When it comes to children and Kids church, security is a top priority. GoDoChurch provides Kids church ministers with the ability to manage their Sunday school classes in a secure and easy way.
What are the main benefits of using the Kids Church module?
The Kids Church module will allow you to:
Quickly and easily sign kids in and out of classes on a Sunday using a very secure security code feature.
Provide parents with a sense of security by the fact that they are notified via SMS when their children are signed in or out of a class.
Easily send a message (email, SMS, or push notification) to all parents, or just the parents of one class.
Quickly find the contact details of a parent and send them a message in an emergency.
Easily organise all the kids into classes and assign someone to oversee each class.
Use the class register to keep track of attendance and draw beautiful reports on that data.
Overview of the Kids Church module
Your first step is to add all the Kids Church classes you run on a Sunday into the system. You then add all the kids that normally attend those classes to their respective classes. Next, you create a session for each class that will run on a Sunday. Each session has its own register which you can use to sign kids in and out. When a parent signs a child in, the system sends an SMS to both parents with a security code. When the class is over and a parent wants to sign the child out again they need to present the security code. If the code is correct the system marks the child as 'signed out' and sends another SMS to both parents saying the child has been signed out. The security code prevents strangers from trying to sign a child out of a class when a parent has not given them permission.
GoDoChurch also gives you the ability to launch a custom registration web page on a touchscreen or computer at church on Sunday. Tip: If you have multiple screens available the Kids Church sign in runs quickly and efficiently.
At the end of each year you can use the reports feature to see how many classes you have run and what kind of attendance you have had over the course of the year.
Key terms
Here is a list of some of the key terms we use often in the Kids Church module.
Child: a person who has been added to a family unit as a child (as opposed to a dependent).
Classes: a class is a group of kids that meet each Sunday that has oversight from someone in the Kids ministry. You may have just one Kids Church class or different classes for different age groups.
Sessions: a session is an instance of a class. Sessions are created manually in GoDoChurch for each class that runs per Sunday. Each session has a date and worker associated with it.
Workers: workers are the people who oversee Kids Church sessions.
Register: each class session has its own register that you use to track attendance. The register is found in the admin system in GoDoChurch and is only accessible to Kids Church workers or staff with the correct permission level. The register is not to be confused with the Registration web page (see below).
Registration page: the Registration page is a custom web page that you can launch on a touch screen or computer at your Sunday service that allows parents to sign their kids in and out of class sessions.
Members: each class is made up of a set of kids. These kids are called that class's members.
Parents: the profiles in GoDoChurch to which kids are added as part of a family unit.
Setting up the Kids Church module
Getting the Kids Church module up and running requires six steps:
Add all the classes you run on a Sunday into GoDoChurch.
Create family units in GoDoChurch and then add as many children into the system as possible.
Add all the kids to the right classes.
Add all the workers who serve in the Kids Church ministry into GoDoChurch.
Give your workers access to the admin system by creating accounts for them and getting them trained in how to use the system.
Educate the parents on how to use the system well.
Let's look at each of these in turn.
Family units and adding children
It is important to understand the difference between a 'dependent' and a 'child' and how GoDoChurch handles these differently. It is also important to understand how GoDoChurch manages families. You can read all about adding family units and children into GoDoChurch here: Managing Families.
It is worth noting that adding ALL the kids in a church into your database can be a laborious process. Often times you won't know their birthdays or how to spell their names correctly. To help with this process we have added a feature that allows you to set up a computer or touchscreen at church, launch a special web page we created for you, and have your parents add their children into the system for you. Not only that but if the parent is new to the church and they themselves are not yet in the system, they can add themselves using the same web page.
The feature we are referring to is called the Registration page. We cover this feature in detail in Running Kids Church on a Sunday. If you are just starting out using GoDoChurch then be sure to make the most of this great tool as it will save you lots of time.
Adding Kids church classes into GoDoChurch
A class is not the same as a session. A class is simply the list of kids who attend a certain class. Classes don't have registers. You need to create a session for each class each time it runs on a Sunday, and these sessions have their own registers.
Creating a class:
Open the Kids Church module from the main menu: Church Life >> Kids Church.
Open the Kids Church module from the main menu: Church Life >> Kids Church.
Fill in the class name and class description. If the class is for a specific age group we recommend including that in the name of the class as this makes it easier for parents to see which class would best suit their child. So 'Tiny Tots: age 3 - 5' is a good example.
Adding all the kids to the correct classes
To add children to a class click the Members button next to the class.
Start typing in the name of the child (or just the last name of the family) into the text box. GoDoChurch will auto-suggest a few options.
Of the options that pop-up click the one you want to add.
If you can't find the child it means they have not been entered into the system yet.
Note: remember, if you want to add a child to the system don't create a profile for them. Instead, add them to a family unit as only persons older than 12 ought to have a profile in GoDoChurch.You can also get parents to add their own children to the system using the registration page (see Running Kids Church on Sunday for more info).
Adding workers
A Kids church worker is someone who oversees the Kids church classes. Adding them to the system as kids church workers give them permission to sign kids in and out of classes as well as update family info. It also gives you the ability to assign them to specific classes when you create sessions for those classes.
To add a worker to the Kids Church module:
Open the Kids Church module from the main menu: Church life >> Kids Church.
Click the Workers button in the top menu.
Start typing in the name of the person into the text box. GoDoChurch will auto-suggest a few options.
Of the options that pop up click the one you want to add.
To remove a Kids worker:
If you want to remove the person as a worker click the red X button.
If you want to deactivate the person as a worker but don't want to remove them, click Deactivate.
Giving your workers access to the system
Adding them as workers is only the first step. In order for them to be able to log into GoDoChurch and access the system info, the workers need to be given an account with GoDoChurch. They will use this account info to log in. Only your church administrator (or someone with administrator permission levels) can do this for you. Collect a list of all the people you want to give access to the system and give them to your administrator. NB: ask them to set the Kids Church workers permission levels to 'Executive' as this is what is needed to use the Kids Church module properly. You can read about creating accounts and permission levels in this help article: Onboarding your team.
Note: If you have lots of people who help out with Kids Church on a Sunday but only a few of them will be responsible for the register and signing kids in and out, then you are free to only create accounts for the latter, and simply add the former as workers.
Note: if you have workers who have other administrative responsibilities in the church you may find that they already have accounts that allow them to sign in to GoDoChurch.
Getting your workers trained in GoDoChurch
It is important that the people using GoDoChurch know how to use it well. Don't worry, they can't break anything. GoDoChurch has built-in permission levels that grant people access to only certain parts of the system. That being said, we highly recommend running a small training session to get everyone up to speed. The main things your staff need to understand are listed below:
How do I log into the system and find the Kids Church module?
How do I launch the custom registration page on a Sunday?
How do sessions work and how can I find the register for the class I am overseeing?
How does the security code feature work? What should we do if someone wants to sign a child out but doesn't have the code?
If a parent is new to the church how can they add themselves and their kids into the system and to the correct classes?
How do I send a message to parents through GoDoChurch?
Helping parents understand how to use the system
If you plan on using the registration page to help parents sign their kids in on a Sunday, we recommend doing a little training with them. It isn't very hard, so having someone on hand on a Sunday to walk them through the sign-in process will probably be enough.
What next?
In Running Kids Church on a Sunday we look at how to create sessions, how to use the register, how to sign kids in and out, and other great features.
Do you have feedback about the Kids Church module? We would love to hear from you! Click here to send us your thoughts, or simply click below to rate this help article.