Getting Started

Step 1: Create Your Account

When you sign up for Steward, you'll create both your personal account and your organization. You'll automatically become the Owner of your organization with full administrative access.

Go to stewardchurch.com/signup
Enter your name, email, and password
Enter your organization name (your church name)
Verify your email address

Step 2: Configure Your Organization

Before inviting your team, take a few minutes to configure your organization settings.

Locations

Set up the locations where incidents might occur - buildings, rooms, outdoor areas, etc. This makes reporting faster and helps you identify patterns.

Go to Settings → Locations to configure your location hierarchy.

Ministries

If your church has distinct ministry areas (Children's Ministry, Youth, Worship, etc.), set these up so incidents can be associated with the right department.

Go to Settings → Ministries to add your ministry areas.

Step 3: Invite Your Team

Now it's time to bring in the people who will use Steward. Go to Settings → Users to invite team members.

When inviting someone, you'll assign them a role:

Reporter: Can create incidents and view their own reports
Reviewer: Can view and manage non-private incidents, triage intakes, assign reviewers, and mark incidents urgent
Privileged Reviewer: Can access private incidents, mark private, apply legal holds, and export reports
Admin: Can manage settings, users, and all incidents

Learn more about roles and permissions →

Step 4: Create Your First Incident

You're ready to start documenting! Click New Incident from the dashboard or incidents list.

A good incident report includes:

Title: A brief description of what happened
Category: The type of incident
Date/Time: When it occurred
Location: Where it happened
Description: Detailed narrative of the incident
Involved Parties: Who was affected or witnessed the incident
Actions Taken: What was done in response

You can save as a draft and come back later, or submit immediately. Drafts are only visible to you until submitted. Once submitted, the original report becomes permanent and cannot be edited.

Learn more about creating incidents →

Step 5: Set Up Public Intake (Optional)

If you want to accept anonymous reports from the public, you can enable the public intake form. This allows anyone to submit a report without creating an account.

Your public intake URL will be: stewardchurch.com/intake/your-organization-slug

Intake submissions go to a triage queue where your team can review them and convert valid reports into full incidents.

Learn more about public intake →

What's Next?

Now that you're set up, explore these guides to get the most out of Steward: