Define Group Types

To use groups and group participants, SPoCs must define and set up some things with applicable ministry staff.

Group types are the general categories that define a group. Your system came with several standard group types that came hard-coded into applications that use the API. The default group types are:

• Small Groups: These groups are made up of people who meet regularly. In some churches, these groups may be mutually exclusive (cell groups). Use the Group Finder widget to help people find these groups. Teach leaders to manage their group members with the My Groups widget.
• Age or Grade Groups: These groups are made up of people (generally children or youth) who are the same age or in the same grade at school. There may generally be many people in each of these groups. A single "1^st Grade" group can serve a church regardless of size. Most churches can then use these groups to secure children's check-in across all worship services and all campuses.
• Ministry Teams: These groups are made up of people who serve together, at the same time and/or under the same leader. These groups are generally small, and there should be as many of them as needed for communication and accountability. Ministry Teams should have people with different group roles in them.
• Mission Trip: Groups of this type exist to allow mission trip leaders to leverage the My Groups widget.
• Class: These groups are made up of at least one teacher and one or more students. These groups are generally short-term in purpose, and you may use them alongside a program that has a series of events. Churches that do traditional Sunday School may use this group type for the classes.
• Parent Group: You may create parent groups to organize other groups. A parent group of "Elementary" may help organize the primary school grades. This group name becomes a label to organize the groups on summary reports.
• Small Group Area: A special type of parent group that displays as an option to search in the Group Finder widget.
• Small Group Request: Indicates a group that someone suggested through the Suggest a Group button (if enabled) in the Group Finder widget.

You can create additional group types under Lookup Values > Group Types. If you want to delete any of the standard group types, contact Support before doing so to ensure it doesn't affect the hard-coded information.

Group Type Fields

Group Type

A friendly name that indicates what the group type represents.

Description

A brief explanation of the group type to further explain what it represents.

Default Role

The group role that is automatically assigned to new participants added to groups with this group type if you don't define a group role.

Activity Log Start Date

If set to Yes, being in this group a good indicator of whether a person is active. This updates the Activity Log.

Show On Group Finder

If set to Yes, groups with this group type display in the Group Finder widget.

Show On MPMobile

If set to Yes, groups with this group type display on MPMobile.

Omit From Engagement Group Life

If set to Yes, the Participnat Engagement routine will not consider this group type.

Volunteer Group

Indicates whether groups with this group type are designated as a group whose members will volunteer in roles. See Volunteer Connect for more information.