System Setup and Overview

The Church Management System (CMS) is designed as a computer application and your cell phone can't serve as a substitute because it can't provide access to the full system on a tiny screen format. Therefore, you will need a computer system.

System Access & Login

Two ways to log in:

1. 🔵 Google Sign-In (Recommended): Click the "Sign in with Google" button on the login screen. Use your existing Google/Gmail account — no new account needed. Your session is remembered so you won't need to sign in every time.
2. ✉️ Email / Password: Click the "Email / Password" tab, then "Register" to create a local account with your name, email, and a password (minimum 6 characters).

The first person to log in becomes the permanent Administrator (★) — with access to all menus and the Administrator Panel showing all registered users.

After logging in, the system opens to a 4-digit PIN screen. The default PIN is 1234 — change it immediately in Administrative → System Setup Control. When leaving your computer, go to Administrative → Maintenance and enter a different number to lock the system. Re-enter your PIN when you return.

For AI-powered features (11 tools in all: Bible Study, Sermons, Deep Dive Research, Prayer, Newsletter, and more), you will need a free Groq API key from console.groq.com — this is the system's primary, go-to AI engine, and it's free with no payment typically needed. Enter it in Administrative → System Setup Control. An optional free Gemini API key from aistudio.google.com, entered on that same screen, adds an automatic backup: if Groq is ever slow or unavailable, the system transparently retries through Gemini — no extra setup, and nothing changes about how you use the AI tools.

Registering Your Company for the System

The first step in making this system functional is to select "System Setup and Control from the Administrative menu. Provide your organization's name, your name, address, phone number, and email. Go to System in the menu and select Company Address. Be sure to save the information and close the window. Now the fun can begin.

☁️ Firebase Cloud Sync Setup

Firebase Setup — Step by Step

Step 1 — Create a Firebase Project

1. Go to console.firebase.google.com
2. Sign in with your Google account (the same one you use for ChurchCDE login)
3. Click "Add project" or "Create a project"
4. Enter a project name (e.g., "FirstChurch-CDE" or your church name)
5. You can disable Google Analytics — ChurchCDE does not use it
6. Click "Create project" and wait for it to finish (about 30 seconds)

Step 2 — Create a Firestore Database

1. In the left sidebar, click Build → Firestore Database
2. Click "Create database"
3. Leave the database name as (default) — no name needed
4. Choose a database location nearest to your church (e.g., us-east1 for US churches)
5. Click "Enable"
6. Once created, click the Rules tab and replace all existing text with the rules shown in Step 4 below, then click Publish
7. Important: Firebase will show a warning saying your rules are "public" — this is expected. Simply click "Publish anyway" to confirm. Your data is protected by the fact that your Firebase credentials (API Key, Project ID, App ID) are kept private.

Step 3 — Register ChurchCDE as a Web App

1. In Firebase Console, click the ⚙️ gear icon (Project Settings) in the left sidebar
2. Scroll down to "Your apps"
3. Click the </> Web icon to add a web app
4. Enter an app nickname (e.g., "ChurchCDE")
5. Do NOT check "Also set up Firebase Hosting" — this is not needed
6. Click "Register app"
7. You will see a configuration block like this:

const firebaseConfig = {
  apiKey: "AIzaSyXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX",
  authDomain: "your-project.firebaseapp.com",
  projectId: "your-project-id",
  storageBucket: "your-project.appspot.com",
  messagingSenderId: "123456789012",
  appId: "1:123456789012:web:abcdef1234567890"
};

You will need three values from this block:

• apiKey — the long string starting with "AIzaSy..."
• projectId — your project name (e.g., "firstchurch-cde")
• appId — the string starting with "1:..."

Step 3b — Firestore Security Rules

In the Firestore Rules tab, paste the following rules exactly and click Publish:

rules_version = '2';
service cloud.firestore {
  match /databases/{database}/documents {
    match /{document=**} {
      allow read, write: if true;
    }
  }
}

Step 4 — Enter Credentials in ChurchCDE

1. Open ChurchCDE and log in
2. Go to Administrative → System Setup Control
3. Scroll down to the ☁️ Firebase Cloud Sync section
4. Enter your Firebase API Key, Project ID, and App ID
5. Click "💾 Save & Connect"
6. The status should change to 🟢 Connected & Syncing
7. Click "🔌 Test Connection" to confirm everything is working

Step 5 — Initial Data Sync

1. After connecting, click "☁️ Push to Cloud" in System Setup to upload all existing data
2. On a second computer or device, open ChurchCDE, connect the same Firebase credentials, then click "☁️ Pull from Cloud" to download all data
3. From this point on, all saves and deletions sync automatically in the background

Firebase Free Plan Limits

Resource	Free Limit	Typical Church Usage
Storage	1 GB	~0.01 GB for 1,000 members
Reads/day	50,000	~500 per session
Writes/day	20,000	~50 per session
Auth sign-ins/month	10,000	A few per day
Cost	$0.00 — Permanently Free

Let's Begin

To Begin using this Software System: 1) Add Members to the Membership Manager (Members Menu), 2) Then Donations can be entered from those Members (Members Menu), 3) Add Business Creditors (Expense Accounts) to the System (Expenses Menu), 4) Document Payments to the creditors and other organizational costs, 5) Members (Members Menu) can be added to the various Committees (Church Menu).

Best and Warmest Regards...
SRM