Trellis in ten minutes

Trellis is church management software, and it runs in a web browser. It keeps every part of your church's week in one place: your people, groups, Sunday teams, the service plan, email, giving, sign-ups and kids check-in. Everything hangs off one list of people, so the office, the leaders and the members all look at the same record.

The parts of Trellis

Trellis comes in parts. Your church turns on the ones it needs.

• Groups: small groups, their leaders, rosters, roll, meetings, visitors and resources. Every church has Groups, and it's free for a small church. See Pricing.
• Serving: volunteer teams, their directors, the schedule, and the services and events they serve at.
• Worship planning: the order of service, each team's part, and the song library. It works on top of Serving.
• Communications: email to any list your people record can make, sent in your church's name.
• Giving: online and recurring gifts, funds, offerings and year-end statements.
• Registration: sign-up pages for retreats, VBS and conferences.
• Check-in: kids check-in on Sunday morning, with name tags, pickup stubs and each room's roster on a phone.
• Lighthouse AI: for staff, a forecast of your Sundays from your own counts, the themes your people are carrying, and series and drafts suggested for the season. See Plan your season with Lighthouse AI.

Each part has its own colour, and you'll see that colour wherever you are in it. An admin turns parts on and off under Church settings, then Parts and billing. See Turn parts on and off.

One record for every person

Everyone your church knows has one page in People: members, attenders, visitors and children. When someone joins a group, serves on a team, gives or signs up for a retreat, it all lands on that one page. Nobody has to keep a second list in sync.

That's why the first thing a new church does is bring its people in. See Add your people.

Home

On a computer, admins and staff land on Home. It's headed This week and shows:

• Who needs a hand: people who've missed group meetings, newcomers, prayer follow-ups and visitors due a call, from every group, plus anything waiting on the office.
• Coming up: the next two weeks of group meetings, services and plans, and sign-ups that are coming up.
• Getting set up: your church's first steps, until they're done. See Set up your church.
• Sent this week: the emails that went out.
• Also in Trellis: the parts your church hasn't turned on.

Everyone else lands where their work is. A group leader opens on their group, the finance team on Giving, and a member on Your week. More on Home in The Home page.

Who uses it

• The office: admins and staff see the whole church. They add people, set up groups and teams, send email and run Sunday.
• Leaders: a group leader sees only the groups they lead. They take roll, keep up with their people and write up meetings. Serving directors see their own areas.
• Members: anyone else your church invites. They see their week, their groups, when they're serving, groups they could join, and their own giving.

What each role can open is in Who can do what.

Phone and computer

Trellis runs in a web browser. There's nothing to install from an app store.

• On a computer, the sidebar on the left lists every part you can open. Search sits at the top, and your own menu sits at the foot. For more room, press the button beside Trellis at the top: the sidebar folds to a narrow strip of icons, and the same button opens it again. Trellis remembers your choice in that browser.
• On a phone, Trellis opens on Today: what's next for you. Members open on their week instead. A bar along the bottom holds your few tabs and Menu, which opens everything else.

See Trellis on your phone.

Nobody needs a password. Trellis emails a link or a code when you sign in. See Signing in.

Silas, in one paragraph

Silas is the reader built into Trellis. A leader writes how a group meeting went in their own words, and Silas proposes who came, guests, prayer requests and notes beside it. He does the same for a serving day, a new volunteer, a service plan and a message template. Nothing he suggests is filed until a person checks it and saves it, with Done on a write-up; in a service plan, his drafts wait, marked as his, for someone to keep or discard. He sends no messages and posts nothing. Ask Silas, the help chat, answers questions about Trellis from its help. Silas comes with any paid part, and an admin turns him on. See What Silas does.

Common questions

What does Trellis cost?

Groups is free to start, and each other part has its own monthly price. You pay per church, not per person who signs in. The Pricing page has every price.

Can I try it before I put our church's information in?

Yes. Open the demo church from Bring your people, or from the Trellis website. It's a practice church called Riverside with a full week in it, yours for seven days. Nothing in it emails anyone.

How do I bring our people over from another church system?

Export your people as a CSV file from the other system, then open People, press Add many and upload it. You match the columns and see the first rows before anything goes in. See Add your people.

Does everyone in the church have to sign in?

No. Most people on your list never sign in, and Trellis still keeps their record, groups and giving. Staff and leaders sign in to do their work, and members can if you invite them.

More in Questions about getting started.

Where to go next

1. Set up your church: the checklist on Home, step by step.
2. Add your people: every way people get into Trellis.
3. Who can do what: roles, before you invite your team.
4. Your first week: from signing up to your first Sunday.

Next in Start here: Trellis words

Still stuck? Ask Silas