Stewards & Members

The Stewards app (obed.stewards) manages the profiles of people who serve in the church. It separates the concept of a "User" (Authentication) from a "Steward" (Service Profile).

Concept: Users vs. Stewards

The system uses a two-model approach to handle people:

1. User (obed.users.User):

   • Handles authentication (Email/Password).
   • Grants access to the system (Groups, Permissions).
   • Required for logging in.

2. Steward (obed.stewards.Steward):

   • Represents a person in the context of scheduling.
   • Stores personal details (Name, Phone, Title).
   • Tracks service preferences (Responsibilities, Notification settings).
   • Can exist without a User account (e.g., Guest Preachers).

Why the separation?

• Guest Speakers: You can schedule a visiting preacher (creating a Steward record) without forcing them to create an account or giving them login access.
• Data Integrity: If a user deletes their account, the Steward record (and historical assignment data) can be preserved.

Models

Steward

The core profile model.

Field	Description
user	Link to User model (optional).
first_name / last_name	Name of the person.
email	Contact email.
phone	Contact phone (required for SMS).
is_guest	Boolean flag for non-members.
title	Honorific (e.g., "Pastor", "Dr.").
office	(Property) Derived from User groups ("Elder", "Deacon").
notify_email	Opt-in for email notifications.
notify_sms	Opt-in for SMS notifications.
responsibilities	Many-to-Many link to Responsibility.

Responsibility

Represents a role or spiritual gift that a steward is qualified for.

• Examples: "Preaching", "Song Leading", "Ushering".
• Usage: Used to filter the list of available stewards when filling a slot in a schedule.

Management

Creating a Steward

Stewards can be created via the Admin interface or the Stewards management view (/stewards/).

• Members: Usually created automatically or manually linked when a User registers.
• Guests: Created manually by Admins when needed for a schedule.

Notification Preferences

Each Steward controls their notification channels:

• If notify_email is False, the system will skip email generation for them.
• If notify_sms is False (or phone is missing), SMS will be skipped.