Trellis · Updated September 18, 2026
Trellis is a platform a church uses to run its work: small groups, giving, communications and serving, each as a module the church turns on. These terms describe what a church agrees to when it starts using Trellis, and what each person agrees to when they sign in. They are written to be read, not skimmed.
Two words do a lot of work here. The church is the congregation that has an account, acting through its administrators. You are anyone who signs in: an administrator, a staff member, a group leader, a director of a serving area, a volunteer, or a member with a sign-in.
What Trellis is
Trellis is built and operated by the people at Trellis, reachable at nadirmims@sgmtllc.com. It is offered to churches by the module. Living Room, for small groups, is free for a church’s first ten groups. Giving, Communications and Serving are paid, by the month or by the year, as are two add-ons to Living Room: unlimited groups, and Silas, which reads a leader’s write-up into the attendance sheet. Every module and add-on together is offered at one bundle price. Prices are shown on the Modules & billing page before anything is charged.
Who may use it
A church opens an account by starting it inside Trellis; the person who does so must be authorized to act for the church and becomes its first administrator. Everyone else gets access when an administrator or staff member adds their email address, and the church can remove that access at any time. Sign in only with your own email. Don’t let anyone else use your sign-in link, code or password, and don’t sign in on someone else’s behalf.
Your account
Sign-in happens by a link or six-digit code sent to your email, or by a password you set yourself. Whoever holds your email inbox can sign in as you, so keep that account protected. If you use a shared or family device, sign out when you’re done. Tell your church’s administrator straight away if you think someone else has used your account.
What it’s for
Everything in Trellis exists so that a church can care for the people in it. Use what you see for that purpose only:
- Use names, phone numbers, emails, addresses, notes, attendance, giving and serving records to do the church’s work, and for nothing else. No marketing for yourself, no personal business, no sharing outside the church’s staff and the leaders who need it.
- Don’t copy rosters, notes, prayer requests, giving records or volunteer lists into other apps, spreadsheets or group chats beyond what the work needs week to week. If you must, delete the copy when it has served its purpose.
- Write about people the way you would if they were reading over your shoulder. Notes are pastoral records, not private diaries, and other leaders and the church staff can read them.
- Record only what helps you care for someone. Don’t enter information a person wouldn’t expect the church to hold.
- Don’t try to see groups, people, gifts or areas you haven’t been given access to, and don’t probe or interfere with the service.
What you put in
When you add a person, a note, a file, a plan or a message, you confirm you have the right to share it and that it isn’t unlawful, hateful or harmful. Files on a group’s shelf are visible to that group’s leaders and the church staff; files on the church shelf are visible to every leader. The records you create belong to the church, which needs them to carry on the work if you step away.
The church’s role
The church decides who may use its account and what roles they hold. Its administrators and staff can see every group, roster, note, volunteer record and, for those with the finance role, every gift. The church is responsible for how that information is handled, for keeping it accurate, and for answering people who ask what is recorded about them. Trellis processes the church’s records on the church’s behalf and does not use them for any purpose of its own; the privacy policy says exactly what is stored and who sees it.
Communications
When the church emails people through Trellis, it does so from its own verified domain and under its own name. The church is responsible for sending only to people who expect to hear from it, and for honoring the unsubscribe link at the foot of every message, which Trellis enforces on its behalf. Purchased lists and unsolicited mail are not allowed.
Giving
Online giving runs through Stripe. The church connects its own Stripe account and is the merchant of record: gifts go to the church, and the church issues receipts and year-end statements. Card and bank details are entered on Stripe’s pages and never reach Trellis. Trellis may take a platform fee on each online gift, at the rate on the church’s Giving settings, deducted before the gift reaches the church. Refunds are the church’s decision and are made through Stripe.
Billing
Paid modules are billed through Stripe to the card the church puts on file. A church’s first subscription begins with a thirty-day free trial; the card is charged when the trial ends unless the modules are turned off first. Turning a module on or off part-way through a period is prorated on the next invoice. The church can change its card, see its invoices and cancel at any time from the Modules & billing page. Cancelling stops renewal; access to paid modules continues to the end of the period already paid. Fees already paid are not refunded except where the law requires it. Prices can change; a change takes effect at the church’s next renewal after at least thirty days’ notice by email to its administrators.
When a module is off
Turning a module off closes its pages but keeps its records, so turning it back on restores everything. Living Room past ten groups, and every paid module, stops taking new work when a subscription lapses; nothing is deleted.
Ending the account
The church can close its account at any time by writing to nadirmims@sgmtllc.com. Trellis may end an account that breaks these terms, after telling the church and giving it a reasonable chance to put things right, or at once where the breach is serious. When an account ends, the church can export its attendance and ask for a copy of its other records; after ninety days the records are deleted, sooner on request. Gifts already made and invoices already issued stay in Stripe under the church’s own account.
You can lose access without the church’s account ending: the church can remove your role at any time, for example when you stop leading a group. You can ask to have your own profile removed. Records you created stay with the church.
Availability and changes
Trellis is provided as it is, without a promise that it will always be available or free of errors. It runs on third-party hosting and payment services that occasionally have outages. Trellis may change the service, and may update these terms. When the terms change in a way that matters, the date at the top changes and the church’s administrators are told by email. Continuing to use Trellis after that means the church accepts the new terms.
Limits on liability
To the extent the law allows, Trellis is not liable for indirect or consequential losses arising from use of the service, from information other users enter, or from outages at the services it runs on, and its total liability to a church for any claim is limited to the fees that church paid in the twelve months before the claim. Nothing here limits liability that cannot be limited by law.
Governing law
These terms are governed by the laws of the state and country where Trellis is operated, and any dispute will be handled in the courts there.
Questions
Write to nadirmims@sgmtllc.com.