Understand the philosophy, vocabulary, settings and structure for using groups to manage everything involving more than one person
Every class, small group, ministry team, serving team, leadership team, mission project, and events are managed as groups. Even steps in a process are managed as groups! They are all created the same way. Understanding this concept is often a light bulb moment for staff as they begin using Churchteams.
SERVICE VOLUNTEERS HELP ARTICLE
GROUPS SETTINGS (Located under Groups > Settings ...)
Since everything that involves more than one person is managed as a group, how well you organize groups will determine the optimization of Churchteams. We provide default settings common to most churches, but we encourage you to customize these to best fit your church preferences.
USING THE BROWSE GROUPS PAGE
Groups & Events > Browse Groups. The Browse Groups page provides a listing of all groups, events, etc. in your church or ministry. Using the Search features located at the top of the Browse Groups page, groups can be organized and/or filtered based on responses chosen during the group creation process. By default this page is filtered to show only Active groups. Use the Search filters to open up to all groups.
Inactivate a group from the Browse Groups page by clicking the "Inactivate" button for that group, on the far-right side of the page. You can only delete an Inactive Group. See more information here about deleting Groups.
Select groups and then use the 
button to Delete, Update Profile Questions, Inactivate and Activate them.
CREATE A GROUP
If you have not already worked through the default Group Settings found under Groups > Settings, start there to set up the framework of menus you will need for your groups. These Settings provide options to customize the selections for your group settings: Meeting Times, Frequencies, Email Reminders, and Reports.
Step 1. On the Create Card, click Groups or Events to create a group. Step 1 is basic information about the group. Some of it may not apply to some groups. Detailed steps and description of each field can be found here.
- Maximum Size - limits the number of people who can register for this group if applicable.
- Address, C/S/Z - is used for mapping groups if desired.
- Settings > Accessibility can be used to change the default access options for leaders and coaches. These will in turn impact the check box and password options in this step.
- Report reminder emails are used to make it easy for leaders to click a link in their email on their phone to complete a meeting report. If applicable, they are sent out based on the meeting day, frequency and morning or night selections.
- The Monthly Group Report is emailed to the Account Contact and the Attendance/Report email listed under Groups > Settings > Basic.
Step 2. Select the leader, individual or couple, of the group.
Step 3. Select responses that will organize the the groups based on ministry profile questions. (Groups > Settings > Profile Questions)
ORGANIZATIONAL CHART
During the group creation process you have the option to select a coach (direct overseer) and a leader. You can also set up a coach in the Coach Area underneath the Groups & Events button.
Groups > Settings > Basic allows you customize titles for 3 levels of leadership. Default is leader, coach, staff. Remember these apply to leadership of everything that involves more than one person, so a generic term is preferable. Once customized, this language is used everywhere else including under the Groups & Event button.
Coach Area is used to select direct overseers of multiple groups and then populate the groups underneath them.
Staff Area allows you to select those who oversee the coaches and then assign coaches to them. The result is an overview of your entire organization.
Learn more about the Coach and Staff area settings.
REGISTRATION SETTINGS
Although "Registration Settings" is not a menu item found under the Groups & Events button, we felt it important to include a word about the subject here. The Registration Settings are actually specific to a group, so the settings are done from within the group for which you want to add a registration.
For any class or event that you want to add a registration to, first create the group. Within the group, select the blue Registrations buttons, then Settings. You will customize everything related to the registration on this page. A link will automatically be created for you to use on your web page, social media, or to share in email or text. Click HERE to see an article on how to create a registration.
VIDEO RESOURCES
Small Group Academy - Note, chapter list for navigation in bottom right corner.
Volunteers / Events Academy - Note, chapter list for navigation in bottom right corner.