Prayer List · Setup

Set up email for your Prayer List

Your parishioners sign in with a one-time code sent to their email, so your instance needs to be able to send email. You connect your own email sender once — it takes about five minutes. The easiest option is Resend, which is free for a parish's volume.

Why me and not you? Your instance is truly yours — your data and your email sender. Connecting your own sender keeps your parish's mail in your control and off any shared reputation.

Option 1 — Resend (recommended, free)

Resend's free plan covers 3,000 emails a month (100 a day) — far more than a parish needs for sign-ins.

Create a free account at resend.com.
In Resend, go to Domains → Add Domain and enter a domain you control (e.g. yourparish.org). Resend shows a few DNS records (SPF and DKIM) to add at your domain registrar. Add them, then click Verify. This is what lets your codes land in inboxes instead of spam.
No parish domain yet? You can still test using Resend's shared sender, but verify your own domain before inviting parishioners so mail is reliable.
Go to API Keys → Create API Key, give it a name, and copy the key (it starts with re_). You'll paste it as the password below.
Open your Prayer List admin panel (the link is in your welcome email — it looks like https://pb-yourparish.joy-project.org/_/) and sign in.

Go to Settings → Mail settings, turn on Use SMTP mail server, and enter:

Sender name	Your parish name (e.g. St. Swithun's)
Sender address	An address at your verified domain, e.g. `[email protected]`
SMTP host	`smtp.resend.com`
Port	`465`
Username	`resend`
Password	Your Resend API key (`re_…`)
TLS	Enabled

Click Send test email (in the same screen), send one to yourself, and confirm it arrives. Then Save.

That's it — your parishioners can now receive their sign-in codes.

Option 2 — Your own SMTP server

If your parish already has email hosting (Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, or another provider), you can use its SMTP details instead. In Settings → Mail settings, turn on Use SMTP mail server and fill in the host, port, username, and password your provider gives you, then send a test email.

Gmail / Google Workspace: use host smtp.gmail.com, port 465, your full address as the username, and an App Password (not your normal password) — created under your Google account's security settings. Note that personal Gmail has low daily sending limits; a small parish is usually fine, but Resend is more reliable at any size.

Troubleshooting

Codes aren't arriving

Check the spam folder first. If they're consistently missing or in spam, your sending domain likely isn't verified yet — finish the DNS (SPF/DKIM) step in Resend and make sure your sender address is on that verified domain.

The test email fails to send

Double-check the port (465), that the username is exactly resend, and that the password is your full API key with no spaces. If you use port 587 instead, leave TLS on (STARTTLS).

Still stuck?

Email [email protected] with your parish name and we'll walk through it with you.