Draft:Planning Center

Planning Center
TypePrivately held
IndustryChurch software
Founded2006
FoundersJeff Berg and Aaron Stewart
Headquarters
Carlsbad, California
,
United States
Key people
Jeff Berg
ProductsChurch management software, worship planning software, online giving, mobile app, volunteer scheduling, event registration
Websitewww.planningcenter.com

Planning Center is an American church software company that provides a suite of cloud-based tools for Christian churches and ministries. Its products include church management software, worship planning, volunteer scheduling, online giving, event registration, child check-in, group management, church calendars, mobile applications, and communication tools.[1][2]

Planning Center began as a worship planning and scheduling tool and later expanded into a broader church management system.[3] The company is based in Carlsbad, California.[3]

History

Planning Center was founded in 2006 by Jeff Berg and Aaron Stewart, who had worked together at a church in Southern California. According to the company, Berg and Stewart initially developed a tool for organizing Sunday services, later known as Planning Center Services.[3]

The company subsequently expanded beyond worship planning into additional church administration products. Its later products included Giving, Check-Ins, Registrations, Calendar, Groups, People, Church Center, Music Stand, and Publishing.[3][1]

In 2024, Planning Center announced the formation of the Ministry Centered Foundation, which the company described as a plan to preserve its long-term independence and prevent acquisition. Jeff Berg stated that Planning Center was privately owned, had not taken outside investment, and was intended eventually to transition into a nonprofit organization under the foundation.[4]

Products

Planning Center is structured as a suite of separate but connected software products. Its website groups these products around people and communication, events, worship and teams, mobile app and website management, donations, and system tools.[1]

Services

Planning Center Services is a worship planning and volunteer scheduling product. It is used to create service plans, schedule teams, coordinate rehearsals, manage songs and media, and communicate with volunteers.[5] The product was the company’s original software offering.[3]

People

Planning Center People is the company’s membership database and people-management product. It centralizes member records and ministry activity, including attendance, giving, volunteering, communication history, notes, background checks, lists, workflows, forms, and automations.[6]

Planning Center states that People can store notes such as prayer requests, counseling notes, and health conditions, and can be used to create workflows for membership processes, volunteering, event follow-up, and other church administration tasks.[6]

Church Center

Church Center is Planning Center’s mobile app and web experience for church members and attendees. It can be used for event registration, giving, group communication, check-in, profile updates, prayer requests, schedules, and other congregational activities.[7]

Giving

Planning Center Giving is an online giving product for churches. It supports online donations, donation reporting, donor management, recurring giving, and giving statements.[8]

Other products

Other Planning Center products include Check-Ins for attendance and child check-in, Calendar for scheduling facilities and resources, Registrations for signups and payments, Groups for group communication and engagement, Publishing for church websites and media libraries, and Music Stand for digital sheet music and chord charts.[1]

Technology and integrations

Planning Center provides an application programming interface for integrations and custom development. The company describes the API as a single API across Planning Center products, including Check-Ins, Giving, Groups, People, Calendar, and Services, conforming to the JSON API 1.0 specification.[9]

Planning Center also maintains an integrations directory with tools for presentation software, text messaging, background checks, email, worship resources, automation, consulting, and other church-related workflows. Listed integrations have included ProPresenter, Mailchimp, SongSelect, Zapier, Checkr, Clearstream, MinistrySafe, Protect My Ministry, and other third-party or verified add-on providers.[10]

Business model

Planning Center uses a modular pricing model in which churches may use some products for free and pay monthly for others depending on product usage. The company states that it does not require contracts and allows churches to cancel at any time.[11]

The company has emphasized independent ownership. In a 2024 company statement, Jeff Berg wrote that Planning Center had not taken venture capital or outside investment and that the company intended to remain independent rather than be acquired.[4]

Reception and market context

Planning Center is commonly categorized as church management software. GetApp describes it as a church management solution with features including worship planning, volunteer management, mobile access, member directory, member communication, online giving, and related functions.[2]

GetApp’s 2026 product page reported more than 1,100 verified user reviews and summarized common use cases as church management, worship, and donation management.[2] Reviewers on the platform commonly described Planning Center as useful for coordinating volunteers, service planning, team management, music, set lists, event registrations, and member databases, while some reviewers noted concerns about pricing, learning curve, navigation, minor bugs, and automation limits.[2]

Planning Center operates within the wider church software market, which includes commercial, nonprofit, denominational, and open-source software used for church administration, worship, giving, communication, pastoral care, and attendance tracking. The broader adoption of church software has been associated with the digitization of church administration and, in some contexts, with data-management requirements such as the General Data Protection Regulation.[12]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Planning Center | Church Management Software". Planning Center. Retrieved July 3, 2026.
  2. ^ a b c d "Planning Center - 2026 Pricing, Features, Reviews & Alternatives". GetApp. Retrieved July 3, 2026.
  3. ^ a b c d e "About Planning Center". Planning Center. Retrieved July 3, 2026.
  4. ^ a b Berg, Jeff (June 12, 2024). "A commitment to our customers: never being acquired". Planning Center. Retrieved July 3, 2026.
  5. ^ "Planning Center Services: Worship Planning Software". Planning Center. Retrieved July 3, 2026.
  6. ^ a b "Planning Center People: Membership Management". Planning Center. Retrieved July 3, 2026.
  7. ^ "Church Center Mobile App for Planning Center". Planning Center. Retrieved July 3, 2026.
  8. ^ "Easy Online Giving for Churches | Planning Center Giving". Planning Center. Retrieved July 3, 2026.
  9. ^ "Planning Center for Developers". Planning Center. Retrieved July 3, 2026.
  10. ^ "Planning Center Integrations: Tools that Work with Us". Planning Center. Retrieved July 3, 2026.
  11. ^ "Planning Center Pricing: Only Pay for What Your Church Needs". Planning Center. Retrieved July 3, 2026.
  12. ^ Bullock, Caroline (October 11, 2019). "Holy tech! Churches try new ways to connect". BBC News. Retrieved July 3, 2026.

Category:Christian software Category:Companies based in Carlsbad, California Category:Software companies based in California Category:Privately held companies based in California Category:Software companies established in 2006

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