Adding Members and Families
Your member database is the foundation of everything in Wired Church — attendance tracking, contribution records, group assignments, communication, and the member portal all connect back to member records. This guide covers adding members individually, linking family groups, and importing members in bulk.
Navigate to Members
- Open the admin sidebar and click Members.
- The member list view loads, showing all current members with their name, photo, status, campus, and contact information.
- Click the Add Member button in the top-right corner to begin.
Required Fields
The Add Member form has two required fields:
- First Name — The member's legal or preferred first name.
- Last Name — The member's last name or family name.
All other fields are optional, though filling in as much information as possible makes the record more useful for communication, reporting, and ministry.
If you only have a first name (common for first-time visitors), you can enter "Unknown" or a dash for the last name and update it later. The system allows editing at any time.
Personal Information Fields
After the required name fields, the form includes the following optional sections:
Contact Information
| Field | Description | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Phone (Primary) | Main phone number | Used for SMS broadcasts and 2FA |
| Phone (Secondary) | Alternate phone | Useful for spouse or work number |
| Email address | Used for email broadcasts and giving statements | |
| Preferred Contact | How this person prefers to be reached | Options: Phone, Email, Text, No Preference |
Address
Standard US mailing address fields: street, line 2, city, state, ZIP. Used for contribution statements, directory listings, and geographic reporting. Can be left blank if the member prefers not to share.
Personal Details
Birthday, anniversary, gender, marital status (Single, Married, Widowed, Divorced), and campus assignment. Birthday and anniversary fields enable automated greetings through the broadcast module.
Even approximate dates (month and day without year) are valuable for birthday greetings.
Membership Status
Every member record has a Membership Status field that controls how they appear in lists, reports, and the directory. The available statuses are:
| Status | Description | Appears in Directory? | Included in Reports? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Active | Current church member in good standing | Yes | Yes |
| Inactive | Former member or member who has moved away | No (by default) | Optional |
| Visitor | First-time or returning guest | No | Visitor reports only |
| Prospect | Person who has expressed interest but not yet joined | No | Prospect reports only |
- Select the appropriate status from the Membership Status dropdown.
- New records default to Active status. Change this to Visitor if you are adding a first-time guest.
- Status can be changed at any time from the member's profile.
Membership status affects contribution statements. Only members with Active status are included in year-end giving statement generation by default. Visitors and prospects who give can still receive statements, but they must be included manually.
Member vs. Visitor Designation
Separate from the membership status, each record has a Member/Visitor toggle that controls access to the member portal:
- Member — Can be granted a portal login. Appears in the member directory. Can join groups, RSVP to events, and participate in the community feed.
- Visitor — Cannot access the member portal. Tracked separately in visitor follow-up workflows.
When adding a visitor, set the toggle to Visitor and fill in any visitor-specific fields that appear (how they heard about the church, visit date, assigned follow-up person).
When a visitor becomes a member, change both the toggle (Visitor to Member) and the membership status (Visitor to Active). The visitor follow-up history is preserved on their record.
Profile Photos
Each member can have a profile photo:
- Click the photo placeholder (camera icon) at the top of the form.
- Upload an image from your computer (JPG, PNG, or WebP, max 5 MB).
- The upload tool provides a circular crop preview — drag and resize to frame the photo.
- Click Save Photo.
Photos appear in:
- The member list and search results
- The member directory (portal)
- Attendance check-in
- Group member lists
- Contribution entry (for quick visual confirmation)
If your church has a photo directory event, upload all photos at once using the bulk import feature (described below). Photos can also be updated by members themselves through the portal under their profile settings.
Family Groups
Wired Church links family members together through Family Groups. This is essential for:
- Generating family giving statements (combined totals for tax purposes)
- Displaying family units in the directory
- Communicating with households rather than individuals
- Tracking family attendance patterns
Creating a Family Group
- On the Add Member form, scroll to the Family section.
- If this person is the first member of their family being added, click Create New Family.
- Enter the Family Name (typically the last name, e.g., "Smith Family").
- The current member is automatically added to the new family group.
Adding to an Existing Family
- If the family group already exists (because another family member was added first), click Join Existing Family.
- Search for the family by name.
- Select the correct family from the results.
Head of Household
Each family group has a Head of Household designation:
- Check the Head of Household checkbox if this member is the primary contact for the family.
- The head of household receives family-addressed communications and appears as the primary name on family giving statements.
- Only one member per family should be marked as head of household. If you check this box and another family member already holds the designation, a confirmation prompt asks if you want to transfer it.
For married couples, many churches designate both spouses as co-heads of household. Wired Church supports this — both can be checked, and communications will address both names (e.g., "John & Jane Smith").
Spiritual Milestones
The member form includes fields for tracking key spiritual events:
| Milestone | Field Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Salvation Date | Date picker | When the person accepted Christ |
| Baptism Date | Date picker | Water baptism date |
| Baptism of the Holy Ghost | Date picker | Holy Spirit baptism date |
| Membership Date | Date picker | When they officially joined the church |
These milestones appear on the member's profile and can be used in reports (e.g., "Members baptized this year").
All milestone dates are optional. Not every church tracks the same milestones, and not every member will have dates for each one. Record what you know — even partial data is valuable for pastoral care.
Saving the Record
After filling in the desired fields:
- Click Save Member at the bottom of the form.
- A success toast notification confirms the record was created.
- You are redirected to the new member's profile page, where you can see all entered information and access additional tabs (Attendance, Giving, Groups, Notes).
If validation errors exist (e.g., missing required fields, invalid email format, invalid phone format), the form highlights the problematic fields in red with error messages. Correct the errors and save again.
Bulk Import from CSV
If you have a list of members in a spreadsheet (from a previous system, a church management tool, or a manual list), you can import them all at once.
Preparing Your CSV
- Create a CSV file with one member per row.
- Include column headers in the first row. Wired Church recognizes these common headers:
first_name,last_name,email,phone,address,city,state,zip,birthday,gender,status,campus,family_name
- Ensure dates are in
MM/DD/YYYYorYYYY-MM-DDformat. - Save as UTF-8 CSV.
Running the Import
- Navigate to Members and click the Import button (next to Add Member).
- Upload your CSV file.
- The column mapping wizard appears — match your CSV columns to Wired Church fields using the dropdowns.
- Preview the import to check for errors.
- Click Import to create all member records.
The CSV import creates new records. It does not update existing members. If a person with the same name already exists, a duplicate will be created. Review the preview carefully for potential duplicates before confirming.
Family Assignment During Import
If your CSV includes a family_name column:
- Members with the same family name value are automatically grouped into a family.
- The first member in each family group is designated as the head of household by default.
- You can adjust head of household designations after import from each member's profile.
Planning Center Import
Export your People data from Planning Center as CSV and use the standard import process above. Planning Center's format maps cleanly to Wired Church fields. Custom fields will need to be mapped to the closest equivalent or added as notes. After import, review family groups since Planning Center's household structure may require some manual family linking.
After Adding Members
Once members are in the system, you can:
- Track attendance — Mark them present at services. See Attendance Tracking.
- Record contributions — Enter their donations and generate giving statements. See Recording Donations.
- Assign to groups — Add them to ministry teams and social groups. See Groups and Tags.
- Create user accounts — Grant portal access so they can log in, view their giving, RSVP to events, and participate in the community feed.
- Send communications — Include them in email and SMS broadcasts.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I merge duplicate member records? Yes. Navigate to either duplicate record, click the Actions menu, and select Merge with Another Record. Choose the record to merge into, review which fields to keep from each record, and confirm. Attendance, giving, and group history from both records are combined.
Can members edit their own information? Yes, through the member portal. Members can update their contact info, address, profile photo, and privacy settings. Changes are reflected immediately — no admin approval is needed for basic profile edits.
Is there a limit on the number of members? Wired Church does not impose a limit on member records. Your subscription plan determines available features, not member count.
Can I delete a member record? Deleting a member record is a restricted action available only to admins. Deleted records are soft-deleted (moved to a Trash bin) and can be restored within 90 days. After 90 days, they are permanently removed. Contribution and attendance records linked to a deleted member are preserved for reporting integrity.