Group Leader Tools

Group leaders have access to a set of management tools from the group detail page. This article describes what leaders can do and how to make the most of these capabilities.

Who Is a Leader?

A group leader is any member with the role of Leader or Co-Leader. Both roles have the same level of access within the group. Leaders are assigned when the group is created or by updating a member's role on the Members tab.

Church admins with the Groups module permission also have full access to all leader tools, even if they are not a member of the group.

Leader Tools Overview

Member Management

Leaders can perform all member management actions:

• Add new members to the group from the church directory.
• Change member roles (promote to Co-Leader, demote to Member, assign as Host).
• Update member status (Active, Inactive, On Leave).
• Remove members from the group (soft removal that preserves history).
• Add notes to individual member records (max 500 characters).

Position Management (Teams and Classes)

For teams and classes, leaders can create and manage positions:

• Add positions with a name, description, and staffing requirements (min/max per event).
• Mark positions as leader positions (e.g., Worship Leader, Head Teacher).
• Update or delete positions as needs change.
• Assign members to positions permanently or on a per-event basis.

Schedule Templates (Teams and Classes)

Leaders can create reusable schedule templates:

• Create templates that define which positions are needed for a particular type of event.
• Set a default template that is used automatically for new events.
• Configure auto-apply rules to automatically assign templates to specific event types.
• Duplicate templates to create variations for different scenarios.
• Add positions to templates with a needed count and optional notes.

Scheduling Settings (Teams and Classes)

Leaders can configure how volunteer scheduling works:

Serving Preferences

Leaders can set and view individual member preferences:

• Serving frequency -- How often each member wants to serve (as needed, once monthly, twice monthly, three times monthly).
• Available days -- Which days of the week each member is available.

Skill Level Management

Leaders can:

• Set skill levels for team members (Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Expert).
• Review skill upgrade suggestions generated by the system based on assignment acceptance rates.
• Approve or dismiss skill suggestions.

Group Chat Control

Leaders have additional chat management capabilities:

• Enable or disable the group chat at any time.
• Access the chat regardless of personal membership status (for admins).

When chat is enabled, the leader can toggle it off, which hides the chat interface from all members while preserving the message history.

Prayer Request Management

Leaders can:

• View all prayer requests submitted by group members.
• Mark requests as answered to update the prayer wall.
• Delete any request, not just their own.

Resource Management

Leaders can:

• Upload files and resources for the group.
• Delete any resource, not just ones they uploaded.

Meeting Records (Groups)

For private and public groups, leaders can log meetings:

1. Navigate to the group detail page.
2. Record a meeting with the following details:
   • Date of the meeting
   • Topic discussed (optional)
   • Notes about the meeting (optional)
   • Attendee count (required)

Meeting records feed into the group's health score and attendance trends.

Waitlist Management

When a group reaches its member capacity and the waitlist is enabled, leaders can:

• View the waitlist with each person's position number and status.
• Promote a waitlisted person to an active member when space becomes available (the "Add to Group" button).
• Notify a waitlisted person that a spot may be opening soon.
• Remove someone from the waitlist if they are no longer interested.
• View historical entries showing people who previously joined from the waitlist, expired, or cancelled.

Email Communication

Leaders can send emails to group members directly from the group detail page:

• Email all members -- Click the Email button in the sidebar to compose a message to everyone.
• Email leaders only -- Use the email option on the Group Leaders card to reach just the leadership team.
• Emails include the group name and sender name as context.

Group Sharing

Leaders can share the group using:

• Copy link -- A direct URL to the group page.
• QR code -- A downloadable QR code image for physical distribution.
• Social media -- One-click sharing to Facebook, Twitter/X, WhatsApp, and email.
• Embed code -- An iframe snippet for embedding the group signup on a website.

Group Settings

Leaders can edit core group settings from the Details tab:

• Group name, description, and category
• Meeting schedule (day, time, frequency)
• Location and address (including address visibility settings)
• Enrollment status (open/closed)
• Guest registration and approval requirements

Member Availability / Time Off

Leaders and members can mark specific dates as "unavailable" so the scheduler does not assign that person on those days. This works across every group the member belongs to because availability is unified.

• Availability is stored per member and per date, and it applies across every group the member belongs to rather than to a single team.
• Members manage their own time off from the Serving Availability page in the member portal (the "Serving Availability" link in the portal navigation). On that page a member can:
  • Add a single date or a range of dates they cannot serve.
  • Add an optional reason for being unavailable.
  • Remove a date to make themselves available again.
• When a member marks a date as unavailable, that date is blocked off for all of their group memberships at once.
• Leaders viewing a team see the resulting "unavailable" markers in the schedule planner so they do not auto-assign people on those dates.

For a deeper dive (admin overrides and recurring unavailability) see the "Member Availability" article.

Deleting a Group

Leaders with the Delete permission on the Groups module can permanently delete a group. The Delete button lives in the Danger Zone at the bottom of the action sidebar on the group detail page. You will be asked to confirm before the group is removed. This action removes the group and all associated data (members, meetings, prayer requests, resources, etc.) and cannot be undone.

Tip: Assign at least two leaders to each group so that management responsibilities can be shared and the group remains active even when one leader is unavailable.

Tip: Use the Health tab regularly to monitor meeting frequency and identify members who may need follow-up. Proactive outreach to members with consecutive absences can prevent disengagement. The Export Report button on the Health tab downloads a formatted PDF of the group's health summary that you can save or print.