Shepherd

Features

People & Members

Manage your entire congregation from one place: profiles, families, attendance, and communication.

  • Member profiles with photos and contact info
  • Family groupings and household management
  • Attendance tracking per service
  • Bulk email messaging
  • Custom member statuses and tags

Giving & Stewardship

Accept online donations, run campaigns, manage pledges, and generate tax statements, all integrated with Stripe.

  • Online giving via Stripe (one-time & recurring)
  • Giving campaigns with progress tracking
  • Pledge management and fulfillment tracking
  • Automated year-end tax statements (PDF)
  • Stewardship dashboard with year-over-year analytics

Sermons

Publish sermons with audio, video, and notes. Organize by series and speaker so your congregation can stay connected throughout the week.

  • Sermon library with audio, video, and notes
  • Series and speaker organization
  • Scripture references per sermon
  • REST API for mobile and app integrations

Church Directory

A searchable, privacy-controlled member directory so your congregation can find and connect with one another.

  • Searchable member directory for logged-in members
  • Admin-controlled visibility (email, phone, address)
  • Opt-out option for privacy-conscious members
  • Filter by family, group, or ministry

Announcements

Keep your congregation informed with targeted announcements, pinned notices, and scheduled start/end dates.

  • Pinned and standard announcements
  • Audience targeting: all, members, staff, or leaders
  • Scheduled publish and expiry dates
  • REST API for mobile and app integrations

Appointments

Members can request pastoral appointments online. Pastors confirm, reschedule, and track meetings in one place.

  • Member self-service appointment requests
  • Pastor confirmation with date, time, and location
  • Status workflow: pending → confirmed → completed
  • Private pastor notes per appointment

Faith Milestones

Record and celebrate the significant moments in each member's faith journey, from baptism to ordination.

  • Track baptism, confirmation, communion, marriage, and more
  • Date, officiant, and notes per milestone
  • Member can view their own milestone history
  • Full milestone registry for pastoral records

Serving & Volunteers

Publish serving opportunities and let members sign up directly. Track slots, rosters, and ministry assignments.

  • Serving opportunity listings with date, time, and location
  • Member self sign-up with slot limits
  • Per-opportunity roster for coordinators
  • Ministry categorization

Visitor Tracking

Capture first-time visitors, assign follow-up owners, and track the journey from guest to member.

  • Digital guest card (no login required)
  • Follow-up status tracking with assigned staff
  • Upcoming follow-up dashboard and reminders
  • One-click conversion to full member record

Children's Ministry

Manage children's classes, enrollment, allergy information, and emergency contacts in a secure admin area.

  • Age-grouped classes with teacher assignment
  • Secure child profiles with allergy and medical notes
  • Emergency contact information per child
  • Class roster with check-in ready design

Care Register

A private pastoral care register for tracking members who need active support: bereavement, illness, crisis, and more.

  • Active care register with situation categories
  • Assigned pastor and check-in log per member
  • Urgent situation alerts on the admin dashboard
  • Entry lifecycle: open → check-in → close

Private Confessions

A secure, confidential channel for members to share prayer requests or personal confessions privately with pastoral leadership.

  • Fully anonymous or identified submission
  • Visible only to pastors and administrators
  • Pastoral response with member notification
  • Unread count badge in admin navigation

Finance

Track income, expenses, and budgets across funds and departments. Produce financial reports for leadership and board review.

  • Income and expense ledger by fund and category
  • Annual and monthly budget tracking
  • Balance sheet and profit & loss reports
  • Export to CSV for accountant or audit review
  • Multi-fund and department support

Messages

Send targeted emails to individuals, groups, or your entire congregation directly from the church admin.

  • Compose and send email to any member segment
  • Message templates for recurring communications
  • Message history and thread view per member
  • Bulk messaging with personalization tokens

Prayer Wall

Let members submit prayer requests and pray for one another. Pastors can follow up privately on sensitive requests.

  • Public and private prayer request submissions
  • Congregation can pray and leave encouragements
  • Pastor moderation and private follow-up
  • Prayer count and answered prayer tracking
  • Expiry dates to keep the wall current

Communications

Plan and schedule newsletters, social posts, and campaign broadcasts from one communication calendar.

  • Communication calendar with planned send dates
  • Newsletter builder with drag-and-drop blocks
  • SMS and push channels when a Novu account is connected
  • Subscriber list management and opt-out handling
  • Campaign status, schedule, and send history

Bible Study

Organize small groups and Bible study cohorts, share materials, and track attendance and discussion notes.

  • Bible study groups with leader assignment
  • Curriculum and lesson plan management
  • Attendance tracking per session
  • Member self-enrollment in open groups
  • Discussion notes and resource attachments

Documents

Securely store and share church documents with role-based access: policies, forms, meeting minutes, and member resources.

  • Categorized document library
  • Role-based access: public, members, staff, leaders
  • Version history and replacement uploads
  • Search by name, category, or tag
  • Download tracking and access logs

Facility Management

Manage room bookings, equipment requests, and maintenance tasks so your building runs smoothly for every event and ministry.

  • Room and space booking calendar
  • Equipment and resource checkout
  • Maintenance request submission and tracking
  • Conflict detection for overlapping bookings
  • Booking approval workflow for admin review

Events

Create and promote church events, manage RSVPs, and keep your congregation's calendar up to date.

  • Event listings with date, time, location, and description
  • RSVP and attendance capacity management
  • Recurring event support
  • iCal / Google Calendar feed export
  • Featured images and category filtering

Check-In

Fast, secure Sunday morning check-in for members, children, and volunteers via QR code or name lookup.

  • QR code and name-based check-in
  • Children's ministry secure check-in with name badge printing
  • Attendance automatically recorded per service
  • Volunteer check-in with role assignment
  • Kiosk mode for self-service check-in stations

Pastoral Care

Log pastoral interactions, assign follow-up tasks, and keep a confidential record of care activities for each member.

  • Pastoral visit and contact log per member
  • Follow-up task assignment with due dates
  • Care type categorization (visit, call, hospital, etc.)
  • Upcoming follow-up dashboard for pastors
  • Private notes visible only to pastoral staff

Small Groups

Help your congregation connect through small groups, life groups, home groups, and ministry teams, with leader tools built in.

  • Group directory with location and schedule
  • Member self-enrollment in open groups
  • Leader tools: attendance, notes, and member list
  • Group capacity and waitlist management
  • Category filtering (life stage, interest, location)

Volunteers

Recruit, schedule, and manage volunteers across all ministries with availability tracking and automated reminders.

  • Volunteer profiles with skills and availability
  • Ministry team assignment and scheduling
  • Automated shift reminders by email
  • Hours tracking and volunteer history
  • Background check status tracking

Onboarding

Guide new members through a structured welcome journey, from first visit to fully connected, with automated tasks and touchpoints.

  • Customizable onboarding journey steps
  • Automated welcome emails and follow-up tasks
  • Staff task assignments per new member
  • Progress tracking per person
  • Triggers from visitor conversion or manual enrollment

Member Portal

A personalized self-service portal where members can update their profile, view giving history, access resources, and stay connected.

  • Member profile management and photo upload
  • Personal giving history and tax statement download
  • Group memberships and serving schedule
  • Appointment booking and milestone history
  • Notification preferences and privacy settings

Reporting & Analytics

A unified analytics dashboard pulling trends from across every plugin: membership, giving, attendance, volunteers, and visitors in one view.

  • Cross-plugin summary dashboard
  • Membership growth and active vs inactive trends
  • Giving totals with year-over-year comparison
  • Attendance and volunteer hour tracking
  • CSV export for any data set

Forms & Surveys

Build custom forms for feedback, registrations, interest surveys, and visitor cards. Embed anywhere with a shortcode.

  • Drag-and-drop form field builder
  • Text, textarea, email, phone, select, checkbox, radio fields
  • Anonymous or member-linked submissions
  • Email notifications on submission
  • Embeddable shortcode for any page

Background Checks

Track volunteer and children's ministry background check status directly in member profiles, with expiry alerts and audit history.

  • Check requests for volunteers, staff, and children's workers
  • Status tracking: pending, processing, passed, failed, expired
  • Expiry date alerts on the admin dashboard
  • Provider tracking (Checkr, Sterling, manual)
  • Reference number and notes per check

Discipleship

Create structured spiritual growth paths and enroll members into guided journeys, from new believer courses to leadership development.

  • Multi-step discipleship paths with ordered lessons
  • Member self-enrollment and step advancement
  • Mentor assignment per enrollment
  • Progress tracking: active, paused, completed
  • Admin enrollment overview across all paths

Kiosk

A full-screen, touch-optimized terminal for giving, check-in, visitor registration, and welcome screens, built for tablets at church entrances.

  • Giving mode with preset amounts and Stripe integration
  • Visitor guest card mode (no login required)
  • Check-in mode with name/phone lookup
  • Welcome mode with service times and app download
  • PIN-protected exit and auto-reset after each session

Support the Mission

Inspire generosity with a beautifully crafted giving page that highlights local outreach, global missions, and next-generation ministry.

  • Local outreach, global missions, and next-gen giving sections
  • Customizable title and call-to-action button
  • Direct link to your online giving page
  • Embeddable shortcode for any page