Planning Center + Socio Connect
Planning Center Runs Your Sunday.
We Build the Other Six Days.
Socio Connect builds the community and member engagement infrastructure that Planning Center doesn't include — a custom-owned platform for the between-Sunday digital life of your congregation, built to work alongside Planning Center without replacing it.
What Planning Center Does (And Doesn't Do)
Planning Center is one of the best church operations tools available. If your church uses it, you probably depend on it for service planning, volunteer scheduling, member check-ins, and giving. It does these things well and deserves its place in your church's technology stack.
What Planning Center doesn't have — and has never been designed to have — is a community layer.
There's no feed where members can post and engage between Sundays. There's no small group discussion space beyond basic scheduling tools. There's no prayer wall, no mentorship connections, no member-to-member messaging built for community rather than administration. Church Center, Planning Center's member-facing app, is a functional check-in and event tool — not a community platform.
The result: your congregation has no owned digital home for their relationship with your church and with each other.
The Two-System Church
The healthiest church technology stacks treat operations and community as two separate but integrated systems:
System 1: Operations
Planning Center
- Service planning and scheduling
- Volunteer management
- Check-ins and attendance
- Form management
- Giving (with Planning Center Giving or Pushpay integration)
System 2: Community
Socio Connect
- Member directory and profiles
- Small group communities with feeds and messaging
- Prayer Wall
- Events and RSVPs beyond Sunday services
- Discipleship programs and content
- Pastor and leadership communications
- Mobile app with push notifications
These two systems don't compete. They complete each other. Planning Center knows who your members are and what they do on Sunday. A Socio Connect platform is where they live the rest of the week.
Integration, Not Replacement
A Socio Connect platform connects to Planning Center's API. That means:
You don't have to choose. You get both systems working together, with one owned and one rented — and you control the one that matters most for long-term community.
Frequently Asked Questions
Ready to give your congregation a digital home?
Apply for a strategy call. We'll walk through your church's current tech stack and show you what a community platform built alongside Planning Center would look like.
Apply for a Strategy Call