Frequently Asked Questions about Realm
This site, https://cdac.ca, is our public website which provides information to people that are interested in learning more about us as a church. Realm, is a separate, private website that we use as a church family to communicate with each other, run our ministries, share prayer requests, plan events, and list opportunities to serve.
No. Popular social networks like Facebook and Twitter are geared toward individuals and their needs. They tend to emphasize the ‘virtual’ nature of the relationships they encourage. By contrast, Realm is geared toward groups, the needs of the local church and enhancing real friendships you have here at Circle. Realm is private church communication to members of specific groups with laser-like precision.
You’re welcome to just come to Circle on Sunday mornings and enjoy participating with all of us. You obviously don’t need Realm to do that. But once you decide you’re ready to make friends here and want to get involved in giving, serving and growing together with us . . . Realm is the place to be!
You need an email invitation to join Realm, and then you will need to sign in each time to use the website. This makes Realm a safe place to do things like share a prayer request with your friends, respond to the pastor, etc.
No, you are in complete control. You can decide how much or little information you wish to receive.
The easiest way is to just register your account online.
Then check your email! Once you receive a confirmation, follow the directions to log in and fill out your profile. In no time you’ll be exploring what’s been going on inside Realm and here at Circle.
If you run into any difficulties doing that, you can get help signing up for Realm Sunday mornings at the Information Desk.
Everyone who creates an account automatically becomes part of the church-wide Circle Drive Alliance Church group. Then do a “group search” and if a ministry/circle group you would like to join has a “group” on Realm, you can send a request to join that group.
If your ministry/small group would like to create a “group” on Realm, please contact the church office.
In order to join Realm, we ask that you are either a regular attender of Circle Drive Church or one of our church ministries. You need your own email address, be at least 13 years of age and have parental consent if you are under 18 years of age.
Can I Share an Email Address with My Spouse?
No. Unfortunately each user account on Realm must be tied to a unique email address, and Realm simply won’t allow 2 accounts to share a duplicate email address. Because Realm is based on groups (and group membership) and because some of the groups in Realm are gender-specific, no two people (especially spouses) will belong to those same groups. We don’t expect couples to belong to the same groups!
Note: The only way Realm can provide users with a personalized experience is by having a unique email address based on the individual groups that the person is in.
If a couple shares an email address, it is recommended that one of them use the current email address and the other person create a separate email account so he or she can maximize their experience in Realm. Several good, free email options are available (we recommend Gmail, but most others will work as well), and we will be glad to assist you in setting up a new account, if desired.
Realm Connect gives you control over your giving.
Giving should be easy, and Realm Connect places giving right in the palm of your hands. You may set up recurring gifts, view your giving history, and make changes at any time.
Realm Connect automatically records all electronic gifts and adds them to your giving record making it easy for you to give, and easy for our finance office to track.
You can contribute any amount using the button on your profile. If you want, you can set up recurring gifts or payments.
1. Sign into your site.
2. Click Giving on the main menu.
3. Click + Give.
4. Enter the amount you want to give, then select the fund.
To give to more than one fund at once, click Give to an additional fund.
5. Select a gift frequency and enter the appropriate date information.
6. Enter your payment information. If you have a saved payment method, you can use it or click Add New Payment Method to add another payment method.
7. Click Give.
A. Using your Computer
1. Go to Realm on your computer onrealm.org/circleyxe/
2. Log in
3. Click Giving in the left hand menu
4. Click the “Scheduled” button just above the list of giving
5. Click the 3 dots … on the right hand side of the gift that’s there and choose Edit
6. Make changes to the amount
7. Click the “Give $X.XX” button at the bottom of your information on that page.
B. Using the App
1. In the App
2. Open the Connect Our Church app
3. Click on the Giving icon
4. Scheduled gifts show at the top of the list
5. Touch the pencil on the right end of your scheduled gift
6. That opens the gift information in Safari on your phone
where you can make adjustments to the amount or day of the month