Trellis

Your first week

Step by step from signing up to your first Sunday on Trellis: set up, bring people in, invite the team, turn on parts and send the first email.

When to use this

You've decided to try Trellis and want to be running by Sunday. This is the order that works: the church first, then your people, then the parts and the team, then Sunday. Skip any step for a part you don't use.

Before you start

  • You'll be the church's first admin. Most steps here are for an admin.
  • Use a computer for this week if you can: importing people and building a service plan are easier on a bigger screen. The Getting set up checklist shows on Home, and on Today on a phone.
  • Have your people list ready if you have one: a CSV export from Planning Center, Breeze or a spreadsheet.
  • Know who your staff and group leaders are, with the email each of them uses.
  • Want to look around first? From Bring your people, press Open the demo church. It's a practice church called Riverside with a full week in it, yours for seven days. Nothing in it emails anyone, and your own church stays as it is.

Steps

Day one: start the church

  1. Start the church from the Trellis website: your email, the link, then Name your church. Tick what Trellis should take on first. See Set up your church.
  2. Fix your own name. Trellis names you from your email address to begin with. Open your menu, press Your profile, change Name, as shown to your group and the pastor, and press Save.
  3. Open Church settings. Check the Church name and Time zone, press Upload a logo, and press Save. See Church settings.

Bring your people in

  1. From Bring your people, or People then Add many, paste your list or choose your CSV file. Check what each column is, then press Add (it says how many, like Add 212 people). See Add your people.
  2. No list? Press Add a person for your leaders and staff now. The rest can come later.
  3. In People, open Duplicates and merge anyone who came in twice.

Turn on the parts you need

  1. Open Church settings, then Parts and billing. Tick the parts you want to try and press Start the free trial. It's 30 days with no card. A church plant on Pioneer pricing has free months instead. See Turn parts on and off.
  2. If you'll use Silas, open Church settings, then Silas, and turn him on. See Silas settings.

Set up your groups

  1. Open Groups and create each group with New group: its name, when it meets, and its leader's name and Leader's sign-in email. Each leader gets an invitation. See Create a group.
  2. Add each group's members to its roster, and put its meetings on its schedule. See Plan group meetings.

Invite your team

  1. Open Church settings, then Team. Under Invite someone, type each person's email, tick their roles and press Send the invitation. See Who can do what and Invite staff and leaders.
  2. Make a second admin. If your only admin is away, nobody else can change roles or billing.

Get Sunday ready

Skip these if Serving and Worship planning aren't on.

  1. In Serving, set up your Areas and their teams, and name each area's directors. See Serving areas and teams.
  2. Press Add to the calendar and add Sunday's service. It can repeat for weeks at a time.
  3. Fill Sunday's seats and send the asks. See Schedule volunteers.
  4. In Worship, plan the first Sunday's order of service. See Plan a service.

Send the first email

  1. With Communications on, press Write a message on Home or in Communications. Your church can send from its first day, from a shared Trellis address in its own name. See Your first church email.

Set up giving

  1. With Giving on, open Church settings, then Payments, and press Connect the church's bank account. See Set up giving.

Let members in

  1. In People, press Invite to Trellis. Copy The member link, or download its QR code, and put it on Sunday's slides or in the bulletin. See Add your people.
  2. Or, on the same page, email invitations to everyone ready for one.

The day before Sunday

  1. Open Home. Check Coming up for Sunday, and Getting set up for anything left.
  2. Put Trellis on your phone's home screen, and ask your leaders to do the same. See Trellis on your phone.
  3. Read Sunday morning for the day itself.

If something goes wrong

  • An invitation didn't arrive. Ask them to check their spam folder. On Team, their row under Invited, not yet signed in has Send the email (or Send again), and shows a reason in red if the email couldn't be sent. See Someone can't sign in.
  • A leader can't see their group. Check they signed in with the exact email you gave as their sign-in email. Until they sign in, Team lists them under Leading a group, not signed in yet.
  • Trellis won't add more people to groups. Groups is free for up to 25 people in groups. Turn on More group members on Parts and billing.
  • A page says a part isn't on yet. Turn it on from Parts and billing. If you're not an admin, ask one.
  • Worship planning won't turn on. It needs Serving on too. Tick both.
  • The import put names in the wrong place. Fix the column under What each column is before you press Add. Already added? Fix them on each person's page, or merge duplicates.

Who to ask

  • An admin can do every step here. If you're not one, ask whoever started your church on Trellis.
  • For anything else, open your menu and press Get help. It writes an email to Trellis support with your church and page already filled in.

Still stuck? Ask Silas

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