⛪️ Should My Church Become a Connecting Church?

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Estimated read time: 7 minutes

Overview

This article introduces the Connecting Church feature and answers the questions a Church Leader is most likely to have before applying — including what activity level to expect, how far your Church would need to serve, and why a CarePortal Card is part of the process. If this sounds like the right next step for your Church, read on.

Intended audience

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Included in this article

Why & how it works
What activity level is expected?
How far do Connecting Churches cover?
Why a CarePortal Card?
How to become a Connecting Church
What happens next?
What to expect after approval
Requesting a CarePortal Card
Final status: Approved

Why & how it works

link to video

Over 70% of needs entered by Agencies into CarePortal are typically met by Churches. That's great! But what about the other 30%? Those are real kids. Real families. We want to always push toward 100% as if a child's life depends upon it. So what would that take?

A community consists of individuals, businesses, and other groups who are often willing to help resource the meeting of needs — especially if they know the needs have been vetted by child-serving professionals. Each of these partners is given the chance to say "yes" to resourcing a need, but to remain consistent with our priority of having the Church at the Point of Care, a Church that is ready and equipped to partner with these Community Responders, must be identified. We call these Churches Connecting Churches. With them, the CarePortal platform can allow anyone from anywhere to offer the resources a family needs — whether that's funding given directly through the platform, or items they already have to Provide.

When a Community Responder says "yes" to helping meet a need, the CarePortal platform automatically alerts Connecting Churches near the family, giving them a chance to commit to those resources and connect with that partner. The Connecting Church is given the opportunity to steward those community resources — taking the relational lead in meeting the family's needs alongside the Agency Worker who submitted the request.

When the Community Responder offers a tangible item like a bed, the Connecting Church can arrange pickup and use it as a way to go meet the family and form a real connection. If the community partner chooses to Fund a request — to pay a bill or purchase something needed — the money moves through the CarePortal platform and is loaded directly onto the Connecting Church's CarePortal Card.

In communities facing concentrated poverty or other forms of crisis, the local Churches nearby are often already at work. Becoming a Connecting Church with CarePortal allows those Churches to continue serving those around them — and gives the surrounding community a direct way to support that work through the CarePortal Card.

Why do it this way? CarePortal is 100% committed to helping the Local Church be at the Point of Care for vulnerable children and families. That's our assignment. As a Connecting Church, you have the opportunity to make meaningful connections — with Community Responders who want to help, and with the children and families you're serving. Doesn't get much better than that!

What activity level is expected?

The targeted activity level depends entirely on the resources available for local requests and how many other Connecting Churches are engaged in the area. Resources may come from Community Responders who commit to Provide or Fund items, as well as from Church Responders who choose to Fund. The goal is to have many Connecting Churches sustainably serving with a relational focus in each community.

How far do Connecting Churches cover?

Each Connecting Church can designate in its Church Settings the maximum distance it's willing to travel to serve a family with a Community Partner offering to help (this is called your Connecting Church Radius). This lets your Church engage as a Connecting Church in a way that aligns with your ministry's vision and capacity.

Learn more about CarePortal Cards and how they work.

How to become a Connecting Church

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Quick Tip: Only the Primary Point Person can initiate this process.

To apply, follow these steps:

1. Sign in as the Primary Point Person

2. Go to the Settings page in your CarePortal Dashboard.

3. Assign the Connecting Church Leader role

Before turning on the Connecting Church setting, you'll need to assign the Connecting Church Leader role to at least one person.

To assign this role to yourself:

Select Leaders at the top of the Settings page.
Select the ··· menu next to your name.
Select Add Role, choose Connecting Church Leader from the dropdown, then select Add Role.

To assign this role to someone else:

Select Add New Leader.
Search for their email to check if they already have a CarePortal account.
If they don't, select + next to the email field to create an account.
Fill out their information and enable Receive System Emails so they'll get request alerts and account updates (this can be adjusted later).
Once created, assign them the Connecting Church Leader role.

4. Turn on the Connecting Church setting

Go back to the Settings page and scroll down to the Become a Connecting Church section. Switch the toggle to On.

5. Select Save.

What happens next?

Once your Church submits a request to become a Connecting Church, your local CarePortal Regional Manager and/or Church Ambassador will reach out with next steps and training. This training covers what it means to Take the Lead on requests and how to claim available resources that have been Provided and Funded.

Get a head start with the Connecting Church Leader Training Guide, which includes an interactive video.

After completing the training, your Regional Manager will approve your request. At that point, the Become a Connecting Church section will update to show "Pending CarePortal Card Approval."

What to expect after approval

Once your Church is approved, the Primary Point Person, Pastors, and Connecting Church Leaders will receive an email with their next steps — including instructions to request a CarePortal Card if one hasn't been requested yet.

Requesting a CarePortal Card

Before a Connecting Church is fully activated and able to Take the Lead on local requests, at least one eligible Church Leader must request and activate a CarePortal Card. This enables your team to receive donations contributed by Church or Community Responders who choose to Fund a request.

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Best Practice: Have each CarePortal Card mailed to a personal address rather than the Church building's address — envelopes sent to a Church can sometimes be mistaken for junk mail.

The following roles will see the Request a CarePortal Card button at the top of the Church's Settings page:

Primary Point Person
Connecting Church Leader
Church-Vetted Requests Leader

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Quick Tip: The Church-Vetted Requests Leader role is not affiliated with the Connecting Church feature — it simply has access to request a CarePortal Card.

Final status: Approved

Once your Church requests and activates a CarePortal Card, the "Approved" badge will appear in your Become a Connecting Church section.

This badge stays on your account even if you disable the Connecting Church setting for a season — so you can reactivate it whenever you're ready.

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