Church Center members SSO

[evliu]

Related Product
Which product is this question related to?

Church Center

Describe the question

We're trying to use SSO for our Church Center members in our new app for church. They can sign into church center, which provides passwordless login, but when trying to sign in or password reset with either their email or phone, it results in There are no acrtive accounts using the provided.... Is there something else we need to set up?

What have you tried that worked?

What have you tried that didn't work?
Signing in as a church member using a church center account
Resetting password as a church member using a church center account

Additional context

I have..

• Reviewed the documentation found at https://developer.planning.center/docs
• Searched for previous issues answering this question
• Removed all private information from this issue (credentials, tokens, emails, phone numbers, etc.)
• Reviewed my issue for completeness

[github-actions]

Potentially Related Issues

I found some existing issues that may be related to this one. Please check if any of them address your question before waiting for a response:

🟣 #1296 — Allow access to groups via user API (Closed)

Summary: User requested API access to view which groups a non-admin user belongs to. This relates to the new issue as both involve accessing user-specific data through Church Center/OAuth authentication without requiring admin permissions.

Key discussion points:

• Initially believed the People API didn't allow non-admin users to access their own group memberships
• PCO's permission model requires group leader or admin access to view group membership information via the standard groups endpoint
• Church Center webpage allows users to view their own groups, suggesting this should be possible
• Solution: Use the 'my_groups' filter on the /groups endpoint, which works for non-admin users to see their own group memberships

Resolution: Resolved by pointing to the existing 'my_groups' filter functionality on the /groups endpoint (https://api.planningcenteronline.com/explorer/groups/v2/groups?filter=my_groups), which allows regular users to access their own group memberships without elevated permissions.

🟣 #1271 — OpenID Connect Scopes (Closed)

Summary: User attempted to integrate Planning Center OAuth with a third-party platform (BookStack) that strictly requires OpenID Connect (OIDC) scopes like 'openid', 'profile', and 'email'. This relates to the new issue as both involve SSO authentication challenges with Church Center accounts.

Key discussion points:

• BookStack requires OIDC-compliant scopes (openid, profile, email) which PCO doesn't support
• PCO OAuth returns 'invalid scope' error when these OIDC scopes are requested
• PCO doesn't support OIDC well-known endpoint discovery
• User found alternative solution using BookStack's native PCO OAuth support instead of OIDC
• Confirmed PCO API doesn't support OpenID Connect standard

Resolution: Closed with confirmation that PCO's API does not support OpenID Connect. User found workaround by using BookStack's native PCO OAuth integration instead of relying on OIDC protocol.

🟣 #1306 — Request to add GroupApplication creation to API (Closed)

Summary: Request to create Group Applications via API to help members who struggle with the Church Center auth process. This directly relates to the new issue as both involve authentication difficulties for church members accessing Church Center.

Key discussion points:

• Some members, particularly older users, struggle with Church Center's authentication process
• Users get lost when redirected off-site and switching between email and browser apps
• Currently using manual workaround with forms and workflow validation
• Group Applications would be better fit but creation isn't supported via API
• Existing applications can be approved/rejected via API but not created

Resolution: Feature request acknowledged and added to internal tracking. Creation of Group Applications via API is not currently supported, though approving/rejecting existing applications is possible. Issue closed as feature request for future consideration.

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