Frequently Asked Questions

Connect Saints is a communication platform designed for non-profit organizations like churches, where leaders need to communicate with members in a non-marketing capacity. It enables leaders to send SMS text messages to their group members for announcements, activity coordination, service opportunities, and more — all from a dedicated phone number that members recognize and trust.

No. Connect Saints is an independent, third-party platform. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or any of its entities. We simply provide a communication tool that church leaders find useful for organizing and reaching their members.

Group chats on your phone (iMessage, Android Messages, WhatsApp groups, etc.) have significant limitations for church organizations:

• Everyone sees everyone's phone number — there is no privacy. With Connect Saints, members only see the group's dedicated number.
• Replies go to the entire group — a simple "thanks" or personal response goes to all members, creating noise. With Connect Saints, member replies go only to group leaders.
• Members can't opt out cleanly — leaving a group chat can be awkward. Connect Saints provides proper opt-in/opt-out controls.
• No control over membership — there's no way for leaders to manage who receives messages or for members to cleanly opt out. Connect Saints gives leaders full control over membership at the organization and group level.
• Group chats limit participants and can't be easily managed — you cannot add or remove members without recreating the group. With Connect Saints, leaders manage membership from a dashboard and members can self-manage by replying STOP.

Connect Saints is designed to be affordable. There is a reasonable monthly platform fee that covers your entire organization regardless of how many groups you have, a small monthly fee for each dedicated phone number, and usage-based channel fees for messages sent. Once you sign up, you can view detailed pricing in the Billing section of your dashboard.

Connect Saints uses a prepaid model. You add credits to your organization's account, and messaging costs are deducted from that balance as you send messages. This means there are no surprise bills — you always know exactly how much you've spent and how much remains. When your balance gets low, you simply add more credits. This gives organizations full control over their communication budget.

No. Connect Saints never stores your full credit card number on our servers. All payment processing is handled securely through a PCI-compliant payment processor. We store only industry-standard authorization tokens that allow for recurring transactions — your actual card number is never accessible to us.

Currently, Connect Saints supports SMS (text messaging) and email as communication channels. SMS is our primary channel because it reaches every mobile phone regardless of make or model — no app download required. Additional channels are being developed for future release.

Leaders log in to the Connect Saints web application and navigate to their group's messaging page. From there, they can compose a message and send it to all group members with a single click. The message is sent from the group's dedicated phone number so members instantly recognize who it's from. Leaders can also schedule messages for future delivery.

Yes! Members can reply directly to the SMS message they receive. Their response is routed back to group leaders through the Connect Saints platform. This enables two-way communication for things like RSVPs, questions, or confirming service assignments.

No. When a member replies to a group message, their response is private — only the group leader(s) can see it through the Connect Saints platform. Other group members do not see each other's replies. This is one of the key advantages over traditional group chats, where every response is visible to everyone.

Getting started with Connect Saints is simple:

1. Create an account — Sign up and verify your email and phone number.
2. Request an organization — Submit a request to create your ward or stake organization.
3. Get approved — Our team reviews your request (typically 1-2 business days).
4. Set up your groups — Create groups for Elders Quorum, Relief Society, Young Men, or any other group that needs a communication channel. Purchase a dedicated phone number for each group — verification is typically completed in 1-2 business days.
5. Invite your members — Share a join link or add members directly. Members opt in by confirming their phone number.
6. Start communicating — Add credits and start reaching your members!

Yes! You can create as many groups as your organization needs — Elders Quorum, Relief Society, Young Men, Young Women, Primary, activities committees, and more. Each group gets its own dedicated phone number and member list. And remember, the platform fee is the same regardless of how many groups you have, so adding more groups is cost-effective.

Absolutely! We value feedback from our users. You can submit suggestions and feature requests through the Help & Support section once you are logged in. We regularly review feedback and use it to prioritize new features and improvements.