Open source church software: build a portfolio between jobs

Your best code from the last three years sits in a private repository owned by a company you no longer work for. A recruiter can't open it, and neither can the hiring manager reading your application tonight. Across town, a church runs its member directory and its Sunday lyrics on software that anyone can read line by line and fix.

Open source church software is free software for churches whose source code is public, such as ChurchCRM, OpenLP, FreeShow, and ChurchApps' B1 Church. Contributing to it while you job hunt gives you reviewed, merged work in PHP, Python, or TypeScript that any hiring manager can open and read.

Key takeaways

Your background	Where to start contributing
PHP and MySQL	ChurchCRM (MIT license) or Jethro Pastoral Ministry Manager (GPL)
Python	OpenLP, a worship presentation program built on Qt
TypeScript, React, or Node	ChurchApps' B1 Church platform or FreeShow
C# and .NET	Rock RMS, which is source-available under its own license, so read its terms first
QA, writing, design, or a second language	ChurchCRM, which lists roles for testers, writers, translators, and designers, or OpenLP's manual and FreeShow's translations
You'd rather serve one ministry directly	Skills-based volunteering through Global Switchboard

Last updated October 2026

Which open source church software projects are worth your time?

Open source church software comes in two main families. Church management systems (ChMS) track people, groups, attendance, and giving, while presentation programs put lyrics and scripture on a screen during a service. Every project below was under active development in October 2026 and accepts outside contributions. Five of the six use licenses approved by the Open Source Initiative (OSI), and the sixth, Rock RMS, does not.

Project	What it does and its main stack	License
ChurchCRM	Church management in PHP and MySQL, with a Docker dev setup	MIT
OpenLP	Worship presentation in Python and PySide6 (Qt)	GPL-3.0 or later
FreeShow	Worship presentation in TypeScript, Svelte, and Electron	GPL-3.0
ChurchApps (B1 Church)	Church management, giving, websites, and a member app in TypeScript, React, Node, and React Native	MIT for the main B1 repositories
Jethro Pastoral Ministry Manager	Church management and rosters in PHP with MySQL or MariaDB	GPL-3.0
Rock RMS	Church management in C# and ASP.NET	Rock Community License (source-available)

ChurchCRM, Jethro, and B1 Church are open source church management software you can host yourself. All six serve churches, so choose by the stack you want on your resume.

ChurchCRM

ChurchCRM is a self-hosted church management system for people and families, groups, events and attendance, giving, volunteers, and reports. It's written in PHP with a MySQL database, runs in Docker for local development, and uses the MIT license. The project is actively maintained, with releases in 2026 and dozens of commits a week in October.

ChurchCRM's contributing guide is written with newcomers in mind. It tells them to join the project's Discord and ask maintainers for a concrete place to start, and it lists roles for testers, documentation writers, translators, and designers. Translators work in POEditor without touching Git. Developers can also build community plugins for integrations the core doesn't include, a self-contained project you can point to later.

OpenLP

OpenLP is worship presentation software that projects song lyrics, Bible verses, slides, and media. It's written in Python on the Qt framework (PySide6), hosted on GitLab instead of GitHub, and licensed under the GPL, version 3 or later. Alpha builds of its next major version came out in August 2026.

OpenLP's contribute page asks for Python developers, plus Swift, Java, and Angular developers for its iOS, Android, and web remotes. It also says the reference manual needs updating and that few people answer the roughly five support requests a day in its support system. The project wiki includes a song importer guide, and an importer that reads another worship program's song files is a piece of work you can explain start to finish in an interview.

FreeShow

FreeShow is a free presentation program for lyrics, media, and stage displays that runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux. It's built with TypeScript, Svelte, and Electron under the GPL-3.0 license, and its repository now sits in the ChurchApps organization on GitHub. It shipped a stable release and new beta builds in October 2026.

FreeShow's README takes bug reports through GitHub issues and translations through Transifex, lists the steps to run the app from source, and invites contributors to introduce themselves in the ChurchApps Slack. For a front-end developer, a desktop app that volunteers run during live services makes a stronger portfolio piece than another to-do list tutorial.

ChurchApps and B1 Church

ChurchApps builds free, open source church tools and funds them through donations instead of subscriptions. Its main product, B1 Church, covers membership, groups, attendance, giving, check-in, church websites, and a member app, and the group also runs Lessons.church and FreeShow. Its developer page says the projects use TypeScript throughout, with Node APIs, React or Next.js web apps, and React Native mobile apps. The main B1 Church repositories use the MIT license and received commits almost every day in October 2026. ChurchApps keeps its task list in one shared issue tracker, labeled by product. Run one product locally and ask in Slack which problem the team wants help with.

Jethro Pastoral Ministry Manager

Jethro Pastoral Ministry Manager (Jethro PMM) is a web-based system for tracking people, families, groups, attendance, pastoral tasks, services, and rosters. It runs on a standard LAMP stack, with PHP 8.1 or later and MySQL or MariaDB, under the GPL-3.0 license. It shipped a release in August 2026 and was still merging pull requests in mid-October. The name comes from Exodus 18, where Jethro teaches Moses to delegate.

Jethro is smaller than ChurchCRM, with a handful of regular contributors, so a few careful pull requests can make you a familiar name to the maintainers. Questions and feature requests go through GitHub issues, and the README links sample data for testing.

Rock RMS (source-available)

Rock RMS is a church relationship management system built in C# on ASP.NET, with new commits in mid-October 2026. Rock describes itself as open source, and its full source code is public. Its Rock Community License, though, grants use "solely for internal use by Faith Based Organizations," which it defines as faith-based legal entities approved by the IRS as 501(c)(3) organizations. The license also bars use by for-profit companies, including managed hosting providers.

That restriction puts Rock outside the Open Source Definition, which says a license "must not restrict anyone from making use of the program in a specific field of endeavor," so source-available is the more accurate label. Rock's contributing guide asks outside developers to sign the Spark Contributor Agreement and license their work under the Rock Community License. Rock merged pull requests from people outside its GitHub organization in 2026, including a small typo fix in October, so C# developers who accept those terms can get code in.

How do you contribute to open source as a beginner?

Learning how to contribute to open source starts with one project you can run on your own machine. GitHub's Open Source Guides recommend reading a project's README, CONTRIBUTING file, license, and code of conduct, and checking how recently people committed and whether maintainers respond to issues and review pull requests. For a church software project, a workable first month looks like this:

Install the software and use it the way a church volunteer would. Add a fictional family in ChurchCRM, build a service order in OpenLP or FreeShow, and write down every screen that confused you. Those notes become your first documentation fixes.
Read the CONTRIBUTING file and code of conduct, then join the project's chat. ChurchCRM uses Discord, ChurchApps and FreeShow use Slack, and OpenLP keeps its developer documentation in a GitLab wiki.
Get a development build running locally. ChurchCRM documents a Docker setup, FreeShow lists its prerequisites in the README, and OpenLP's wiki has setup guides for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Anything that tripped you up during setup is a candidate for a docs pull request.
Check the "good first issue" label. If it's empty, ask a maintainer in the project's chat for a starting point and mention which parts of the app you've already used.
Keep your first pull request small. Reproduce a reported bug and add the missing steps to the issue, fix an error in the docs, or add a test for existing behavior. ChurchCRM requires any pull request that changes user-visible behavior to link an open issue.
Answer review comments promptly and politely. The review thread is public, and a future employer can read how you handled feedback.
Stay with one project. Five merged pull requests in the same codebase tell a hiring manager more than five one-line fixes scattered across five projects.

What to avoid in your first contributions

A large pull request nobody asked for. Rock's guide asks contributors to keep changes simple and skip bold refactoring, and maintainers of smaller projects often have even less time for review.
Code you can't explain line by line. ChurchCRM publishes onboarding notes for contributors who use Claude Code, yet a human maintainer still decides every merge, and an interviewer will ask you to walk through the change.
Real member data. Churches store pastoral notes, giving records, and children's check-in details, so test with the fictional or sample data each project provides.
Going silent on an issue you claimed. If you can't finish, say so in the thread so someone else can pick it up.

What can you contribute without writing code?

Testing, documentation, translation, design, and support all count as open source contributions, and each one maps to a job title. ChurchCRM's contributing guide says outright that you don't need to write code to contribute, and GitHub's guide calls the idea that you must contribute code a common misconception.

Testing: run a new release on different browsers and devices, walk through workflows such as recording attendance, and file bug reports someone can reproduce. Rock's guide asks for reproduction steps, expected and actual behavior, screenshots, and the version number, the same habit a QA job expects.
Documentation: ChurchCRM's user docs are Markdown files you can edit in the browser on GitHub, and OpenLP says its manual needs updating. A technical writer can submit merged doc pages as writing samples.
Translation: ChurchCRM translates through POEditor and FreeShow through Transifex. A finished translation is a project you can name on a resume, along with the language.
Design: ChurchCRM asks for updated screenshots, social graphics, and feedback on confusing screens in its Discord design channel.
Support: answering questions in a project's forum or chat builds the troubleshooting record that IT and customer support interviews ask about.

How do open source contributions show up for hiring managers?

Open source contributions give a hiring manager work they can inspect.

Over the past year, 17 listings posted on Christian Tech Jobs tagged Git as a skill, while 280 job seekers with Git on their talent profiles were marked available or open to offers, according to Christian Tech Jobs data (as of October 2026). Listing Git puts you in a large crowd, and a link to merged pull requests shows what you've done with it.

Your contributions show up in five places:

Your public commit history. GitHub and GitLab profiles show activity on public repositories, and steady activity during a job search answers the "what have you been doing lately?" question before an interviewer asks it.
Your resume. List the project, your role, the stack, dates, and links to specific merged work. Our guide to writing a tech resume covers the rest of the page.
Your portfolio. Write a short case study of your best contribution: the problem, how you found it in the code, the change, and what the reviewer asked you to fix.
Your interviews. A merged pull request gives you a ready story for behavioral questions about taking feedback and working with people you've never met.
Your references. A maintainer who has reviewed months of your pull requests can describe how you write code and respond to review comments. Ask before you list anyone, and wait until you've done enough work for them to say something specific.

A resume entry you can adapt

Open source contributor, ChurchCRM (PHP, MySQL, Docker), March 2026 to present

Fixed [the bug] in [the feature], merged after maintainer review (link to the pull request)
Added automated tests for [a workflow such as attendance entry] (link)
Rewrote the local setup instructions for [your operating system] after testing them on a fresh machine (link)

If your contributions cover months you weren't employed, they also give you a specific answer to the gap question. Our article on explaining gaps in employment in an interview walks through that answer.

How can you do missionary work from home with tech skills?

For a Christian in tech between jobs, skills-based volunteering is a direct way to do missionary work from home. You offer an organization the professional skills you'd otherwise be paid for. A ministry overseas gets a working website, and you get a scoped project with a client who can vouch for you.

Global Switchboard

Global Switchboard connects everyday believers with Gospel workers and missions leaders who have practical needs, and it grew out of work the team behind Tentmakers Network began in 2021. The needs on its site include website development, translation, fundraising strategy, graphic design, IT support, and mentoring, and the commitment ranges from a quick consultation to an ongoing virtual role. As of October 2026, Switchboard says it has helped more than 10,000 people across 100+ countries and made more than 2,700 ministry connections.

The first step takes about five minutes. Switchboard's skill assessment asks about your motivation and your profile, places you as a Neighbor, Builder, Advocate, or Explorer, and then connects you with Gospel workers and ministries whose needs fit. For a developer, designer, or IT professional, the useful result is one named ministry with one specific need.

Treat a Switchboard project like a contract engagement. Agree on the scope in writing, keep notes on what you delivered, and at the end ask your ministry contact whether you can list the project and name them as a reference. Some Gospel workers serve where public attention can put people at risk, so ask before you post screenshots, name the ministry, or put its location on LinkedIn.

Switchboard's own site tells believers that their calling doesn't require a resume, but your next employer will read one, and a finished project for a ministry overseas belongs on it.

FaithTech Create

In FaithTech Create, volunteer teams build technology for kingdom-focused challenges using FaithTech's four-part cycle of Lament, Discern, Build, and Steward. Short-form versions include hackathons and sprints, and the flagship program runs eight weeks. Create is open to people across tech, ministry, business, and charity, and it runs mainly in FaithTech's city-based communities, with online communities running it from time to time. A Create team puts you beside ministry and nonprofit people on a shared project, which is close to the daily work of a church or nonprofit tech role. Start by finding the FaithTech city nearest you.

How do you turn contributions into your next job?

Contributions help most when they point at the jobs you want. Over the past year, the 15 employers posting the most listings on our board included several church software companies: Tithe.ly (18 listings), Planning Center (15), Renewed Vision (7), Pushpay (7), and Subsplash (6). Planning Center's listings most often tagged Software Development, Ruby on Rails, and AI. Renewed Vision, the maker of ProPresenter, most often tagged Quality Assurance, ProPresenter, and Testing, so a tester with solid bug reports against OpenLP or FreeShow can show directly relevant work.

Of the past year's listings on our board, 69% were marked remote (304 of 441), so the habits you build in an issue tracker and a project chat match how most of those jobs work.

A few ways to connect the two:

Browse Christian software development jobs, note the stacks that keep appearing, and pick a project from the table above that uses one of them.
Filter to remote Christian software development jobs if you want to keep working from home.
Name your contribution in a cover letter when it touches the employer's product area, such as presentation software for a worship tech company or church management code for a ChMS company.
Tell people in your church and in Christian tech groups what you're working on. Our guide to Christian networking has more on building those relationships.

Set a weekly split you can keep, such as applications and networking in the mornings and two or three afternoons a week on one project, so contributing never crowds out applying.

Frequently asked questions

Is Rock RMS free?

Rock RMS costs nothing to license for eligible churches. The Rock Community License is no-charge and royalty-free for internal use by faith-based 501(c)(3) organizations, and for-profit companies can't use it. Rock asks each church to pledge a voluntary donation, suggested at $4.45 per average weekend attendee per year, and cloud hosting fees include it.

Is contributing to open source a good idea?

Contributing to open source is a good idea when you pick one active project and stay long enough to get pull requests merged. You get public evidence of your skills and maintainers who know your code. It pays off less when you scatter one-line fixes across many projects or stop applying for jobs to do it.

How do you show open source contributions on a resume?

Give open source work its own resume section, or list it under experience if you contributed steadily for months. Write each line as a result a recruiter can check, such as a fixed bug or new tests, and link the merged pull request. Put your GitHub or GitLab profile link in your header.

Can volunteering be considered professional experience?

Volunteering can count as professional experience on a resume when you did skilled work with a defined scope and a result someone can check, such as building a ministry's website or fixing bugs in church management software. Describe it like a job, with dates, tools, and outcomes, and line up a reference who can confirm the work.

What does skills-based volunteering mean?

Skills-based volunteering is unpaid work that uses your professional skills, such as web development, IT support, design, or translation, for a nonprofit or ministry. General volunteering, like serving a meal, usually needs no specialized training. A skills-based project ends with a deliverable, such as a launched website, that you can describe on a resume.

Run the software before you open the issue tracker

Pick the open source church software project from the table whose stack matches the jobs you're applying for. Install it tonight and use it the way a church volunteer would on a Sunday morning. Keep a list of every confusing screen and every error message. By the end of the week you'll have a first issue to file or a documentation fix to send, plus a reason to introduce yourself in the project's chat that has nothing to do with asking for a job.

Learn more about Christian jobs that intersect with technology at Christian Tech Jobs. Explore careers at faith-based organizations, hire Christian talent, and find work where your tech skills and your faith meet.