FAQs

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What is Realm? Realm is a secure online tool for members and regular attendees of Church of the Atonement. It’s like Facebook just for our church community. Two Realm features we are focusing on for now are:

• A church photo directory

• Your giving history and pledge information

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Realm has other communication capabilities (e.g., Communications, Groups, Check-in, and Serving). We are not using those capabilities at this time. Once we have a new rector in place, we can make use of those features. For now, our focus is on creating the directory.

 

How can I get an invitation to join Realm? If you pledge or already receive emails from Atonement, you’ll receive an email invitation. (Check your Spam/Junk folder just in case!) If you’re new to Atonement or aren’t sure if you’re in our database,

 

Realm contains my giving information. Is Realm secure? Yes. Realm uses bank-level encryption. Realm is part of ACS Technologies, which is the largest provider of church database software, serving over 40,000 clients, including many churches in the Chicago area.

 

Who can see my information? Only members of Atonement who have been invited to join may log in. When you complete your profile, you set your own privacy settings. Your giving information is only visible to you, our treasurer, and authorized members of staff. The following are the general principles for managing information:

 

• Your information is your information.

• You have complete control over who can see your contact and personal information.

• Contact information is never public or searchable on the Internet. Any information you elect to make visible to your church family is always protected behind a login.

• Authorized church staff will always have access to your profile information.

• You and certain authorized church staff may update your profile information.

• For safety reasons, sharing contact and personal information for children under 18 is limited.

• Parents determine whether or not to display their child’s name in the church directory.

• Children under 13 may not participate and will not be able to sign in.

 

What privacy settings are available? 

• Anyone in the church: Like a church directory listing, everyone in our church will be able to see whatever profile information is marked as visible to everyone.

• Church Staff Only: This setting effectively removes you from the church directory. Your information will only be available to authorized church staff. While you can hide the majority of your information from most of our church community, you should know that, regardless of your settings, contact data will still be visible to certain members of our church staff.

• Custom Privacy: Choose different privacy levels for specific contact fields and personal information. You can do this in two places: when you edit your profile information or when you manage your privacy settings. The Directory page shows all individuals who have a login, along with individuals without a login who have been opted-in to the directory. Currently, individuals with a login cannot opt out of being listed in the directory.

 

What is the minimum information we would like to have in order to consider a profile complete? Contact information (name, phone, photo, email) and household members and physical address compose a completed profile. 

 

What additional information is desirable?

• Interests

• Birthdays

• Anniversary

 

Do I have to participate in the online church directory? No. You are in control of your privacy settings. You do not have to share your information if you choose not to; you can choose what information you want to share. You can decide who sees your information. (Please note that church staff will always be able to see your information.) We are suggesting that you “unlock” and share your home address, phone number, and email address – in the same way you would if we had a printed directory.

 

Can I get a printed copy of the directory? Realm is replacing printed versions of the directory. There will not be printed copies available except for people without computers or smartphones or by special request. Realm will be THE place to find someone’s contact information. To ensure we always have the most up-to-date records, we need your help by opting-in and keeping your contact information accurate.

 

How do I connect to Realm? You can connect via your smartphone or your computer.  See the Instructions document to learn how to connect to Realm.

 

How do I update my information? How do I edit my privacy settings? Please help church staff and treasurer by keeping your contact information up to date.

• From your Computer: To change your information and privacy settings, log in to Realm at https://onrealm.org/, click your name at the top right-hand corner, select “My Profile”, then click “Edit Profile.” To edit your privacy settings, click “Manage Privacy.” See the step-by-step Instructions manual for more detailed instructions.

• On your smartphone: Open the Realm App. Click on your photo in the upper left corner. Click on My Profile. Click on the pencil symbol for each field that you want to update/change the privacy setting. Once you have made the edits, be sure to click the Save button.  

 

How do I view my giving information? You may view your giving statement at any time by logging into Realm.

• From your computer, click “Giving” on the left-hand side, and then click the blue box on the right-hand side that says “Contribution Statement.”

• From your Smartphone, click on the Giving icon in the bottom line of the Realm app.

 

I recently made a donation. Why isn’t it appearing in the “Giving” section? Donations are updated once per week. Depending on when the donation was received in the church office, it may take close to two weeks for the donation to be reflected in your Giving section.

 

How do I access the church directory? Realm is our new online directory. The directory only works if everyone logs on, updates their contact information, and opts-in to the directory by unlocking their privacy settings. If you do not opt-in, your information will not be visible to other church members.

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• From your computer, log into onrealm.org. Click “Directory” on the left-hand option menu. There you will find the contact information of all those who have logged in and opted to share their information.

• From your Smartphone, Open the Realm app. Click on the three dots in the button line of the Realm app. Click on “Directory”.

 

Why do I have a birthdate of June 17, 1888? When the directory was initially set up, we needed to enter a date for a birthday for each participant. We chose Atonement’s founding date as the standard birthday. Note: We not only invite you to change the date, we request and encourage you to do so.

 

What if I forget my password? Go to Atonement’s Realm portal. Click the blue “Forgot your password?” link. This link will take you through the process of creating a new password. Your username is the email address you used to create the account. If you have forgotten your username, contact the church.

 

What is ACST? ACST is the creator and manager of the Realm software. For more info, see ACS Technologies

 

What if I still have questions? Please contact the church or call Realm customer support at 1-800-669-2509.

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