Groups Module Overview

The Groups module in TimelyChurch is your central hub for organizing people into meaningful communities. Whether you need Bible study groups, serve teams, Sunday School classes, or prayer circles, the Groups module provides the tools to create, manage, and monitor every type of gathering within your church.

What Are Groups?

Groups are collections of church members organized around a shared purpose. TimelyChurch supports four distinct group types, each designed for different ministry needs:

Private Groups

Private Groups are invitation-only communities that do not appear in public directories. They are ideal for:

• Bible study groups
• Counseling or support groups
• Leadership circles
• Confidential ministry teams

Private groups require an admin or leader to add members directly. They will not show up in the public Group Finder unless you explicitly enable that setting.

Public Groups

Public Groups are open communities that can be listed in your church's public Group Finder, allowing visitors and members to discover and join on their own. They work well for:

• Fellowship groups
• New member classes
• Outreach teams
• Community interest groups

Public groups can be configured to allow guest registration (no account needed) and can optionally require leader approval before a new member is added.

Teams

Teams are designed for volunteer coordination and service scheduling. Teams include additional features that standard groups do not have:

• Positions -- Define roles such as Sound Tech, Greeter, or Worship Leader
• Schedule Templates -- Create reusable staffing templates for events
• Rotation Scheduling -- Automatically rotate volunteers using fair rotation, round robin, or manual assignment
• Skill Levels -- Track beginner, intermediate, advanced, and expert skill levels for team members
• Serving Preferences -- Members can set how often they are available to serve and which days work best

Classes

Classes are built for teaching environments like Sunday School. Classes share the team features (positions, templates) and add:

• Room Assignment -- Link a class to a specific room in your facility
• Age and Grade Ranges -- Define minimum and maximum ages or grade levels for enrollment
• Auto-Enroll -- Automatically add people who match the age or grade criteria
• Check-In Integration -- Require check-in for attendance tracking
• Time Slots -- Label classes by service time (e.g., "9:00 AM Service")
• Attendance Reports -- View per-student attendance rates with color-coded status indicators

Key Features Across All Group Types

• Group Photo -- Upload a custom image for each group
• Meeting Schedule -- Set the day, time, frequency, and location of meetings
• Member Capacity -- Optionally limit the number of members and enable a waitlist
• Group Chat -- Built-in messaging for group members
• Prayer Requests -- A shared prayer wall where members can submit and track prayer requests
• Resource Sharing -- Upload and share files, curriculum, videos, and other materials
• QR Code Join -- Generate a scannable QR code so people can join with their phone
• Share and Embed -- Share group links on social media or embed a group signup widget on your website
• Email Members -- Send emails directly to all members or just leaders from the group detail page
• Health Metrics -- Monitor meeting frequency, attendance trends, and at-risk members
• Duplicate Groups -- Clone an existing group to save time when creating similar ones

Dashboard Overview

The Groups index page provides a high-level summary of your groups:

• Total Groups -- The number of all groups across every type
• Private / Public / Teams / Classes -- Counts broken down by type
• Total Active Members -- The combined count of active members across all groups

You can filter groups by type, search by name, and toggle between grid view and list view. The grid view displays 12 groups per page while the list view shows 20.

Navigation

Groups are accessible from the main admin sidebar under Groups. Clicking on any group opens its detail page, where you can manage members, view health metrics, access the chat, and more through a tabbed interface.

Tip: Use the "?" icon on the Groups index page for a quick reference on how Private Groups, Teams, and Classes differ from each other.