Introduction to Groups

What are groups good for?

Groups make it easy to keep track of communication, documents, and tasks within a specific team, area, or community of interest. This saves time and ensures that everyone involved has access to relevant information – without flooding the entire congregation with messages they don't need to see.

Content

Create a group
Add users to groups
Make a user a group leader
Change the group's name, tasks, or delete the group

Groups are often used in conjunction with the Rota Schemes. For example, if the group is "Church attendants," you can assign tasks directly to them.

Create a Group

Go to Groups in the menu.
Click on New group.
Give the group a descriptive name and description.

Select "This is a rota group" if the group has a regular function in the church. (This makes it possible to use the group in the rota. Read more about "Rotas" here)*

Once the group is created, you will have access to:

Activity - Here you can see the activity that has taken place within the group.
Members - Here you can see who is a member of the group. Under "Actions," you can send a message to an individual member, make them an group leader, or remove them from the group.
Files - Here you can upload files in ChurchDesk, and they must be associated with a group. The files are only visible to the members of the selected group if the visibility is set to "Share with group only." If the visibility is set to “Share with group only,” only members can see them. “Public” files can later be used for e.g. the website.
Messages - You can communicate internally within a group by sending messages. These are automatically sent to the recipients via notifications, email, or SMS.
Blogs - Share news and posts internally within the group. Read more about it here: Blogs

Add Users to Groups

Group membership works from your contacts, not only from existing users.

Open a group and go to Members.
Click Add member and choose a person from the list. Active users are marked with a tag; everyone else is a contact.
When you add a contact who is not yet a user, ChurchDesk prompts you to create a user for them (draft or active).

Users created this way by a group leader are limited:

They can only be given the Volunteer role.
They can only be added in the parishes the contact already belongs to. These parishes are pre-filled, but the group leader stays in full control and can remove any that do not apply.

Membership via Request

A user can request to become a member of a group themselves. When this happens:

The request is sent directly to all group leaders.
Group Leaders can approve or reject the request.

Make a user an group leader

Go to Members.
Click on Actions next to the desired person.
Select Make group leader.

Change the Group's Name, Task, or Delete the Group

Go to the group.
Click on More (top right).
Select Edit group to change the name, description, or task.

You can also select Delete group.

Only the group leader can edit the group and delete or transfer files. If you have the "Organization Administration" role in ChurchDesk, this is not sufficient to make edits and deletions. However, as an "Organization Administration," you can add yourself to the group and subsequently appoint yourself as the group leader.

Remember that files within the group will be deleted if you do not transfer them to another group. The system will warn you about this if you delete a group, and you will have the option to choose to transfer the files to another group.

When deleting a group, you can choose a replacement group to transfer services and files to. Note that the transfer to a replacement group only works if you are also a group leader of that replacement group. To delete a group whose original creator no longer has access, an Organization Administrator can add themselves as a member, make themselves group leader, and then delete the group.

If the group is a rota group with rota assignments, always select a Replacement group during deletion (Groups → Edit → Delete) and keep the data-transfer option enabled, so that rotas and assignments are transferred to the replacement group. Deleting a rota group without choosing a replacement can leave broken data behind and cause calendar errors (e.g. "An unexpected error occurred" when opening events).

Restoring a Deleted Group

A deleted group can be restored. Restoring data is a manual operation normally carried out by ChurchDesk, and this additional service may incur a fee. To request a restore, contact support and provide your 4-digit support code (found under Help in the top right). After the group is restored, delete it again correctly by choosing a replacement group and keeping the data-transfer option enabled.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where can I find an overview of all groups?
You can find a complete overview under the menu item Groups.

Can I remove myself from a group?
Yes – as a user, you can always choose to leave a group.

Can non-members see who the group leaders are?
Yes. In the Groups overview, the Group leadership column shows the group leaders with their profile picture. Hovering over a picture reveals the leader's name. This information is visible to all users, including non-admins.

How can a non-member contact a group they are not part of?
Messages within a group are deliberately reserved for group members, so the communication stays internal. A non-member has three options:

Request group membership – the request is sent to all group leaders, who can approve or reject it. Once a member, the user can post under Messages.
Via a group leader – the group leader can post the message in the group on the person's behalf.
Via the Contacts module – under Contacts → Messages → Create, emails or SMS can be sent to individual contacts, filters, or lists. This requires access to the Contacts module.

Keywords: ChurchDesk groups, create group, group management, add user to group, assign group leader, group messages, group files, internal communication, group blog, service group, group members, request membership, delete group, group permissions, group overview

Updated on: 16/10/2026

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