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Support and admins schedule 5 min read Updated Jun 11, 2026
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Troubleshooting

Solve common login, giving, portal, website, and campaign issues without guesswork.

Church-Ops Africa Troubleshooting Manual

This guide lists common problems encountered by administrators, treasurers, and members, along with safe steps to resolve them.

Table of Contents

  1. Login & Access Control Issues
  2. Mobile Money & Payment Errors
  3. WhatsApp & Campaign Failures
  4. Attendance & Check-in Issues
  5. Website Builder & Update Issues
  6. Data Sync & Offline Errors (PWA)
  7. Getting Help & Support Channels

1. Login & Access Control Issues

Problem: User gets a "Permission Denied" or "Unauthorized" screen

  • Cause 1: Wrong portal space: The user may be trying to access the wrong area of the system.
    • Solution: Confirm the right path. Staff management is at /c/{church-slug}/dashboard while the member portal is at /m/{church-slug}/portal.
  • Cause 2: Missing permissions: The role assigned to the user does not include the required access.
    • Solution: Have a church administrator review the role through Access Control and Settings Center > Access & 2FA if account policy is involved.

Problem: A member cannot see their family records after logging in

  • Cause: The login email or phone number does not match the member record in the directory.
    • Solution: An administrator should open the member profile and verify the stored contact details.

2. Mobile Money & Payment Errors

Problem: Members receive a checkout error or the payment stays "Pending"

  • Cause 1: Sandbox vs live mismatch
    • Solution: Go to Settings Center > Finance & Payments, verify the environment, and confirm the gateway credentials match that environment.
  • Cause 2: Insufficient wallet balance
    • Solution: Ask the member to keep enough balance for the contribution amount plus any applicable network or gateway fees.
  • Cause 3: Network interruption
    • Solution: The finance team should review the transaction status in the finance workspace and confirm whether it later moved to Completed or Failed.

3. WhatsApp & Campaign Failures

Problem: Outgoing WhatsApp campaigns show "Failed"

  • Cause 1: The WhatsApp bridge is offline
    • Solution: Check the connection status in Settings Center > Communications & WhatsApp and confirm the church line details are still correct.
  • Cause 2: Aggressive pacing
    • Solution: Review delay and daily send limits so the church number is not flagged for spam.

Problem: A scheduled message or campaign appears to stop after the first delivery

  • Cause 1: A background sender was interrupted
    • Solution: Leave the campaign queued. Church-Ops automatically recovers interrupted sends and the minute scheduler continues the remaining queue according to the saved pacing rules.
  • Cause 2: The server scheduler is not running
    • Solution: Confirm the hosting scheduler runs php artisan schedule:run every minute. Background sending accelerates delivery, but the scheduler is the durable fallback.

Problem: WhatsApp replies do not appear in Outreach conversations

  • Cause 1: WA Bridge is not sending inbound events to Church-Ops
    • Solution: Confirm the WA Bridge webhook points to the Church-Ops WA Bridge webhook URL and uses the configured webhook secret.
  • Cause 2: The connected church WhatsApp number is missing or incorrect
    • Solution: Review Settings Center > Communications & WhatsApp and confirm the connected number matches the number included in provider inbound events.
  • Cause 3: The provider uses a nested inbound payload
    • Solution: Church-Ops supports common direct and nested WA Bridge payload shapes. Review the integration log if a provider-specific payload still cannot be matched.
  • Legacy callback compatibility
    • Church-Ops continues to accept the earlier /api/whatsapp/webhook.php?token=... callback while churches move to the current integration endpoint.

Problem: SMS messages are not arriving

  • Cause 1: Invalid phone number format
    • Solution: Ensure member phone numbers are saved with the correct country prefix and a complete mobile number.
  • Cause 2: Insufficient SMS credits
    • Solution: Review the provider setup only if your church actually uses SMS as an enabled channel.

4. Attendance & Check-in Issues

Problem: A member cannot be checked in from the attendance desk

  • Cause 1: No event selected
    • Solution: Open the attendance workspace and make sure the correct service or event is selected first.
  • Cause 2: The person is not in the member directory
    • Solution: Use guest mode for that service, or add the person to the church records before future attendance capture.

Problem: Child check-out is blocked

  • Cause 1: Wrong pickup code or guardian mismatch
    • Solution: Review the active children check-in record and verify the approved guardian or pickup details before releasing the child.

5. Website Builder & Update Issues

Problem: Page edits look correct in preview, but the live website is not updating

  • Cause 1: Draft mode
    • Solution: Confirm the page is published.
  • Cause 2: Cached browser version
    • Solution: Force a hard refresh using Ctrl + F5, or reload the page after clearing the site cache.

6. Data Sync & Offline Errors (PWA)

Problem: A member sees a blank screen or offline warning in the portal app

  • Cause 1: Outdated local cache after a portal update
    • Solution: Clear the site data for the church portal in the mobile browser, then reopen /m/{church-slug}/portal while connected and allow the portal to reload fully.
  • Cause 2: The member never opened the portal pages while connected
    • Solution: Ask the member to log in with internet at least once, then open the main pages they need so the device can store the latest shell and content.

Problem: A member's offline prayer request or task response is still queued

  • Cause 1: The device has not regained a stable connection yet
    • Solution: Reopen the portal when internet returns and wait for the queued counter or status strip to settle.
  • Cause 2: The browser closed before sync finished
    • Solution: Open the portal again on the same device and keep it active briefly so the queue can retry.

Problem: A member expects chat or payments to keep working offline

  • Cause: Some features still depend on live external services.
    • Solution: Explain that chat delivery, push notifications, Mobile Money checkout, password changes, and profile photo uploads still require an active connection even though much of the portal is now offline-ready.

7. Getting Help & Support Channels

If you cannot resolve a problem using the steps above:

  • Contact your local church administrator or operations lead first.
  • Use your configured Church-Ops support channel or the contact options on /about.

When asking for help, include:

  • your church name
  • the URL where the problem occurred
  • what you were doing before the issue appeared
  • the exact error message or screenshot if available