Plan a Visit” and “Events” ship in the languages you selected. Your own sentences stay in the language you typed until you add translations under Your church, then Translations. Event titles and descriptions can be translated on the event itself.

Plugins

• Sermons and livestreams. List sermons you already publish and link a livestream. Church Vault does not host the video.
• Giving. A button to the giving service the church already trusts. Card charges for donations stay on that service.
• Notices. In-app notes for schedule changes and reminders. This is the notice list inside the app, not a phone push service.
• Membership list. A private list. It is not on the public site or in the visitor app.
• Prayer requests. A short form that tells the sender the request is saved for church staff and, if they allow it, may be shared with the prayer team. It is never posted publicly.
• Accessibility and language detail. A longer accessibility note and a note about interpretation or translation offered at the building. Parking and a short accessibility line are already part of Visit.

Choose the app and pay

A hosted PWA is the installable website at /c/your-church. A MAUI app is the project for iOS, Android, and Windows. On the story step you can paste an existing About or Beliefs page; matching sections fill those fields for you to review. If you paste the church’s current website on the app type step, Church Vault also reads a theme color so the new app can start in a similar palette. For a PWA, App files (and the dashboard) offer a downloadable QR code that opens the hosted app—useful on bulletins and welcome signs. If someone opens the PWA in a browser and has not installed it yet, a banner across the top points to the Safari, Chrome, or Edge control that installs the app; they can dismiss that notice with Not now.

Review the annual total, then pay with Stripe. The charge happens immediately and the subscription renews each year. In local development, when Stripe keys are empty, a development button can activate the church without a card.

Update the church later

Sign in and open Your church. Edit the details, service times, events, leaders, contact links, languages, and plugins there. Connect messages and prayer requests land in the inbox. Mark them handled when someone has followed up.

Changing languages or plugins updates the quote. Use Billing and “Apply plan changes” so Stripe invoices the difference now and renews the new annual amount.

After a change to colors or the app type, open App files and generate again. Content edits are read from the API, so service times and events do not require a new store build.

What the phone keeps locally

The MAUI app stores the latest snapshot in SQLite, including the events and service times, and syncs with SQL Server through the API whenever it is opened. If the building has a weak signal, the last saved copy still opens. The exported PWA keeps the same snapshot in the browser.

Who can sign in

The platform admin changes prices, the number of included languages, and a church’s status. A church admin edits only their own church. The same church admin can sign in inside the generated app to update the welcome, contact details, and events.

On the sign-in page, Forgot password? sends a reset link to the account email. An address that is not registered is rejected as not valid. When the site has SMTP configured, the message arrives by email. Without SMTP in local development, the link is shown on the next page so you can finish the reset.