How to Migrate Your Church Data to Gathrik (Step-by-Step)

Switching church software feels like moving house. Everything is in boxes, you are not sure what will break, and there is a nagging fear that you will lose something important along the way.

We designed Gathrik's import process to make this as painless as possible. Most churches get their data migrated in an afternoon. Here is exactly how to do it.

What You Can Bring With You

Gathrik imports member data from any platform that exports CSV or Excel files. That covers every major church management system: Planning Center, Breeze, Tithe.ly, ChurchTrac, CCB, FaithTeams, Rock RMS, and most others.

Here is what transfers cleanly:

What Needs Manual Setup

Some data does not transfer via CSV because it is structural, not tabular:

The honest truth: giving history is the hardest part of any church software migration. Most churches either enter yearly totals for tax statement continuity or start fresh in the new system and keep the old system's exports as archive. We recommend keeping your old platform's giving export as a backup for at least one full tax year.

Step-by-Step Migration Process

Step 1: Export From Your Current Platform

Before you do anything in Gathrik, get your data out of your current system.

Planning Center: Go to People, select all, click "Export." Choose CSV. You get names, contact info, custom fields, and family relationships.

Breeze/Tithe.ly: Go to the People section, use the export feature. Exports names, contact info, tags, and notes as CSV.

ChurchTrac: Use their export tool under Reports or People. Exports to CSV.

Rock RMS: Export from any data view as CSV, or use the API for more control.

Spreadsheets: If you are coming from Excel or Google Sheets, save as CSV. Clean up column headers so they match standard fields (First Name, Last Name, Email, Phone, Address).

Step 2: Clean Your Data (15 Minutes)

Before importing, do a quick cleanup:

1. Remove obvious duplicates. Same person entered twice with slight spelling differences
2. Fix name formatting. Use mixed case (John Smith), not ALL CAPS (JOHN SMITH). Gathrik uses names in emails and messages, and JOHN SMITH looks like your church is yelling
3. Standardize phone numbers. Include country codes if you have international members (+234 for Nigeria, +44 for UK, +1 for US)
4. Mark inactive members. Add a column for status so you can import them as inactive rather than active

Do not spend hours on this. Get the obvious stuff fixed and move on. You can clean up individual records in Gathrik after import.

Step 3: Import Into Gathrik (10 Minutes)

1. Log into your Gathrik dashboard
2. Go to the onboarding wizard (or Settings > Import)
3. Upload your CSV file
4. Map your CSV columns to Gathrik fields (the wizard shows a preview so you can verify before importing)
5. Click import

Gathrik processes the file and creates member records. You will see a summary of how many records were created and any that had issues (missing required fields, duplicate emails, etc.).

Step 4: Set Up Your Church Structure (30 Minutes)

Now that your members are in, build the structure around them:

Groups: Create your ministry groups, small groups, and teams. Assign members to groups. Set leaders.

Volunteer roles: Create the roles your church needs (worship team, ushers, children's ministry, tech team). Set up volunteer profiles.

Events: Create your recurring services and upcoming events. Set up the event categories.

Children's ministry: Add children's profiles with guardian links, allergies, and room assignments. This is the most time-sensitive setup because you want check-in working by Sunday.

Communication: Connect your WhatsApp Business account (if using). Set up your SMS sender name. Create your first email template.

Step 5: Test Before Sunday (1 Hour)

Before your first live Sunday on Gathrik:

• Create a check-in session and test the QR code with your phone
• Send a test email to yourself
• Send a test SMS to your phone
• Look up a member by name and verify their profile is correct
• Check that family/household links are intact
• Verify a few member profiles have correct contact info
• Test the children's check-in flow (check-in and check-out with security code)

Step 6: Go Live

Pick a Sunday and use Gathrik for check-in and attendance. You do not need to shut down your old system immediately. Run both for 2-3 weeks if it makes you more comfortable.

Most churches tell us the first Sunday feels anticlimactic. The QR code goes up, people scan it, attendance records appear in the dashboard, and everything just works. That is the goal.

Tips From Churches That Have Migrated

Do not try to migrate everything in one day. Get members imported and check-in working first. Add giving, groups, and volunteers in the following weeks. Trying to set up everything at once leads to mistakes.

Designate one person as the migration lead. This should be whoever understands the data best, usually the church administrator or office manager. Everyone else can learn the new system after migration.

Tell your congregation what is changing. If the check-in process will be different on Sunday, mention it in your announcements. "We are switching to a new system. You will scan a QR code to check in. It takes 10 seconds." That is all you need.

Keep your old system's exports. Download everything your old platform offers before canceling. Keep the files for at least 12 months. You never know when you will need to reference historical data for tax statements or board reports.

What About Giving History?

This deserves its own section because it is the question every church asks first.

Gathrik tracks donations going forward from the day you start using it. We do not import historical giving records automatically because the risk of errors (mismatched donors, incorrect amounts, wrong fund assignments) is too high to automate.

Here is what we recommend:

Option A: Start fresh. Begin recording donations in Gathrik from your migration date. Keep your old platform's giving reports for historical reference and tax statements. This is the safest approach and what most churches choose.

Option B: Enter yearly totals. For each active donor, create a single donation entry per year with the total amount. This gives you continuity for tax statements without importing thousands of individual transactions.

Option C: Enter recent history. Import the current calendar year's donations so tax statements are complete. Skip everything before that.

Whichever option you choose, keep your old system's giving export files permanently. They are your backup.

How Long Does Migration Take?

These are real timelines from churches that have migrated, not marketing estimates. The data import itself is fast. The time goes into setting up groups, volunteer roles, children's ministry, and testing.

Getting Started

The best way to evaluate whether Gathrik works for your church is to import your data and see it in action. The free plan supports 75 members, which is enough to test with a subset of your congregation.

1. Sign up free at gathrik.com
2. Export your current member data as CSV
3. Import into Gathrik through the onboarding wizard
4. Set up one check-in session and test it
5. If it works, upgrade and migrate fully

No credit card required. No annual contract. If it does not work for you, export your data out of Gathrik just as easily as you imported it.

Start your migration