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Connecting ChurchSuite to CareNote

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ChurchSuite connection form outline with Client Identifier and Client Secret fields and a Connect to ChurchSuite button
Create an API user in ChurchSuite, paste its credentials, and you are ready to import.

If your church runs on ChurchSuite, your Address Book already holds your members, families, and children's records. Connecting it to CareNote means your care team starts with a full congregation instead of re-typing names, phone numbers, and addresses by hand. After the first import, CareNote refreshes the list for you every night.

What this integration does

CareNote imports your ChurchSuite Address Book contacts and children's records. Families are organized into households based on spouse relationships. You get first and last names, email addresses, phone numbers, mailing addresses, dates of birth, and sex.

A few things to know before you start:

  • ChurchSuite API access requires a "full suite" ChurchSuite subscription. If your church is on a smaller plan, ask ChurchSuite support.
  • Only the Address Book is part of this sync. Calendar and Small Groups data are not.
  • Each CareNote team connects on its own, so repeat these steps for every team that needs it.

1. Create an API user in ChurchSuite

Do this first, in ChurchSuite, signed in as an Administrator.

  1. Click your profile in the top right, then go to Settings.
  2. Create a new user with minimal permissions. Its only job is API access, so it does not need broad rights.
  3. View the new user and choose Enable API access from the More menu.

2. Generate your Client Identifier and Client Secret

  1. Log out, then log back in as the new API user.
  2. Go to My profile and open the Secrets tab.
  3. Copy your Client Identifier from the top of the page.
  4. Click Add secret to create a Client Secret. It starts with cs_oauth2_.

Save the secret somewhere safe right away. ChurchSuite shows it only once.

3. Open the ChurchSuite page in CareNote

Integrations lives in CareNote Settings, which owners can open. Open your avatar menu and choose CareNote Settings.

The avatar menu open on the Integrations page, with CareNote Settings in the list
Start here: your avatar menu leads to CareNote Settings.

In the left menu, choose Integrations. You will see a card for each system CareNote works with.

The Integrations catalog with a card for each church management system, all marked Not Connected
Every system has its own card; a connected one shows its status here.

Find the ChurchSuite card under Church Management and click it.

The ChurchSuite card in the Integrations catalog showing a Not Connected label
The card shows Not Connected until you finish the next step.

4. Connect your account

The page is titled Church Suite Integration. Before you connect, the status card reads Not connected to ChurchSuite with Imported Profiles at 0.

The Church Suite Integration page before connecting, with the Connect to ChurchSuite button and the credential fields
Connect to ChurchSuite sits in the top right of the page.
  1. Under ChurchSuite OAuth2 Connection, paste your Client Identifier into the first field.
  2. Paste your Client Secret into the second field. It is masked as you type.
  3. Click Connect to ChurchSuite.

If you forget where a credential comes from, the How to Get Your API Credentials list on the same page repeats the steps from section 2.

The How to Get Your API Credentials list below the credential fields
The same eight steps are on the page, with a reminder to store your Client Secret securely.

5. Import your people

Once you are connected, the status card shows a Connected via OAuth2 line and a Sync: Enabled badge, along with the number of imported profiles. (These appear only after a connection exists, so they are not in this guide's screenshots.) The card has four buttons:

Button What it does
Import People Starts an import now
Test Connection Checks that ChurchSuite still accepts your credentials
Update Credentials Lets you paste in a new Client Identifier or Secret
Disconnect Removes the connection and stops syncing, after you confirm

The top of the page repeats these as Start Import and Update Settings. They do the same jobs, so use whichever is closer.

Imports run in the background, so you can keep working while they finish. You only need Import People for your first load or when you want a change to appear right away. CareNote also re-imports every connected ChurchSuite team each night at 2:30 AM Eastern.

Bringing in care history

The ChurchSuite connection brings in people, not past visits or notes. If you keep care history in a spreadsheet, use Import Interactions, a separate tool, to load it onto your profiles.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a special ChurchSuite plan? Yes. ChurchSuite API access requires a "full suite" subscription. ChurchSuite support can confirm what your church has.

How often does it sync? Every night at 2:30 AM Eastern, for each connected team. Click Import People if you need an update sooner.

Will this overwrite information I already have in CareNote? CareNote matches people by their ChurchSuite ID and nothing else. If a profile came from ChurchSuite, the next import updates the fields ChurchSuite syncs on it. If you typed someone in by hand, CareNote does not match them by name or email, so the import creates a second profile for that person instead of changing yours. Check for duplicates after your first import.

What if I lose my Client Secret? Sign in to ChurchSuite as the API user, open My profile, then Secrets, and click Add secret. Then choose Update Credentials in CareNote and paste in the new one.

Can I disconnect later? Yes. Click Disconnect on the ChurchSuite page and confirm. This removes the connection and stops all syncing.

Watch

ChurchSuite does not have its own video yet. These two cover the same idea of getting your people into CareNote: