Groups
Groups are the ongoing circles people belong to — small groups, home fellowships, men's and women's ministries, anything that meets on a rhythm and does not finish.
A group is people who meet. A class is something you finish. If it has a last session, it is a class.
What you need
- A Passport account with the Admin or Super Admin role
- Your people imported, so there is somebody to put in a group — see Importing & Exporting Data
Signing up seeds five generic groups so the member portal is not empty on day one. Renaming them, deleting what you do not run, and adding what you do is one of the Setup Center milestones.
Add a group
- Open Groups in the main navigation.
- Click Add group.
- Fill in the details:
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Name | Required. What members will see, for example Young Adults |
| Type | Fellowship, Small group, Special interest, or Other |
| Description | A short description shown to members in the portal |
| Meeting day, time and how often | When the group meets. Leave the day as No fixed day for a group that arranges itself |
| Place and area | Where it meets. The area ("North side") is what a guest browsing groups sees when the place is a private home |
| Capacity | Optional. Leave blank for no limit |
| A leader approves each request to join | Turn on if people should ask to join rather than joining instantly |
| Not taking new people | Closes the group to new requests without hiding it |
| Leaders | One or more staff members responsible for this group |
- Click Add group. Passport opens the new group's page.
:::tip A guest needs a day, a place and a leader "Tuesdays at 7:00 PM, the Carters' home" answers the question somebody actually has. A group without them shows No meeting day or No leader on the Groups list until you add them. :::
A group's page
Click a group's name on the Groups list to open it. Every group, class and ministry page has the same tabs:
| Tab | What is there |
|---|---|
| People | Leaders and members. Approve or Remove people, or Add person to add someone from your directory. Admins also see the group's member chat here, and can delete messages |
| Schedule | When and where the group meets, and Take attendance for a meeting |
| Events | The group's upcoming events and the announcements members see on their portal |
| Care | How many care tasks are given to the group, and Open in Care to work on them |
| Details | Everything you entered when adding the group. Admins edit it here, and can Archive or Delete the group |
Leaders see the controls their role allows: a leader who can edit their group approves, adds and removes people and manages its events and announcements. Editing the group's details, archiving and deleting it are for admins.
Archive, delete and reorder
- Archive keeps the group's people and history but takes it off the portal and out of the Groups list (admins still see it under Archived). You can restore it.
- Delete removes the group and its memberships for good.
- Reorder the groups members see in the portal under Settings → Groups, by dragging a row by its handle.
How members join
Members browse and join groups from the Connect tab of the Member Portal or the Passport app. If the group requires approval, their request goes to the group's leaders rather than joining them straight away. Leaders see the requests waiting on them under Waiting on you as a leader on Today and as a count beside Groups in the navigation.
Once someone is in a group they can take part in group chat, and their membership shows on their profile under People.
Common questions
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Can somebody be in more than one group? | Yes, as many as they like. |
| Do I have to assign a leader? | No, but a group with no leader has nobody to approve requests or start a conversation. |
| What happens to members when I delete a group? | Nothing — the group membership is removed, the people are not. |
| Where do I see who is in a group? | Open Groups in the main navigation and click the group's name. |
Next steps
- Something with an end date — set up a class instead.
- A job rather than a circle — Ministries & Volunteers covers serving teams.
- Keep everyone talking — Group Message Notifications.
- Record who came — Attendance Tracking covers group sessions too.