Groups on Faithlife.com are both for your congregation and for your staff. They are free and you can create as many as you need. Any groups you’ve created or joined can be found in the left-hand sidebar on Faithlife.com.

Click here to download the Group Setup printable guide

 

Your church group serves two functions:

1. An online community (for your congregation).

Your group is where you can engage together as an online community. Keep group prayer lists, read the Bible together, hold a Bible study discussion, listen to and interact with the latest sermon in your group, and more. This community is always free to use.

The left-hand Community panel is the main navigation for all the resources and connection points available in your group. The main Activity newsfeed area is where you post and interact with each other and the right-hand sidebar holds groups readings, prayers, and more.

Did you know? If you have a church group, you can access your group on the free Faithlife mobile app! Learn more.

2. A central managing hub (for your staff).

Faithlife is an integrated ministry platform, which means your digital tools are connected. Your church group serves as the link between all Faithlife products your church uses. It’s where you can manage all the tools that help you serve your people. This common hub means:

• You have only one login, one account, and one bill for all your Faithlife church products
• You get access to free, award-winning customer support from our Church Support Center for any product (available 365 days a year)
• You can serve your people with a consolidated and connected tech stack
• Your entire church can engage in Logos Bible study content together

Admins in your church group manage your software from the left-hand Admin panel of your church group. This panel is visible only to Admins of your group.

Note: Even if you choose not to use your church group as an online community for your church, it still acts as the hub to all Faithlife products. For example, if you want only to create a website, your church group still acts as a central hub for your group admins so you can manage your site, even if you never use the online community more broadly.

Skip ahead to:

• How to Use Your Group
• Roles in Your Church Group
• Invite Others to Join You
• Set Group Settings and Permissions
• Create Subgroups for Smaller Communities

 

How to Use Your Group

Once you’ve joined a group, you can post to the main activity feed, send personal messages to those in your group, connect to group content, and more.

Your church’s congregants should be Members of your group so they can do things like:

• Post prayer requests (learn more)
• Connect to group reading plans and prayer lists
• View your digital bulletins and church calendar
• Access digital content your church has purchased for them (learn more)

Your church staff should be Admins of your group so they can do things like:

• Manage your online giving account (learn more)
• Update your church’s website (learn more)
• Create digital sign feeds (learn more)
• Send communications to your church (learn more)
• Update your church’s people records (learn more)
• Manage your church’s Faithlife TV channel (learn more)
• Distribute purchased content (like books) to your members (learn more)

 

Roles in Your Church Group

Groups contain several different roles. Your role level determines the level of control you have over group content and settings.

• Follower: someone who has chosen to follow your group as an observer, but cannot participate actively in your group.
• Member: someone who can actively participate in the life of the group by posting on the group page, sending messages to others, and interacting with the group’s content.
• Moderator: someone who can configure group settings and permissions.
• Admin: someone who can make changes to the group itself, invite new members, grant others the administrator status, and more.

Note: Learn how to assign roles in your Faithlife group.

 

Invite Others to Join You

Anyone with permission can invite others to your group from the main Invite button on you group’s homepage.

 

Note: Learn more about inviting others to your church group on Faithlife.com.

 

Set Group Settings and Permissions

Admins of your group can manage settings and permissions from the Admin panel. Privacy is set on a per-group basis. In other words, you can set your main church group to one setting and each subgroup to a different setting. Privacy settings stay with the individual group and are controlled on two levels:

1. Group privacy controls who can see your group and its public content on Faithlife.com.
2. Content privacy permissions control what content is visible to the public, followers, or members who can see your group.

Note: Only Admins in your group can adjust group settings and permissions.

1. Group Privacy Controls

To change who can see your group on Faithlife.com, log in to Faithlife.com and select your group from the left-hand sidebar. Scroll down to the left-hand Admin panel, expand Settings, and click Group Settings. Choose between three options:

Public Privacy Level

• Anyone can find and follow your group. Only those you invite can become members.
• Only content privacy level permissions within your group that are set to Public or Followers will be visible to those who haven’t joined your group.
• Even if your group is to the public privacy level, you can set individual content to display for members-only. If you’re concerned about the public viewing your content within your group, anyone who posts to your site can restrict who can view their post by setting the “To: members” only.

Note: This is often the best setting for a church, as it allows people to find you online.

Private Privacy Level

• People can find your group on Faithlife.com.
• No one can join or follow your group without your permission. You can set whether or not people can request to join your group (select one of the sub-options to set your preference).
• If any content privacy level is set to Public, that content will still be visible to anyone who views your group whether or not they are a member.

Secret Privacy Level

• The group is invisible to those not currently members or invited.
• All privacy level permissions set within the group are limited to Member and higher.
• No one outside your group will be able to view your group or any of its content.

2. Content Privacy Permissions

Admins can set specific privacy permissions for content types within your group from the left-hand sidebar. Scroll down to the left-hand Admin panel, expand Settings, and click Features & Permissions.

There are several categories to allow granular control over each feature of your group. Change the permission levels for any setting by moving its slider to your desired level. Your changes save automatically.

• Admins: complete control over all group settings and actions
• Mods: maintain and manage the group
• Members: regular members of the group
• Followers: those with a Faithlife account who can read group posts for followers or public without becoming members
• Public: anyone online with a link to your content

Certain actions are restricted so you cannot inadvertently extend this privilege too far. Others are more flexible and will require your active adjustment.

Parent and subgroup permissions are treated separately. One will not affect the other. For example, when creating an event for a particular subgroup the permissions you set for the event apply to that subgroup and not to the group as a whole. This means that creating an event for Moderators in your Finance team does not allow Moderators of the main church group to see the event (unless they are also Moderators of the Finance team).

Note: Learn more about group settings or configuring your group privacy permissions.

 

Create Subgroups for Smaller Communities

Your main church group can hold as many subgroups and teams as you need. There are no limits or costs associated with additional sub groups. If your church uses Faithlife Sites, Faithlife Giving, Faithlife Proclaim, or other Faithlife products, your church may already have subgroups or teams). You can create new subgroups or affiliate an existing group as a subgroup from the Admin Groups menu (click the plus icon ).

Note: Your church group can feature both subgroups and teams. Subgroups help smaller, specialized groups in your church connect. They’re meant for smaller communities within your church and function as more intimate versions of your church group. Teams are for specific oversight groups at your church and provide special permissions to team members to manage the church’s website (i.e., Faithlife Sites), presentations (i.e., Proclaim Presentation Team), finances (i.e., Giving Finance Team), and more. In other words, subgroups are for smaller community and teams are for management over a specific area at your church. Learn more about group and teams.)

Each subgroup is its own semi-independent Faithlife group, with its own members, settings, permissions, and page. Posts made within the subgroup will not show up on the main group’s page. And membership in a subgroup does not require membership in the main church group. To navigate to your subgroup, login to Faithlife.com, and select it in the groups sidebar. Alternatively, go to your church group on Faithlife.com and select it in your church group’s sidebar.

Using subgroups allows you to create separate channels for various ministries or teams within your church or ministry and facilitates relevant communication and interaction within ministry teams, small groups, and your broader congregation.

Note: Learn more about creating subgroups or affiliating an existing group as a subgroup of your church group.