How to Create and Edit Groups

Mei Lu

Jul 17, 2023

How to Create a New Group in MyAwaken

There are two ways to create a new Group:

From the Groups Menu

Click Groups from the left navigation menu.
Click the Create Group button.

From a Department

Click Groups from the left navigation menu.
Click the Departments tab.
Master Admins and Full Group Admins can select any Department in the list; Department Admins can only select the Departments they are assigned.
Under the Actions menu on the right, click Create a new Group....

Who can Create a New Group?

Full Group Admin
Department Admin (can only create Groups for their assigned Department)
Master Administrator

Group Settings

Once you create a Group, you will land on the Group settings page. To edit an existing Group:

Go into the Group.
Click the Group Actions button in the upper right.
Select Edit Group Settings from the list.

General Settings

General

Group Name: Enter a Group name up to 50 characters.
- When naming a Group, it is better to be campus specific if you have more than one campus.
- Also consider if the name of the Group pertains to the type of Group it is.
Group Photo: To upload a photo for your Group click the Browse button and choose the image from your computer.
- The image must be in .jpg format and the size cannot be larger than 3MB.
Description: Enter a brief description.
- If you'd like to use some basic HTML to include links or additional images, you can do that in this field.

Classifications

Group Type: Select from the list of options.
- This is a key field for running searches and reports.
- We would recommend keeping your Group types simple and generic.
- If you are the Master Admin or have Edit System-Wide Settings admin privilege, you can customize this pulldown menu under System Settings > Customizable Fields.
- Think of Group type as the purpose of the Group. Some examples are Volunteer, Bible Study, Children's Ministry, Sunday School, or Office.
Childcare Available: Check the box to indicate whether or not there is childcare available for the Group. Note: This does not actually request childcare as a resource.
Custom Fields: Up to three additional Custom Pulldown Menus can be added for additional information if needed by going to System Settings > Customizable Fields.

Twitter Connection

Link Twitter: You can link your twitter account to the Group to use our Twexting function.
This link will only display after you have saved your Group the first time. Create the Group, save the changes and edit the Group again to see this link.

When & Where Settings

Tip: The information added here will help with the search on the Groups page.

When this Group meets

These options can be customized under System Settings > Customizable Fields > Pre-labeled Pulldowns.
Meeting Day & Meeting Time: Select the best fit for your Group to help people find it in the Groups search based on this information.

Tip: We recommend more generic times like Morning, Evening, Afternoon rather than specific times of day to make searching more friendly for users.

Where this Group meets

Area of Town: Select the best fit for your Group to help people find it in the Groups search based on this information.
Street: Location where your Group meets.
City: City where your Group meets.
State: State where your Group meets.
- Enter up to 5 characters in the text field if you need an international address or use the drop down.
Postal Code: Enter the 10 character postal code.
Country: If needed, enter the country where the Group meets.

Tip: Meeting Day, Meeting Time and Area of Town can be customized in System Settings > Customizable Fields.

Options Settings

Settings

Email Notification: Sends an email to the Group Leaders when a participant joins or leaves the Group on their own.
Interaction Type: Select how your Group will operate:
- Members Interact: Allows each member to see the Participants tab in the Group and view names and photos of others in the Group with them. Note: Profile Privacy Settings determine which info shows in the Participants list for other Group members.
- Announce Only: The Participants tab is hidden from Group members. Only the Group Leaders are able to see the members and, by default, only leaders can communicate with all Group members.
- Administrative: The Group is only visible to the Group Leaders and anyone with Full Group admin; Group members do not know this Group exists or that they are in it. This interaction type prevents Group members from being able to access Needs, Messages, Events or Invites to Events, etc.

Note: Changing the interaction type will change the suggested defaults in the Member Privileges and Communication Defaults sections. Remember to adjust these settings if you prefer something different.

Membership Type: Select how people are able to be added to this Group:
- Open To All: Allows anyone who is not yet in the Group to see all information including, events, messages, files, and needs or this Group. This setting also permits non-group members to join the Group without leadership approval.
- Request Required: Prevents any of the Group's information from being visible to non-group members. In order for someone to join the Group, they must request to join or be invited by Group Leaders.
Listed: If you would like your Group to be searchable by all logged-in users, check this box.
Public Search: If you want this Group to be included in the logged-out, Find a Group search, check this box.

Group Member Privileges

Messages: Allows Group participants to send messages to the Group without Group leader approval.
Needs: Allows Group participants to create new Needs lists and send them out to the Group without Group leader approval.
Files: Allows Group participants to upload files without Group leader approval.

Group Participant Communication Defaults

Receive emails sent from the Group: If unchecked, Group participants will not receive ANY emails from the Group ranging from messages, event invitations, needs information, positions and schedule requests.
Receive comments from Group participants immediately: Sends an email for every comment that is posted to a Group message.
Receive a weekly summary of Group: Sends an email once a week detailing all of the activity for the Group that week (e.g., new events, needs, positions, etc.).
Receive texts sent from the Group: Allows text messages to be sent to participants who have their mobile carrier and number saved in their Profile and have opted in to text messages from this Group in their personal communication settings. If you are a church outside of the U.S. you may need an additional service to make this possible. Check out this article for more information.

Admin Tab

Privilege Restriction: This tab can only be edited by a Full Group Admin, Department Admin, or Master Admin.
Group leaders will not see this tab.

Other

Department: Select the Department to which the Group belongs; this field is not required.
- Departments can be customized under System Settings > Departments.
Inactive: Check this box if the Group is no longer active; it will hide the Group from the logged-in user search on the Groups page.
- You can always pull up an inactive Group through the Advanced Search on the Groups page.
Group Participant Limit: Enter a number if you want to limit how many people can be in the Group. If left blank, the Group membership will be unlimited.
Months Old Range: Used to suggest an event for new Profiles in the Check-In system.
Cross Reference Saved Search: This allows you to connect a saved search to the Group for the purpose of adding or inviting people based on predefined criteria.
- Only searches created by or shared with you will be available in the pulldown menu.
- Example - Create a saved search for all the women of the church, and the leader of a women's Group can invite new women as they visit the church.
- This does not automatically update the Group participants.
Approval Group: This setting allows the Group to be used as a room or resource approval Group.
- With this box checked, Group Leaders will be able to approve or decline requests for any rooms or resources associated with the Group.

Group Leader Privileges

Group Settings: Allows Group leaders (including Coaches and Directors in Complete) to edit the General, When & Where, and Options tabs.
Participants: Allows Group leaders to add/remove people from their Group as well as access people reports for their Groups.
Contact Details: Allows Group leaders to edit the About section of Profiles of their Group members.
Logins: Allows Group leaders to setup logins for their Group members and send the New Login Created email right from the Group.
Family Reports: Allows Group leaders to access reports containing information about the participants' family members, whether or not the family members belong to the Group.
Church-wide Events: Allows Group leaders to publish their Group's events to the church-wide calendar.
Event Resources: Allows Group leaders to request rooms and resources for their events.
Files: Allows Group leaders to upload files to the Group.

Attendance

Attendance Groupings: Select all Attendance Groupings you would like to associate with this Group and the attendance for its events.
- These Attendance Groupings will be used when creating new events for the Group.
- Check out this article to learn more about Attendance Groupings.

Tip: After choosing all your settings, click Save at the bottom. You do not need to save at the end of every section; one save will preserve all changes.

Setting up different Group types

Group	Group Type	Interaction Type	Membership Type	Listed/ Unlisted	Public	Member Privileges	Department	Attendance Grouping
Children's (1st, 4th grade, Pre-K)	Attendance/ Services	Announce Only	Invitation	Unlisted	Not Public	None	Children's Ministry	Weekends, Mid-week, Special Events
Volunteer (Guest Services, Ushers, Children's)	Serving/ Volunteer	Members Interact	Invitation	Listed	Public	Messages, Needs	By Ministry area	Weekends, Mid-week, Special Events
Small Group	Small Groups	Members Interact	Invitation	Listed	Public	Messages, Needs	By Ministry area	Small Groups
Missions/ Outreach	Outreach/ Events	Members Interact	Invitation	Listed	Public	Messages, Needs	By Ministry area	Special Events
Men's Ministry	Attendance/ Services	Members Interact	Open to All	Listed	Public	None	Adult Ministries	Weekends, Mid-week, Special Events
Staff Groups	Operations/ Church Use	Members Interact	Invitation	Either	Not Public	All	Church-wide	Classes, Training, Special Events
Leaders	Operations/ Church Use	Members Interact	Invitation	Listed	Not Public	All	By Ministry area	Classes, Training