What is Ministry Manager?

Ministry Manager is the new database built especially for Emmaus communities and provided by The Upper Room for Emmaus communities. It replaced the old Information System Database the Community was using in 2018 through 2022. If you have worked a walk in 2017, 2018, or 2019, you should have received an invitation email from The Upper Room asking you to sign-in to the new Ministry Manager application to create your account and verify your information for use in the community. Please do so as it will be a nice way to see the names of people in our community. You can update your own profile if you create your own log-in account, and having your correct contact information will help all of us.

First Time Users Sign-Up

1. Go to: https://ministrymanager.upperroom.org/ or click the find out more in the email you were sent.

2. If you have NEVER created a password and logged-in before, you must CLICK “SIGN-UP” to create a password. (Note: We entered your name and email into the system and you must use the same name and email to sign-up. Couples cannot use the same email, so contact the Grace Board if you are using a duplicate email with your spouse.)

3. A sign-up form will appear. Fill in your name and email as it was in your original email invitation. Then add a password, and most importantly click the box which states you are giving permission to store your personal info into our database hosted by the Upper Room.

Note: If you begin this process in step 2 with “log-in” but have not created a password you will not be able to move forward. If you use a name that is different than the name in your original invite, the system will not recognize you and think you have a duplicate email already used. If you already created a password prior to doing this ‘sign-up’ process, you must instead click the “Forgot Password” link below the other two choices of Sign-up or Log-in. Request a password reset to be sent to you.

After you log-in: Check your email preferences to ensure you allow emails to you from Grace Emmaus. Update your profile: address, phone, etc... Add a picture of yourself. Set your birthdate if you wish.

Q&A:

1. Why migrate to a new database?
   Ministry Manager will provide us with improved ways to build teams, prayer vigils, communicate, and capture our work history without duplication of effort between spreadsheets and databases.

2. What does it mean to each community member?
   We only added people who have been active in a Walk in 2017, 2018, or 2019.  Each of those persons will receive an email asking them to create a log-in account. Accounts are encouraged for those choosing to work a Walk so you can see who is on the team and join in off-site prayer vigils.

3. Should I add Ministry Manager to my contact list?
   Yes, please do. Simply create a contact and assign two emails to it, to ensure you get all our emails: ministrymanager@upperroom.org and communications@gracewte.com

4. How do I log in to Ministry Manager?
   Go to https://ministrymanager.upperroom.org If you have already created your account, then enter your email and password. If you haven’t logged in before, then click the ‘sign-up’ button if you are a member of our community. If you are not a member, contact us and tell us where you previously took your walk and contact info, because we need to add your email and name to our database before you can request a password for your account.

5. What should I do if I did not act when I received my email from ministrymanager@upperroom.org inviting me to “join Emmaus”?
   If you can still find your email (look for an email from ministrymanager@upperroom.org with the subject “Emmaus Invitation”) click on the “Accept Invitation” button and it will take you to a Sign Up page where you can create your Ministry Manager account. Fill out the form and click the “Create Your Account” button to finish. Some of our community members had email accounts that were invalid or no longer in use. If you didn’t get an email inviting you to sign into the Ministry Manager application, this could be you… If you cannot find your invitation email, go to the Ministry Manager portal page at https://ministrymanager.upperroom.org and click the “Sign Up” button, fill out the form, and click the create your account button to finish.

6. What should I do if Ministry Manager says that my email is already registered?
   If you are told that your email is already registered, it may be because both you and your spouse used the same email in our old database. Ministry Manager requires a discrete email address for every member, so if you had a common email address, one of you was automatically assigned a “dummy” Ministry Manager email address to satisfy this need. Have the other spouse log in using the “registered” email and then check your profile to see if the Walks and Sponsor listings match the person who is logged in. If the profile information matches the person listed in the profile, you can then contact our database manager at Database@GraceWTE.com to obtain your “dummy” email address so you then can use that to register the other spouse, log in, and change the profile information to include a real email address.

7. What if two people use the same computer? Do we have to log out first?
   Yes. The way to allow your spouse to log in is for you to sign out of Ministry Manager, but you must sign yourself out of all Upper Room accounts using this method:
   1) After you click Sign Out, you are taken back to the Log In page. 2) Click the Support link at the bottom right of the Log In button. When you see a rather blank page titled The Upper Room, click on your email address at the upper right and in the drop list select Sign Out. Now your spouse can open a new Ministry Manager web page and sign in.

8. When I Sign Out so my spouse can log in, Ministry Manager automatically logs me back in to my account?
   Ministry Manager installs a “cookie” on your system when you log in and this cookie persists for a while even when you Sign Out, so if you click the Log In button again while the cookie is still active, you are automatically logged back in to MMP without even having to enter your information. One of the reasons this has been done is that The Upper Room has gone to a single log in per user for all Upper Room accounts. So your log in will be the same for the Ministry Manager and for any other
   Upper Room accounts that you have.

9. What should I check in my Ministry Manager Profile?
   Once you are in the Ministry Manager, check your profile to ensure that all of your information is correct. There are several fields in each profile which are mandatory. If they are left blank, you may be able to complete the verification of your account, but we will not be able to change your status. These fields are: First Name, Last Name, Phone Number (Home, Cell or Both), Birth Date, Email Address. After changing and/or updating any of your profile information, ensure that you get a message stating that the update was successful before moving on. If you get a failure message, check the profile fields for hints in red about those fields that may be filled out incorrectly or are mandatory and were left blank.

10. How can I ensure I receive emails from MM?
    1. Check spam, and if it goes to spam, mark it as “not spam”. 2. In hotmail or outlook, add the email addresses below as a ‘safe’ sender. 3. Add a new CONTACT to your address book for Grace Emmaus, and add these emails to that contact:   ministrymanager@upperroom.com and communications@gracewte.com. 4. Create an sign-up account in MM, update your profile, and make sure your email is correct.

11. When are beginning to use MM?
    We have already loaded 150 people - those who are still active and have worked a walk in 2017, 2018 or 2019. We will continue to load pilgrims when they show an interest to work a walk.

12. Does MM send out the newsletters?
    No. Mailchimp will continue to be our primary newsletter communication tool. We have about 500 people in Mailchimp, including those who only want to receive newsletters but not work a Walk anymore, whereas MM only has about 250 active members in the database. MM is built to form Walk Teams and keep Walk history, whereas Mailchimp is built to do marketing newsletter communication.

13. Are Training Videos Available?
    Yes. You must first log in to your account in Ministry Manager. At the bottom menu of the home page, click on the FAQ. It will take you to training videos.

14. Do we now use Ministry Manager to build our Walk Teams?
    Yes. MM allows us to assign all teams and Participants (pilgrims). Building the teams in this team keeps all history, so it is now BOTH our process and our database.

For any questions or problems email Community Database Manager at: database@GraceWTE.com

DeColores