Trellis

Set up your church

Start your church on Trellis, then work through the Getting set up checklist on Home, one step at a time.

Setting up takes two parts: starting the church, which takes a few minutes, and the Getting set up checklist on Home, which you work through over your first week. Whoever starts the church is its first admin.

Start the church

  1. Go to the Trellis website and press Start free, or go straight to the start page.
  2. Enter your email and press Email me a link.
  3. Open the email and press Start my church. It signs you in.
  4. Under Name your church, fill in the Church name. Trellis suggests a Web address from it. Change it if you like; it says whether it's available.
  5. Check the Time zone. It decides what "tonight" and "this week" mean on every page.
  6. Under What should Trellis take on first?, tick the work you want to start with. Small groups is always ticked.
  7. Under And you're, pick who you are: The pastor, The office, A group leader or Worship.
  8. Press Create the church.

Trellis opens on Bring your people, the first step of the checklist.

You can rename the church, change the time zone and add a logo later in Church settings. There's no setting to change the web address yet.

Where the checklist lives

The checklist is the Getting set up card on Home on a computer, and on Today on a phone. It shows the steps still to do and how many are left. Each step is a link to the page that does it. A step drops off the card once the church has really done it, and the card goes away when every step is done.

The steps follow what you ticked when you started the church. Some steps only show to admins.

The steps

Bring your people

Opens Bring your people, with three ways in: Upload a spreadsheet, From Planning Center and Type a few in. It's done once there's anyone in People besides you. See Add your people.

Start the free trial

If you ticked work from a paid part, admins see Start the free trial of and the parts' names, for example Start the free trial of Serving and Worship. It opens Parts and billing with those parts already ticked. The trial is 30 days and needs no card. A church that has had a subscription before sees Turn on instead, since the trial comes only once, and so does a church that has had Pioneer pricing. See Turn parts on and off.

The steps for those parts appear once they're on.

Add your first group and its leader

Opens New group. Give it a Group name, the day and time it Meets on, and the leader's name and Leader's sign-in email. Press Create group. The leader gets an invitation and sees their group when they sign in. See Create a group.

Add Sunday's service and its teams

Shows when Serving is on. Opens Add to the calendar in Serving, where you add Sunday's service. A service can repeat for weeks at a time. See Serving areas and teams.

Plan your first Sunday

Shows when Worship planning is on. Opens Worship, where you plan the order of service. See Plan a service.

Send your first email

Shows to admins when Communications is on. Opens a new message. Your church can send from its first day, from a shared Trellis address in your church's name, until your own domain is set up. It's done once a message has gone out. See Your first church email.

Connect the church's bank account

Shows to admins when Giving is on. Opens Payments, where Connect the church's bank account takes you to Stripe. Online gifts can't come in until this is done. See Set up giving.

Open your first sign-up

Shows when Registration is on. Opens New sign-up. It's done once the church has its first sign-up. See Create a sign-up.

Set up Check-in's rooms and times

Shows to admins when Check-in is on. Opens Check-in's Settings. It's done once there's at least one room and one check-in time. See Set up Check-in.

Invite your team

Opens Team, where you invite staff and leaders by email and pick their roles. It's done once someone else is on the team or an invitation has gone out. See Invite staff and leaders.

Admins only. Opens Church settings, where Upload a logo adds it. Press Save. The logo shows in Trellis and on your church's emails. See Church settings.

On a phone

Phones open on Today, which shows the same Getting set up card for staff and admins until every step is done. Some steps, like bringing people in from a spreadsheet, are easier on a computer.

Next in Start here: Who can do what

Still stuck? Ask Silas

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