Anyone with chat access can use Member Chat, and moderating channels needs Full Write Chat. To turn chat on or off or choose who can use it, you will need the Full Account permission and, with more than one organization, no campus or organization limit. Assigning a Member Chat Pro seat to an organization also needs Full Account, with that organization inside your access.
Member Chat is a real-time messaging space built right into One Church Software. It gives everyone at your church a place to talk, in open channels, in private channels, or in private messages, without leaving the rest of the platform.
Chat opens as an overlay on top of whatever you are already working on, so you can keep using One Church while a conversation stays open beside it.
Getting to know Chat
Opening Chat
Sign in to One Church Software.
Find the Chat item in the left navigation.
Click it. The chat overlay slides in over whatever was on screen.
From there you can open Channels (grouped under categories), Private Messages, and your group and service-plan chats.
The building blocks of Chat
Chat is made up of a few pieces:
Channels - the main place people talk. Public (anyone who can see it can join) or private (invite-only), and either a Text timeline or a Forum board of titled posts.
Private Messages - closed conversations between specific people, one-on-one or in a group.
Threads - focused side-conversations that branch off a message to keep a channel tidy.
Polls, reactions, pins, and files - tools for gathering input and keeping track of what matters.
Real-time and on every device
New messages, edits, reactions, typing indicators, and presence dots all appear in real time, with no need to refresh. Chat also adapts to your screen: a full layout on desktop, and a single-pane layout on phones where search, pinned messages, and the member list each slide in from the right.
Plans and who can use Chat
What turns chat on for a person
Three things all have to be true before someone sees and uses chat. If any one is missing, the chat icon doesn't appear.
License - your church's plan includes chat (or you added Member Chat Pro), and chat hasn't been switched off for the church.
Access - this specific person is allowed to use chat. Most churches allow everyone, and some limit it to certain people.
Age - the person is at least 13 and has confirmed their date of birth. Age requirements and child safety in Chat explains the age rules.
Which plans include chat
Standard chat is included on the Core, Core Plus, Plus, and Premium plans, and on trial accounts so you can evaluate it. A church on a plan that includes chat can also add Member Chat Pro.
Member Chat Pro
Member Chat Pro is a self-serve paid add-on that a church turns on from its subscription's Add Ons. It raises several limits and unlocks features:
Message length - 4,000 characters, compared with 2,000 characters on standard chat.
Attachment size - 250 MB per file, compared with 25 MB per file on standard chat.
Message history - full conversation history, compared with only the last 30 days on standard chat.
Custom emojis - not available on standard chat.
Tip: On standard chat, only the most recent 30 days of a conversation are readable. Older messages appear as a short stack of grayed-out bars, and become readable again if your church adds Member Chat Pro.
Member Chat Pro with more than one organization
While your account has one organization, Member Chat Pro works as it always has. With two or more organizations, it becomes a number of seats, and each seat gives one organization Member Chat Pro. Seats are assigned by editing an organization under Account Settings > Organizations.
A channel gets Member Chat Pro only if every organization in its scope holds a seat. A channel available to All covers every active organization, so one organization without a seat keeps that channel on standard chat.
A trial gives Member Chat Pro to every active organization. Chat windows that are already open pick up a trial starting or ending the next time they load.
Turning Member Chat Pro off entirely removes it from every organization. If your account has two or more organizations, the screen warns you first.
What is an organization? explains what each organization holds on its own.
Turning chat on or off and choosing who can use it
A church administrator manages chat from the Messaging Center, where they can switch chat on or off for the whole church and choose who may use it: Everyone (the default) or Specific people (limited by criteria such as a group, location or campus, record type, or a saved list). An administrator can also override a single person on the Permissions screen, setting their access to Always or Never.
Changes take effect immediately
If a church's license, the on/off toggle, or a person's access changes while they are signed in, the change applies live, with no need to reload. The composer's character limit adjusts, the custom-emoji tools appear or disappear, and if chat is turned off entirely it closes on its own. The one exception is a trial: a chat window that's already open picks up a trial starting or ending the next time it loads.
Next steps
See the full collection of Member Chat support articles.