Group types help organize groups with a common purpose and similar settings. When you get started, every group you create is assigned the default Unique Groups type. This type cannot have a type manager or description but can be the best place for miscellaneous groups that do not have the same leadership or structure as any other group.
Administrators can add new group types and manage all group types, while group type managers can manage groups in the types to which they are assigned. As you make changes to group type settings and defaults, open the Church Center app or web experience to see how those changes take effect.
Important
Group type settings and defaults apply to new groups created in that type. If you have existing groups that you assign to the type, those groups will retain their original settings.
To create a new group type or update existing group types, go to the main Groups page and select Group types from the gear dropdown.
Select Add group type on the Group types page.
Enter the settings for your new group type.
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Enter a name and description for the group type, which shows on the Church Center Groups page if you have more than one listed group for the group type.
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Choose a color theme to identify the group type by color on the administrator's side.
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Enable the map view, which shows the location of each group from the group type on a map on Church Center for a web browser. The location is approximate for non-members.
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Allow leaders to enable chat from the group settings. If this is unchecked, only administrators can turn on messaging for a group in this group type.
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Choose to show all listed groups by default on Church Center, even those that are closed or full.
Select Save to complete creating the group type and return to the Group type page.
Administrators and other group type managers can add or remove group type managers from group types.
Select Managers in a group type.
Add or remove group type managers.
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Search for a new person.
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Select Remove to remove a current group type manager.
If you accidentally remove an existing manager, you can Restore them before saving your changes.
Select Save managers to apply changes.
Group defaults establish the settings for all newly created groups in a group type. Individual groups can use defaults you set or override them with their settings.
To edit default settings for a group type, select Defaults.
Tip
Drag and drop group types to reorder them! This order is reflected in Church Center as well.
Make any changes to the settings you want to apply to all new groups created with this group type.
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Add an email address if you want people to contact a specific person when they have questions about the groups in this group type. The email is used for the Contact button on Church Center. If no email address is entered, no Contact button is shown.
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The description is shown on each individual group page and should give people a sense of what the group is about. Use the editing tools to make important text stand out.
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Let people know where the groups in this group type typically meet by adding a location.
Manage group enrollment by closing the group on a specific date or with a certain number of members.
Note
Group leaders are also members, so they count toward the total number enrolled.
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If you want your group to close based on a date, set that here.
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If you set a capacity, you can also include pending join requests.
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Alert your administrator once membership exceeds a specific number.
If a group is closed or full, leaders and administrators can still add new members to this group.
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Enable and set the timing to send members reminder emails about future events.
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Notify leaders or specified attendance takers to take attendance in Church Center ten minutes before the event begins.
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Allow people to see the group's upcoming events without joining the group by showing the calendar.
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For security purposes, leaders can only add members by invitation. Enable this setting to allow leaders to add members by searching the database, which shows names, email addresses, physical addresses, and phone numbers. This setting also allows leaders to create new profiles and add people to the event attendance without inviting visitors or members to join the group.
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Choose the contact person for group leaders in this group type, typically one of the group type managers. When a leader replies to an attendance request or notification email, the response is sent to this contact person.
To remove a group type entirely, go to Settings and choose Delete. If there are any groups in this group type, they will be moved to the Unique Groups type.
If the group type has a Calendar feed, deleting the group type will permanently remove any associated events from Calendar. To keep those, reassign the groups to another group type and delete the group type.