Church Admin Guide

Create your church profile

Sign in, then go to /church/create. Walk through the setup wizard: enter your church name, denomination (optional), and a welcome message that members see when they join.

Your church URL

Your church gets a unique slug (e.g. /church/grace-community). Share this link with your congregation to let them join.

Invite members

From your church dashboard → Team, generate an invite link or add members by email. Members can also discover your church via the Find a Church directory.

Assign roles

Roles: Admin (full access), Pastor (can view pastoral dashboard and flagged prayers, add notes, make assignments), Member (can post to the private wall and see other members' requests).

What it is

Your church's private prayer wall is visible only to members. Members submit requests directly to it — separate from the public community feed.

Accessing it

Members navigate to /church/[your-slug]/wall. It is also linked from their profile once they join your church.

Member submissions

Members can post as themselves or anonymously. They choose Public (to the full church), Group Only (a sub-group), or Private (pastoral staff only).

Custom branding (Pro plan)

Upload your church logo and set accent colors in Settings → Branding. The private wall displays your branding instead of the default PrayerJar look.

Overview

The pastoral dashboard (Pro plan) gives admins and pastors a bird's-eye view of church prayer activity: active requests, recent prayer volume, and member engagement.

Pastoral notes

Notes are visible only to admins and pastors — never to the member who submitted the request. Use them for internal follow-up context.

Assignments

Assign a request to a specific pastor or leader. They receive a notification and the request appears in their assignment queue.

What groups are for

Groups let you organize prayer within sub-communities of your congregation — Women's Ministry, Youth Group, Small Group 4, etc.

Creating a group

From your church dashboard, go to Groups → New Group. Give it a name and optional description.

Adding members to groups

Members can join groups themselves, or admins can add them. Group membership is independent of overall church membership.

Group prayer wall

Requests posted to a group are visible only to that group's members — not the full church.

What it is

A real-time, projected prayer wall for worship services, conferences, retreats, or prayer meetings. Attendees submit prayers from their phones; a moderator approves them before they appear on screen.

Creating an event

Go to church dashboard → Events → New Event. Set the event name, date, and an optional capacity limit.

Sharing the submission link

Attendees visit a short URL (shown in the event setup) on their phones to submit prayers. No PrayerJar account required.

Moderating submissions

Open the moderation view on a separate device. New submissions appear in real-time. Approve to display them on the wall, or dismiss inappropriate content.

The display screen

Open the display mode (/church/[slug]/events/[id]/wall) on the projected screen. Approved prayers scroll automatically. Your branding is applied.

After the event

Download a CSV report of all prayers submitted. The report is useful for follow-up pastoral care.

Accessing analytics

Church dashboard → Analytics. Available on Pro and Enterprise plans.

What you can see

Prayer volume over time, most active members, response rates (how often prayers get responses vs. none), category breakdown, and answered prayer rate.

PDF reports

Download a formatted PDF report for any time period. Useful for elder board updates or annual reports.

Getting listed

PrayerJar's Find a Church directory uses Google Places data. If your church is on Google Maps, it can be found in the directory. Claim your listing to manage it.

Claiming your listing

Search for your church in the directory, click "Claim this church," and follow the verification steps. Once verified, you can edit your description and contact info.

Why it matters

People using the Know Jesus pathway or searching for a local church in PrayerJar will find you. A claimed listing shows you are active on the platform.

Accessing billing

Go to Profile → Billing (visible only to church admins and pastors), or navigate to /billing.

Changing your plan

From the Billing page, choose a new plan and follow the Stripe checkout flow. Changes take effect immediately.

Cancelling

Cancel any time from the Billing page. You retain access until the end of the current billing period.

Event licenses

Large one-off events can be purchased as licenses rather than a full plan upgrade. Contact hello@prayerjar.org for pricing.