Planning Center Integration
Already run your volunteers in Planning Center? Connect it once, and Teach Us the Bible works right alongside it — keeping your roster in sync, sending each week's lesson to whoever's scheduled, and pulling teams into one-off emails. No need to move anyone or double-enter your schedule.
There are two parts to this: a one-time setup to connect your account, and then the features it unlocks. The integration is read-only — Teach Us the Bible reads your Planning Center data but never writes anything back to it.
Once connected, you can…
Go to Ministry Settings
Navigate to Settings → Ministry Settings and scroll to the Planning Center section.
Click "Connect to Planning Center"
You'll be redirected to Planning Center's login page. Sign in with your Planning Center account credentials.
Authorize access
Planning Center will ask you to authorize Teach Us the Bible to read your Services and People data. Click Allow Access. You'll be redirected back to Ministry Settings with a confirmation that the connection is active.
You're connected
That's it — the features below are now available. You only do this once; everything after runs off this single connection.
With the connection in place, three capabilities become available. Use whichever fit how your ministry works — they're independent, so you can turn on just one or all three.
This is the big one. Once connected, each week's lesson can be sent automatically to the volunteers scheduled on your Planning Center teams — anyone accepted or pending (not declined) on the plan that matches the lesson date. Your teachers keep confirming in Planning Center the way they always have; Teach Us the Bible just delivers their lesson a few days ahead.
Turn it on in the Automatic Lesson Emails card in Ministry Settings: switch it on, then add the Planning Center teams whose people should receive the lesson under Planning Center Recipients. It works right alongside any teachers you schedule in Teach Us the Bible — and if someone's in both places, they still only get one email.
Read the full guide to Automatic Lesson Emails
Auto-Sync Teams is the hands-off way to keep your Teach Us the Bible roster current. Instead of adding teachers one by one, you tell TUTB which Planning Center teams map to your teaching staff — and it handles the rest.
How it works
Adding a sync team
Open the Planning Center section in Ministry Settings
Once connected, you'll see an Auto-Sync Teams section with an Add Sync Team button.
Select a service type and team
The dialog loads your Planning Center service types. Select one, then choose the team within that service type whose members should be synced into TUTB.
Save and sync
Save the team. It now appears in your synced teams list. Click Sync Now to run an immediate sync — or wait for the next automatic sync to pick up new team members.
Removing a sync team: click the button next to any team in the Auto-Sync Teams list. That stops future syncs for the team — existing accounts it created are not deleted.
Sync history: below the teams list you'll see the last 10 sync runs, each showing when it ran (automatic or manual ), accounts created, updates applied, people flagged for review, and any errors.
Email Import is for a one-off send. Rather than provisioning accounts or scheduling anything, it pulls the specific team scheduled for a single plan straight into the Email Teachers recipient list — handy when you just want to reach exactly who's serving this week.
Open the import dialog
On the Email Teachers page, click Import from Planning Center.
Select your service type and plan
Choose the service type (e.g. "Kids Ministry"), then select the specific plan (week) you want to pull team members from.
Select team members
Team members are grouped by service time and team. Check the people you want to email — all are pre-selected by default. Use Select All / Select None per time or team to adjust quickly.
Click Import
Selected people are added to the recipient list on the Email Teachers page. If someone's email already exists in your TUTB teacher list, that checkbox is checked instead of adding a duplicate.
To disconnect Planning Center, go to Settings → Ministry Settings and click Disconnect Planning Center. The unlocked features turn off and the Import button disappears from Email Teachers. Accounts already created by syncing stay put. You can reconnect at any time.
The import shows no people for a plan
This usually means the plan's team hasn't been scheduled in Planning Center yet, or team members have been assigned at the service-type level rather than the individual plan level. Make sure team members are assigned to the specific plan you're selecting, not just to the service type.
A volunteer didn't get the automatic lesson email
Check that their team is added under Planning Center Recipients, that they're scheduled (accepted or pending — not declined) on the plan for that date, and that they have an email address in Planning Center. People are matched to the plan whose date lines up with the lesson.
I get an error when I try to connect
Make sure you're logged into Planning Center with an account that has Administrator access to your organization. If the problem persists, try disconnecting and reconnecting, or email support@teachusthebible.com.