Parish Guide

Welcome & Registration — How It Works

From a new family's first visit to a trustworthy household census — in plain language.
A simple, step-by-step guide for parishioners and parish staff · Powered by Nave

At a glance

Welcome & Registration is how new parishioners join your parish and how the office keeps an accurate record of every household. A newcomer has two front doors; the office has two workspaces behind them. Together they make sure nobody who reaches out is ever lost, and the household list you rely on stays current.

👋 New here?→ 🏠 Register your household→ 📋 Welcome Queue→ ✅ On the census
Two ways in, by design. The recommended path is to create a free account and register your household — that gives the family a home base they can update anytime. For visitors not ready for an account, a quieter "leave your info" form sends the basics to the parish, who follow up personally. Either way, the parish ends up with the family on record.

The four pieces

Two are for parishioners (the public Welcome page and the portal household card); two are for staff (the Welcome Queue and the Census).

👋 Welcome page

The public front door — create an account & register, or leave your info for a callback. No sign-in needed for the callback form.

🏠 My household (portal)

A signed-in parishioner registers their family and keeps it current. Submitted for staff review.

📋 Welcome Queue

Every "leave your info" submission becomes a follow-up ticket: New → Contacted → Registered. Nothing falls through.

📒 Census & Households

The parish's master household records — rosters, the annual refresh, and transfers. Pastor & staff only.

Everything is multilingual. The Welcome page and portal are shown in each visitor's own language (English / Spanish / more), so a new family is guided in the language they read.

Part A · For parishioners

How a new family joins the parish, and how anyone keeps their household details current. The recommended path takes about a minute; the callback form needs nothing but your name.

Use case 1 · Create an account & register your household

Who: A new parishioner or family.   Goal: Put your household on record and get a home base you can manage.

  1. On the parish website, open Welcome and tap Get started → (under "New here?"). Create your free account.
  2. You land in My Parish (the member portal). Find the My household card and tap Register household.
  3. Add your family — household name, the people in it, and your contact details — then submit. Your household is saved as pending review by the parish office.
  4. Once staff approve it, the status turns to approved. You can reopen the card anytime to keep your family's details up to date.

Result: Your family is on the parish's records, and you have an account for RSVPs, giving, following ministries, and service hours.

Use case 2 · Prefer a callback? Leave your info

Who: A visitor not ready to create an account.   Goal: Let the parish reach out and register you personally.

  1. On the Welcome page, open "Prefer we just reach out? Leave your info instead →".
  2. Fill in your name (required) and, if you like, your phone, email, and mailing address for a welcome packet.
  3. Optionally tap the ministries you'd love to be part of, so the parish can connect you.
  4. Tap Send my info.

Result: Your details go straight to the parish's Welcome Queue, and the welcome team follows up personally — no account required.

Use case 3 · Keep your household current Anytime

Who: Any signed-in parishioner.   Goal: Update your family's roster or contact details when life changes.

  1. Sign in and open My Parish → the My household card.
  2. Add or remove household members, fix your address or phone, and tap Save household.
  3. If the parish asks for an annual refresh, this is the same place you confirm your details are still right.

Result: The parish's records stay accurate because the people who know best — your family — keep them current.

Part B · For parish staff

Two screens: Admin → Welcome Queue (follow up on newcomers) and Admin → Census & Households (the master family records). The Census is visible to pastor and staff only.

Use case 4 · Work the Welcome Queue

Who: Parish staff (welcome access).   Goal: Make sure every newcomer gets a personal follow-up.

  1. Open Admin → Welcome Queue. Every "leave your info" submission appears as a card. Filter by status — New, Contacted, Registered, Unreachable — with a live count on each tab.
  2. On a card, after you call or email the family, tap Log contact, add a short note (what you discussed, when to try again), and save. Each attempt is kept, so anyone can see the history.
  3. Cards waiting more than a week stand out, so no one slips through while you're busy.

Result: A clear, shared worklist of newcomers — every outreach logged, nothing forgotten.

Use case 5 · Mark registered & connect them to ministries

Who: Parish staff (welcome access).   Goal: Finish onboarding a family and hand them to the right ministries.

  1. When a newcomer is fully registered, set their card to Registered.
  2. If they checked any ministry interests, Nave opens a join request for each matching ministry and alerts those leaders automatically — you'll see a confirmation of how many connections were made.
  3. If a family can't be reached after repeated tries, mark them Unreachable so the active queue stays meaningful.

Result: The newcomer is onboarded and already introduced to the ministries they care about — without a single extra email from you.

Use case 6 · Review & maintain the household census Advanced

Who: Pastor / parish staff (census access).   Goal: Keep a household master list you can trust.

  1. Open Admin → Census & Households. A summary bar shows total households, how many are active, total people on file, how many are refresh due, and any pending review.
  2. Households a parishioner registered from the portal arrive as pending review — open one, check the roster, and approve it to make it active.
  3. Add a household yourself with Add a household (you can link a member's account as the primary contact), edit any roster, and mark a family that has left as moved to keep the active count honest.
  4. Work through the refresh due list each year to confirm details are still current.

Result: One reliable household directory — updated by parishioners, approved by staff — instead of a spreadsheet nobody trusts.

Quick reference

Where do new families start?The parish website → Welcome. Recommended: Get started to create an account and register a household. Or open the "leave your info" form for a personal callback.
Do I need an account to register?The recommended path uses a free account (your home base). The "leave your info" form needs no account — just a name.
What happens after I register my household?It's saved as pending review. A staff member approves it, and it turns approved. You can update it anytime.
Where do "leave your info" submissions go?To Admin → Welcome Queue as a follow-up card, starting at status New.
What are the Welcome Queue statuses?New, Contacted, Registered, and Unreachable. Staff Log contact with a note on each attempt.
What does "Registered" do besides change the status?If the family listed ministry interests, Nave opens a join request for each match and alerts those ministry leaders.
Who can see the Census?Pastor and parish staff only. It's the master list of households, rosters, the annual refresh, and transfers.
What does "refresh due" mean?Households flagged for the parish's periodic (typically annual) check that their details are still current.
What languages?The whole Welcome flow and portal are multilingual (English / Spanish / more), shown in each visitor's own language.
The big idea: Welcoming a family and keeping good records is one connected flow, not a clipboard at the door. A newcomer registers themselves (or asks for a call); staff follow up from a shared queue where nothing is lost; and the household census stays trustworthy because parishioners keep their own families current and staff simply approve. Warm for newcomers, light for the office.

Welcome & Registration — How It Works · A guide for parishioners and parish staff · Powered by Nave