A church admin who searches “can Planning Center send emails” usually already keeps the congregation in Planning Center People. The question is whether Tuesday’s announcement can leave from the same place.
It can. Planning Center People email is a real send, and it is often the right one for a message tied to people you already track. A weekly announcement is where the shape of the tool starts to matter. We make Hey Church. This is what Planning Center’s own help describes, then how a one-time import works if that weekly note moves.
Can Planning Center send emails?
Yes. In People, you email one person from the address on their profile, and you can add others in the To field. For a group, you email a list. Managers, and anyone with permission to email lists, can send it.
A list filters people by their information and activity across Planning Center applications. From the results you mail the whole list, or uncheck anyone who should skip this message. You can include related household members, such as children, adults, parents, or the household primary contact, even when they did not match the rule. The same results can send a Church Center message.
Each message goes out on its own, so recipients are not copied on one another’s addresses.
What a Planning Center People email includes
A list email uses basic formatting: links, images, and attachments, up to five attachments totaling 10MB. A placeholder can insert the recipient’s full name or the sender’s first name. List emails go to the primary email address only.
Organization administrators and managers can save a template for a note you send often, such as a welcome or next steps. Viewers and editors can apply a template when they email one person, or when they have permission to email lists.
You can schedule a list email for a date and time up to one month ahead, and send a copy to yourself. It then sits on that person’s Communication tab. Message history shows sent list emails and ones still scheduled. A sent message shows the body, recipients, and deliverability status. On the Communication tab, a red email failed or was dropped. Those details cover list emails sent after March 25, 2024. A list email sent with a bulk action is not included. A blocked address shows on the profile.
Where the weekly announcement outgrows it
A weekly church email is this week’s facts, on a day people already expect. Planning Center documents two ways an email leaves without you pressing Send at that moment.
Scheduled delivery sends a single message, or a template, on a set date and time, up to one month out on a list. That send happens once. Next Tuesday you write another, or start from a template, then send or schedule it.
Automation differs from scheduling. It emails someone’s primary address when they serve, visit for the first time, submit a form, or are added to a list. On a list you enable auto-refresh, and the email is sent when the list refreshes. That fits a first visit or the day after someone serves. The weekly announcement is the same people, next week, with new facts.
The primary address. A list email uses the primary email address only.
Five hundred people. Lists with more than 500 people must be sent using the Mailchimp integration.
One unsubscribe for list email. Unsubscribing from a list email means no other emails from lists. They can resubscribe from the link in that email, or an administrator can invite them to.
A template shortens the writing. Next week’s announcement is still a send you open and make.
Planning Center email vs Mailchimp
Planning Center points to Mailchimp when the list has more than 500 people, or when you want formatting past the basic editor, such as unique headers and inline images. A Planning Center newsletter, in that styled sense, is a Mailchimp campaign from a People list. Links, images, and attachments already belong in a list email.
You can turn on Send through Mailchimp in the list-email window. Email scheduling is not available on that send. You can also sync the list and build the campaign in Mailchimp.
The connection is one-way. People can send new contacts and update tags in one Mailchimp audience. Mailchimp does not send unsubscribes, contact updates, or replies back to People. Only one Mailchimp account and one audience can be connected. The sync is first name, last name, and email address, and a list uses the primary email. Phone numbers are not included. A list can re-sync every night.
The People schedule is unavailable when that send goes through Mailchimp. A plain weekly note is where many admins want a rhythm without a second product. Retyping the same people into an email tool is covered in Planning Center people and your email list.
A short checklist
- One message, or every week? A list email sends or schedules the note in front of you. Next week, you do it again.
- Over 500 people? Planning Center requires the Mailchimp integration for that send.
- What formatting? Links, images, and attachments fit in a list email. Unique headers and inline images are the Mailchimp case.
- Which address? List email uses the primary address.
- What should unsubscribe do? One list unsubscribe blocks further list emails until that person resubscribes or an admin invites them.
- Who sends it in March? A template helps. Someone still opens the list and sends.
Where Hey Church fits
Keep sending from People when that list still fits the week you have. Hey Church is one place to write the weekly announcement from the people you already track.
The Planning Center import is manual, one-way, and one-time. It brings in first name, last name, and primary email. Contacts already in Hey Church are skipped. The import is not a sync. When your list changes, run the import again so new people come in. A later import does not update contacts already there. Setup is in the Planning Center integration post.
You can also add contacts manually, by CSV, or with a QR sign-up link. Those paths, and consent, are in how to add contacts. An import does not turn email consent on. Hey Church sends an announcement to contacts who have consented to email.
You create an announcement, edit it, and send it. Weekly, every-2-weeks, or monthly announcements and Send later are included on every plan, including Free. Send later uses the church’s time zone setting.
The Free plan includes 250 contacts and 500 emails a month. A list past 250 people does not fit on that plan, and a month that needs more than 500 emails does not either. Current limits are on our pricing page.
If those limits match the list you will mail, Start free and write this week’s announcement.