In order to access the system, you will need to Create a New Login Account.

Step 1: Browse to Platform

Each church has its own site where the Platform can be accessed. You may need to contact your church if you don't know where to access the platform.

Step 2: Create an Account

1. Click Sign Up.
2. Enter your First Name.
3. Enter your Last Name.
4. Enter your Email Address or Mobile Phone Number.
   • If you enter an email address, you'll receive an email with a link to verify your account.
   • If you enter a mobile phone number, you'll receive a text message with a link to verify your account.
5. Click Create Account.

Want to sign up using a social login?

1. Click the desired third-party provider to link your user account. Note: Available options are determined by what Identity Providers have been previously configured by a SPoC.
2. Follow the prompts of the 3rd-party provider to grant permission to share account authentication details.
3. Once linked, a confirmation will display.

Step 3: Confirm Your Email Address or Mobile Phone Number

You should see a confirmation message on the screen and receive an email or text within a few minutes. Note: If you used a shared email address to set up your account, you will see an error screen rather than a confirmation message. To resolve this issue, use a unique email address.

If You Selected Email

1. Go to the email address you provided
2. Open the New User Account Confirmation email. Note: The content of this email can be customized by a SPoC. See Domains and Accounts for details.
3. Click the verification link. Note: For security, this link is valid for 10 minutes.

If you Selected Text

1.  Go to your text messages.
2. Find the New User Account Confirmation text message. Note: The content of this text message can be customized by a SPoC. See Domains and Accounts for details.
3. Tap the verification link.

Step 4: Username and Password

1. Enter your Username.
   • If you set up your account via email, this field will be pre-populated with the email address provided above. But feel free to change it to a username that works for you
   • If you set up your account via text, enter a username.
2. Enter your password.
3. Confirm your password.
4. Save.

Permissions

When you log in for the first time, you may not have permission to do anything in the system. Your SPoC or church administrator will assign a security role to your user account so you can access areas of the Platform.

SPoCs, you can determine what each user sees in MinistryPlatform based on security roles and what each user sees in your online directory based on Participant Type or Member Type. Make sure you understand who can see what based on these settings and apply the correct permissions to each user.

Tips for Preventing Scams and Phishing

If your church website is public and has a way to sign up for a MinistryPlatform user account, you need to be aware of a sad but true reality. The church is a popular playground for scammers. Gaining access to the Platform, even in a limited capacity, may give a scammer the information and a trusted platform to launch some very successful social engineering scams. A scammer works to be more believable, more legitimate, and poses as someone who wants to "help" their church. Allowing an impostor to have access to your church directory could disrupt your church community.

Is it a scam or a legitimate request?

If your church receives a request for a MinistryPlatform account via email or through the account request process, how do you know if the person is real? It's not always easy to determine.

Ways to verify a request:

Bill's email and email address look a little suspicious, but is it possible that he could be visiting your church? It's not possible to know from that email, but there are a few ways you could handle this:

1. Delete the email and see if he sends another email.
   • This won't necessarily resolve anything.
   • If Bill is actually phishing, he may continue to email you. The same would be true for an actual person.
     
2. Reply and tell him that he doesn't need an account to give online. Direct him to request an account on your church website.
   • If he does this, your church will still need to determine how to verify if this is a legitimate request or a scam.
3. Reply and say you're sorry you haven't met him yet.
   •  Ask him something about your church that can only be known by visiting - something that isn't posted online.
   •  Or you could ask him to meet you at the next service. It would be unlikely that a "phish" would try to meet you in person.