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First Steps in ChurchDesk: Setup

First Steps in ChurchDesk: Setup


Welcome to ChurchDesk!

To help you get off to a good start, this article summarizes the first steps for setting up your system.



Table of Contents



How to get access to your ChurchDesk


As soon as the ChurchDesk installation is created for your congregation or parish, accounts are created for the administrators – those who set up the system and can invite new users.

  • To test whether you already have access, you can go directly to https://app.churchdesk.com/login, click on "Forgot your password?" and have a link sent to you to set a new password.
  • If your congregation already has a ChurchDesk installation, ask one of your administrators to set up a user account for you.



How to start: Basic settings


Reflect the structure of your congregation.


Move into your ChurchDesk installation and configure it so that it matches your congregation or parish.


  • Create Categories and Resources. Categories help to organize events thematically – for example: church service, youth work, or confirmation class. Resources, on the other hand, refer to things that are booked or reserved – such as a hall, a projector, use of the kitchen, or sound equipment. Both functions appear as options in your calendar entries and are color-coded in the calendar.
  • **Roles + Users:** Invite your colleagues to your ChurchDesk installation and give them the necessary permissions right away.


Calendar


The ChurchDesk calendar is a collaborative digital calendar that enables room booking, service notices, and rota schemes — and from which you can post automatically self-updating events directly to your website.



Groups and rota


Groups in ChurchDesk enable easy collaboration — with shared secure file storage, group messages, and the assignment of rota duties for your events.


  • Get an overview of the group tool
  • Create the groups that exist in your congregation, along with the duties that exist at your events.
  • Add members to the groups, use the shared file storage, and send group messages — you can also send and read messages on the go using the Churchdesk app, which you can download for free from the App Store and Google Play..
  • When you create rota duties in an event or in the rota scheme, only those who are members of the group to which this rota duty is assigned (e.g., organists) can be scheduled for these duties. This saves you from having to scroll through a list of all users when assigning rota duties.



The ChurchDesk App


You can find the ChurchDesk mobile app for free in the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store. It can be used by all ChurchDesk users with their ChurchDesk login credentials and gives you mobile access to many functions from your ChurchDesk. This does not replace the desktop version, but is intended to make it easy for your volunteers, e.g., to sign up for open duties or to read and send group messages.




How to find help


We want to support you in the best possible way and answer your questions. For this purpose, we provide guides on almost all topics, and you can contact our support team directly. You can find all this in your ChurchDesk account in the menu at the top right under "Help".

And in summary: How you can request help.

Updated on: 20/03/2026

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