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Getting started: the first 30 minutes

Start your church on Phyle, sign in for the first time, fill in your church details and invite your team, all in about half an hour.

Welcome to Phyle. This guide walks you from the sign-up form to a church that's ready for your people and your team. Set aside about 30 minutes. You can stop at any point and pick up where you left off, because the checklist on your home screen remembers what's done.

Start your church

Go to phyle.org/start and fill in the form.

  1. Church name: the name people know you by. You can change it later.
  2. Your church's address: the web address your team will use to sign in, such as gracechurch.phyle.org. Use letters, numbers and hyphens (hyphens only in the middle). Phyle tells you right away whether the address is free.
  3. Your name, Email and Password: these become your own sign-in. The password needs at least 8 characters.
  4. Church time zone: Phyle fills this in from your computer. Check that it's right, since event times and reminders use it.
  5. Select Start your church.

Starting is free and doesn't need a card. Setting everything up can take a moment, so leave the page open while it says "Getting everything ready." If something goes wrong, the form tells you who to contact.

Write down your church's address. Your team will sign in there, not at phyle.org.

Your first sign-in

When setup finishes, Phyle takes you straight to your new church's address and signs you in. You'll see "Welcome to Phyle. Your church is ready."

You're the church's first Administrator, which means you can do everything, including settings, users and giving. Phyle also makes a record for you in People, so you're the first person in your directory.

Your church starts with a few helpful things already in place, all of which you can rename or delete:

  • Four giving funds: General Fund, Missions, Building Fund and Benevolence.
  • Check-in classes for Nursery, Preschool, Elementary and Youth, by age.
  • Tags: New here, Volunteer, Needs follow-up and Newsletter.
  • Two serving requirements: Background check and Child safety training.
  • Two workflows: New guest follow-up and Becoming a member.
  • A Connection card form for guests, and a welcome email template.

Signing in later

Open your church's address and sign in with your email and password. If you forget your password, select Forgot password? on the sign-in screen.

Because administrators can see giving and confidential notes, Phyle will ask you to turn on two-step sign-in. You can select Not now for the first 7 days. The two-factor guide explains how it works.

Work through the setup checklist

Your Home screen opens with a Getting started card. It shows how many steps are done and links each one to the right place:

  1. Add your church details: your name, mailing address and time zone.
  2. Bring in your people: import a spreadsheet or add families one at a time.
  3. Invite your team: give staff and volunteers their own sign-in.
  4. Connect email: so invitations, messages and receipts reach inboxes.
  5. Schedule your services: put Sunday on the calendar.
  6. Set up giving funds: already done for you by the starting funds.

Each step ticks itself off once Phyle sees it's done. When all six are finished, the card disappears. If you'd rather not see it, select Hide this. Only administrators see the checklist.

Fill in your church details

Go to Settings › Church. Everything here is saved with one Save settings button at the bottom.

  • Church details: church name, office email, office phone and website. Fill in Street address, City and ZIP too. The law requires a postal address at the bottom of every bulk email, so Phyle won't email messages or giving statements until these are filled in. Phyle adds the address to every email for you.
  • Region: your Time zone and Currency (a three-letter code such as USD, CAD or GBP).
  • Appearance: upload a Logo (a square JPG, PNG or WebP up to 5 MB works best) and choose an Accent color: Indigo, Blue, Teal, Emerald, Rose, Amber or Slate. Your logo and color appear across Phyle, the member portal and your emails.
  • Member portal: choose whether newcomers can ask for an account, and whether members can see a member directory. Both start off. See the member portal guide.
  • Sign-in security: how many days admins and staff can skip two-step sign-in. It starts at 7.
  • Giving statements: your Tax ID (EIN) and the Statement footer printed on every statement.

Connect email

Go to Settings › Connections and look at the Email card. If it says Not connected, invitations and messages are recorded but not delivered. Add your mail service's details, save, then use the link to send yourself a test email. The email and texting guide has the details.

Invite your team

Each person on your team should have their own sign-in.

  1. Go to Settings › Users and select Invite someone.
  2. Enter their Name and Email. They sign in with this address.
  3. Choose a Role: Administrator, Staff, Volunteer or Member. Each choice shows a one-line summary of what that role can do.
  4. Optionally, link Their record in People, so they can see their own profile, family, giving and serving schedule.
  5. Select Send invitation.

Phyle emails them a link to choose their own password. The link works once, for 14 days. If email isn't connected yet, Phyle shows you the link to copy and send yourself.

Not sure which role to pick? Start people with less access and raise it later. The roles and permissions guide explains each one.

Add campuses, if you have more than one

If your church meets in one place, skip this. If you meet at more than one site, go to Settings › Campuses and select Add a campus. Give it a Name and, if you like, an address and phone. Once you have campuses, a campus choice appears on people, groups and events.

What to do next

With the basics in place, pick whichever matters most this week:

Next guide Roles and permissions