Leaving, transferring, or closing a church
The end-of-life actions for a church — leaving it yourself, handing the lead role to someone else, and closing or deleting the church. Who can do each, how giving history is preserved, and the 30-day restore window on deletion.
Sometimes a church winds down, or leadership changes hands. Psalmly keeps these actions deliberate and reversible where it can, and honest where it can't. They live in the danger zone at the bottom of Church settings (in the admin sidebar).
Leaving a church
Anyone can leave a church they belong to. On the web it's in Church settings; in the mobile app you leave from the church's card on your dashboard. You lose access to that church, but your Psalmly account and your other churches are untouched, and you can rejoin later with an invite or the join code.
One guardrail: if you're the only lead admin, you can't just leave — a church must never be left without an owner. Hand off the lead role first (below), or close the church.
Handing off the lead role
If you're a lead admin, you can promote another member to lead admin so they can run the church — useful when a new pastor or administrator takes over. Lead admins are co-equal, so you can do this and then step back (or leave). You can also manage roles from the Directory; see Managing your church directory.
Closing or deleting a church
Closing a church is lead-admin only, and Psalmly first walks you through a short checklist to make sure there's nothing left hanging (like an active subscription or giving setup). There are two paths, and which you see depends on your church's history:
- Close the church — takes it offline for good, but keeps your giving history and your members' tax statements available to them. This is the right choice for a real church that's winding down: the doors close, but people can still get the giving records they need for taxes.
- Schedule deletion — offered only if your church has never received a gift (so there are no financial records to preserve). The church is hidden right away and permanently erased after a 30-day window. Any lead admin can restore it anytime before the 30 days are up — a safety net for a test church or a false start.
If you have a paid subscription, cancel it first (see Managing your plan and billing) — the checklist will point you there if needed.