User Permissions
Your senior pastor needs to see everything. Your campus worship leader just needs to view their campus's numbers. Your weekend volunteer only needs to enter headcounts. Here's how to set that up.
Every church has different people who need different levels of access. Your senior pastor wants the full picture — every campus, every dollar, every trend. Your campus pastor only cares about their location. Your Sunday morning volunteer counter just needs to punch in headcounts and get back to greeting people. Vitals makes it simple to give everyone exactly what they need, without giving anyone more than they should have.
Who Gets What? A Church Staff Guide
Here is a quick reference for common church roles and the Vitals permission level we recommend for each. This is not one-size-fits-all — your church structure might be different — but it is a solid starting point.
| Church Role | Vitals Role | Campus Access |
|---|---|---|
| Senior / Lead Pastor | Owner or Admin | All campuses |
| Executive Pastor | Admin | All campuses |
| Campus Pastor | Editor | Their campus only |
| Worship Director | Viewer | Their campus only |
| Kids Ministry Director | Editor | Their campus only |
| Church Administrator / Office Manager | Admin | All campuses |
| Sunday Volunteer Counter | Editor | Their campus only |
| Elder / Board Member | Viewer | All campuses |
| Intern | Viewer | Their campus only |
| Bookkeeper / Finance Team | Viewer | All campuses |
When in doubt, start with Viewer and upgrade if they need more. It is always easier to give more access than to take it back after someone has already seen data they should not have.
Permission Levels Explained
Vitals uses four permission levels. Each one is designed for a specific type of person in your church. Here is what each level can (and cannot) do:
This is usually the senior pastor or the person who set up the Vitals account.
- Full access to all settings, data, and reports across every campus
- Billing and subscription management
- Cannot be removed by other users
- Only one Owner per organization (but ownership can be transferred)
Executive pastors, operations directors, and church administrators typically get this role.
- Full access to all settings and data across every campus
- Invite, edit, and remove team members
- Cannot access billing or remove the Owner
- Can set up integrations, manage campuses, and configure metrics
Campus pastors, ministry directors, office staff who enter data, and weekend volunteer counters.
- Enter and edit metric data for any week
- View all dashboards and reports (within their campus access)
- Cannot change organization settings or manage other users
- Can be restricted to specific campuses
Elder board members, worship directors, interns, finance team members who just need to see reports.
- Read-only access to dashboards and reports
- Cannot enter or edit any data
- Cannot access settings
- Can be restricted to specific campuses
Campus-Restricted Access
For multi-site churches, campus restrictions are your best friend. They let you give someone access to just their location's data without seeing numbers from other campuses. This is especially helpful when campuses have different leaders who do not need to compare themselves to each other week by week.
Real-world scenario
Pastor Mike leads your Eastside Campus. He needs to enter attendance numbers every Monday and review his giving trends for the month. But he does not need to see what the Downtown Campus is doing — that is Pastor Sarah's world. By giving Mike an Editor role restricted to Eastside, he sees only what he needs, and the data he enters always goes to the right campus automatically.
Meanwhile, Pastor Sarah has the same setup for Downtown. And your senior pastor has Admin access to all campuses, so they can see the complete picture anytime.
- 1Go to Settings → Team.
- 2Click the team member you want to restrict.
- 3Click Edit.
- 4Under Campus Access, deselect “All Campuses” and select the specific campus or campuses.
- 5Click Save. Changes take effect immediately.
Campus restrictions apply to Editors and Viewers only. Owners and Admins always have access to all campuses — they need the full picture to lead effectively.
You can assign someone to multiple campuses. A worship director who leads at both North and Downtown can be given access to both locations.
A campus-restricted Editor can enter and edit data only for their assigned campus. They will not even see the campus selector for other locations.
Changing Permissions
Church staffing changes all the time. Maybe your youth pastor just took on an additional campus, or your intern graduated to a full-time role. Updating permissions is quick and takes effect immediately — the person does not need to log out and back in.
- 1Go to Settings → Team.
- 2Click the team member whose role you want to change.
- 3Click Edit Role.
- 4Select the new role from the dropdown.
- 5Click Save.
Common scenarios
Intern becomes full-time staff
Upgrade from Viewer to Editor so they can start entering data.
Campus pastor takes on a second location
Add the second campus to their campus access list. No role change needed.
Volunteer finishes their data entry season
Downgrade from Editor to Viewer, or remove access entirely if they no longer need it.
New executive pastor hired
Set them up as Admin with all-campus access from day one.
Only Admins and the Owner can change roles. An Admin cannot promote another user to Owner — only the current Owner can transfer ownership.
Removing Access
When a staff member transitions out of your church, remove their access the same day — it is just good stewardship of your congregation's data. Giving numbers, attendance trends, and financial reports are sensitive information that should stay within your current team.
- 1Go to Settings → Team.
- 2Click the team member you want to remove.
- 3Click Remove.
- 4Confirm the removal in the dialog.
Removing a user does not delete any data they entered. All of their historical entries remain intact and attributed to them in the audit log.
The removed user will no longer be able to log in or access any Vitals data. Access is revoked instantly.
If the person comes back to your church staff later, you can re-invite them. They will need to set up a new account, but their old data entries are still in the system.
Security Tips for Churches
Your congregation trusts you with their tithes, their attendance, and their personal information. A few simple habits keep that trust well-placed and your church's data secure.
Remove access the same day someone leaves staff
Don’t wait for the end of a notice period or their last Sunday. When a staff member transitions out of your church, remove their Vitals access that day. It’s just good stewardship of your congregation’s data.
Audit your team list quarterly
Put a recurring reminder on your calendar to review Settings → Team every quarter. You will be surprised how often there are old accounts for people who left months ago. Staff transitions are the most common source of unnecessary access in churches.
Default to Viewer for anyone who doesn’t edit
Elder board members, finance committee observers, worship directors who just want to see trends — they all need Viewer, not Editor. Most people only need to see data, not change it.
Keep Admin to a small circle
Admins can manage all users and settings. This role should be limited to your senior pastor, executive pastor, and maybe your church administrator. The youth pastor probably does not need Admin access — Editor with campus restrictions is plenty.
Use campus restrictions generously
If someone only works at one campus, restrict them to that campus. It keeps their view clean and focused, and it prevents accidental data entry into the wrong location. Win-win.
Don’t share login credentials
It can be tempting to share one login for your whole volunteer counter team, but each person should have their own account. This way you can see who entered what, and you can remove access individually when needed.
Common Questions
Our senior pastor is leaving and a new one is coming. How do we transfer ownership?
The current Owner can transfer ownership to any Admin. Go to Settings → Team, click your own profile, and select “Transfer Ownership.” Choose the new Owner and confirm. The outgoing pastor’s role will change to Admin, and you can then remove their access entirely if needed.
Can a volunteer counter only enter data but not see giving numbers?
Currently, Editors can see all metrics within their campus access. If giving data is sensitive, consider having volunteer counters enter data via a shared form or have a staff member enter giving separately. We are exploring more granular metric-level permissions for the future.
What if someone accidentally enters data for the wrong campus?
If they are campus-restricted, this cannot happen — they only see their own campus. If they have all-campus access, an Admin can correct the data by editing the entry and moving it to the right campus.
Do board members need accounts, or can we just share reports?
We recommend giving board members Viewer accounts. This way they can log in and see live, up-to-date dashboards anytime — not just the snapshot from the last board meeting. Plus, each person has their own access that can be managed individually.
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Still have questions? Email us at support@vitals.church — we usually reply within a few hours.