Built for Sunday mornings
Designed for live worship environments where clear communication must stay discreet and reliable.
Coordinate instantly without radio chatter.
Discreet, structured communication built for church security teams. Use secure messaging to adjust coverage, involve off-duty members, and respond during worship without disruption.
Built for mixed team profiles: off-duty law enforcement in uniform, visible team members with lanyards and discreet earpieces, and plain-clothes responders who coordinate quietly in the background.
Structured and accountable
Preserve message history and establish clear broadcast control for leadership and follow-up.
Flexible deployment
Choose Text for universal reach via SMS, or Command for full incident workflows-with optional SMS fallback.
What teams use today (and what breaks)
Many church safety teams combine texting with radios or headsets to keep communication discreet during service. Some also repurpose workplace chat tools for BOLO-style updates and coordination. In practice, teams patch together tools that were never designed for duty routing, authority controls, or accountability.
Notable signals we hear from church teams
- Communication needs to stay discreet and non-disruptive during worship.
- Many teams switch between texting and radios/headsets depending on the moment.
- Open group threads are often avoided because they can get noisy and distracting.
- Some teams use workplace chat for BOLO-style broadcasts, but it is not built for rotating volunteers.
- The core need is fast coordination, clear on-duty status, and leadership visibility.
Why Sanctuary Signal is different than chat apps
- On-duty routing: messages can target checked-in responders instead of blasting everyone.
- Broadcast authority: leadership controls who can broadcast to reduce noise and confusion.
- Accountability: message history supports review and follow-up.
- Adoption: Text works on any phone without installs, while Command adds operator dashboards without forcing everyone into a workplace app.
Why it's different than group texts
Purpose-built for discreet coordination-without sharing contact lists or noisy group threads.
No contact lists required
Team members don't need anyone else's number. Personal contact info stays private.
Messaging by name
Send a direct message using @Name. If there's more than one match, you'll be prompted to choose.
See who's on duty
Text STATUS to view who's checked in right now-no guessing, no calling around.
Structured & accountable
Role-based broadcast control plus message history for leadership review and follow-up.
TWO products from Sanctuary Signal to choose
Both products solve church safety communication and each is optimized for different operational needs.
Sanctuary Signal Text
Lightweight, dependable dispatch that works on any phone.
- Day-1 ready: check-ins and supervisor broadcasts.
- No app download / no Wi-Fi required.
- Message teammates by name and see who's on duty instantly - even if you don't have their contact info.
- Structured team control: role-based broadcasts capability + join approvals.
- Admin-only console: team roster, message history, queue health, pending work.
- Public dashboard for awareness; admin console for control.
- Best for: volunteer rotations, low training, universal reach.
Sanctuary Signal Command
Full incident management for dedicated operators—with optional SMS fallback.
- Repeatable incident workflows: assign, escalate, resolve.
- Operator dashboards for active coordination.
- Richer roles & controls for larger teams and campuses.
- SMS fallback for offline/off-duty teammates (via SMS Message Pack Add-ons).
- Best for: dedicated operators, more incidents, more structure.
Choose the right fit
Choose Text if:
- You rotate volunteers often
- You want the lowest-friction onboarding
- You need universal reach (any phone)
Choose Command if:
- You require more robust team interaction and incident logging
- You want repeatable incident workflows + dashboards
- You want SMS as a fallback, not the primary interface
Capability Matrix
A practical view of how teams commonly coordinate today and where Text and Command provide clearer duty routing, authority controls, and accountability.
Show/Hide compatibility matrix
| Capability | Sanctuary Signal Text | Sanctuary Signal Command | Group Texts | WhatsApp / GroupMe / Band Consumer group chat |
Slack / Microsoft Teams Workplace chat |
Church mass-notification tools Broadcast-first |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No app required | Yes | Yes | Yes | Usually no | Usually no | Usually yes |
| Works well for rotating volunteers | Yes | Yes | Usually no | No | No | Usually no |
| On-duty routing (check-in/out; target only on-duty) | Built in | Built in | No | No | No | No |
| Direct message by name (no contact lists needed) | Built in | Yes | No | No | Usually yes | No |
| Broadcast authority controls | Yes | Yes | No | Usually yes | Usually yes | Usually yes |
| Message history / accountability | Yes | Yes | No | Usually no | Yes | Usually no |
| Incident workflows (assign / escalate / resolve) | No | Built in | No | No | No | No |
| Dashboard and metrics | Console | Built in | No | No | No | Usually yes |
| SMS fallback when app/push isn’t available | Yes | Yes | Yes | Usually yes | No | No |
| Best fit | Universal reach and low-friction coordination | Designated operators and repeatable incident handling | Same users always working together | All users have deployed the app and have know how | Staff workplace collaboration | One-way alerts / broadcasts |
Deployment At A Glance
Sanctuary Signal deployments focus on fast onboarding, clear role ownership, and structured communication paths. Teams can launch with TEXT first, then grow into COMMAND with richer app workflows as ministry needs evolve.
Sanctuary Signal Text
Sanctuary Signal Command
*Monthly active users are unique users who check in or send/receive messages during the month. Billing is based on monthly active users-not roster size, shifts, or days used. Product Owners can also be a user and excluded from monthly usage counts.*
Overview mode - some sections are condensed.
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