Kirchenwerk - Church Management as a SaaS Platform

rocket_launchStatus: In daily use at Herzfabrik, pilot phase for more churches. At kirchenwerk.de (German only) churches can sign up as pilot congregations - free of charge until the public launch planned for the end of 2026.

Project Overview

Many churches manage their members in Excel lists, coordinate events through WhatsApp groups and plan services on paper. That works - until it doesn’t. With several locations at the latest, it gets confusing: who is in which group? Who is on sexton duty? Is the youth leader’s background check still valid?

Kirchenwerk brings all of that into one place: members and families, services with sermon series, events for every location, groups, home groups and ministry teams. The core is the same for every church; modules such as children’s and youth work, media and livestream or donations can be added. Church office, staff and volunteers work with a single login.

Kirchenwerk grew out of the daily work of Herzfabrik, a church with several locations in Saxony’s Vogtland and Ore Mountains. Today the platform is aimed at Protestant, Catholic and free churches - hosted in Germany and aligned with the German church data protection laws DSG-EKD and KDG.

Challenges

Multi-tenancy

Every church needs its own separate area - while all of them share the same platform

GDPR and church data protection law

Beyond the GDPR, churches are bound by DSG-EKD and KDG; on top come sensitive records like background checks in youth work

Permissions per location and module

Leadership, office and volunteers need different access - per location and per module

One source for website and calendar

Events should be entered once and appear automatically on the website and in members' calendars

An easy switch

Churches come from ChurchTools, ChurchDesk or Excel - their data has to come along without loss

Solutions

Technical Solutions

Innovative Approaches for Your Success

computer

Web Platform

One interface for office, staff and volunteers

React with TypeScript and Vite

Tailwind CSS with our own building blocks

Permissions per location and module

Modules each church can switch on

database

Convex Backend

Reactive database, hosted in Germany

TypeScript from database to interface

Changes visible to everyone in real time

Separate areas per church

Audit log for traceable changes

language

Website Integration

Events and content for the church website

Connected to Herzfabrik's Sulu website

Events appear automatically

Interface for websites and apps

Enter data once, use it everywhere

calendar_month

Calendar & Media

Subscribe to events, bundle media

Calendar subscription for your own calendar

Print view for meetings

Podcast and YouTube livestream

Media library for the church

Platform Features

Members

Members & families

Profiles, families, roles and permissions per location

Services

Planning & sermon series

Date, location, team and preparation status

Events

One calendar for all

All locations, calendar subscription and print view

Community

Groups & ministry teams

Home groups, teams with leads and open spots

Youth Work

Children & youth

Groups, camps, consents and records

Collaboration

Chat & tasks

For staff and volunteers, guest follow-up in the team

Technology Highlights

Real time instead of reloading

Convex pushes changes straight to every connected device. When the office creates an event, the team at the other location sees it without reloading.

Data minimisation by design

For background checks, Kirchenwerk stores only “on file” and “valid until” - no upload, no copy. Every church works in its own separate area.

Modules as needed

Every function beyond the core is a module with its own permissions. Churches switch on what they need - from youth work to donations and campaigns.

Switching with import

Data from ChurchTools, ChurchDesk or Excel lists comes along; we help with the import and with onboarding the team.

Project Gallery

All views show the real interface with made-up sample data.

Overview: open tasks, key figures per location and upcoming events

Kirchenwerk members in the families view

Members & families: who belongs together, with teams and small groups

Events: one calendar for all locations, with subscription and print view

Ministry teams with lead, location and open spots

Children's and youth work with saved lists and records

kirchenwerk.de: members, services and events in one place

Why Kirchenwerk?

Existing solutions are often either pure administration tools or pure community apps. Kirchenwerk connects the work of the church office with that of staff and volunteers in one platform.

• From practice: Developed in the daily life of a church with several locations
• Hosted in Germany: GDPR, DSG-EKD and KDG, separate areas per church
• A fair start: Free during the pilot phase, cancellable monthly
• Connected: Events appear automatically on the website and in calendars

Find more details on the technical implementation in our blog article.

Next Step

Interested in a SaaS Platform?

Planning a SaaS solution or need a complex management system? Let's talk.

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