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Church member assessment links, explained
A member assessment is a short check-in a church sends to a person it cares about. FlockConnect delivers it as a secure, personal link, so the member can answer in their browser without ever creating an account or logging in. This page explains how those links work: how they reach a member, how long they last, what consent they respect, and where the privacy lines are drawn. Pastoral notes stay with the pastor and never travel inside the link.
What is a member assessment link?
When a church sends an assessment, FlockConnect generates a secure link that is personal to that one member. The member taps it, answers a few questions, and the responses come back to the church. There is no password to set and no account to manage.
Members never log in to FlockConnect. The link itself is the access. This keeps the experience light for the person being cared for, and it means a church is not asking the people it serves to remember one more login.
- Secure, personal link per member, with no account or login to create
- Sent by email first, with a single SMS reminder only as a fallback
- Each link carries an expiration and can be revoked, so old links stop working
- SMS fallback requires recorded consent, a valid number, and no opt-out
- Pastoral notes and private care details never travel inside the message
How does a member receive the link?
Assessments are sent by email first. Email is the calm, default channel, and it carries the secure personal link straight to the member.
If an emailed assessment goes uncompleted, FlockConnect can send a single SMS reminder as a fallback. That is one text, not a stream of them, and only when the conditions below are met. SMS is never the first channel for an assessment. For the full picture of when that one text is allowed to go out, see the SMS reminder rules.
Does the link expire?
Yes. Each assessment link carries an expiration, and it can also be revoked. Once it expires, is revoked, or has already been completed, it stops working, so an old link forwarded or left in an inbox cannot be reused later.
If a member needs more time after a link has lapsed, a church can issue a fresh assessment. The new link is its own secure, time-limited link, and the previous one stays closed.
What consent and privacy boundaries apply?
Email assessments go to the address a church already holds for a member. The SMS fallback is stricter: it sends only when there is recorded consent for text reminders, a valid phone number, no opt-out on file, and an approved, safe message. A member who replies STOP is opted out, and FlockConnect honors that.
Assessment messages carry the secure link and plain, non-sensitive wording. They do not carry pastoral notes or private care details. A pastor's notes about a person stay inside FlockConnect, visible only to the people a church has given access. The message a member sees is just the invitation to check in. You can read more about these boundaries on the trust and security page.
What if something does not look right?
If an assessment link is not behaving as expected, or a member has questions about a message they received, a church can reach the FlockConnect team for help. Start with support, and include what the member saw without sharing private details over email.
Still have a question?
FlockConnect is built and supported by a real person. Email support, or see how FlockConnect is priced.