Filters / Participant lists / Newsletters lists

In ChurchDesk, you can use different types of lists to organise and communicate with your contacts effectively.

In the Contacts module, you’ll find lists in the black sidebar on the left. Here you can see three types of lists: Filters, Participant lists, and Newsletter lists. Each list serves a different purpose and offers different options.

Filters – dynamic lists for targeted selection

Filters help you automatically display specific groups from your address book.

A filter is dynamic, meaning new contacts that match the defined criteria will automatically appear in the filter.

Example:

You want to see everyone born in 1995 or everyone who has subscribed to the newsletter.

Create a filter and choose the appropriate conditions.

When creating a filter, you can:

• specify which congregations to include,
• combine multiple criteria (e.g., birth year, marital status, form responses),
• define how the criteria are applied (“is”, “is not”, “registered”, “not registered”).

Using a drop-down menu, you can also select specific values (e.g., “married”).

Default options are already set in ChurchDesk but can be expanded via custom fields.

Tip: Filters can be exported to Excel at any time. The exported file is not dynamic and only reflects the data at the time of download.

Participant lists – static lists for manual organisation

Participant lists are useful if you want to manage fixed groups manually, for example:

• everyone attending the next church retreat,
• everyone interested in the next Alpha course.

These lists are not dynamic – you add or remove contacts manually.

Alternatively, you can use contacts from an existing filter.

Participant lists can also be exported to Excel and used directly for communication, e.g.:

• newsletters,
• emails,
• SMS.

When creating a participant list, you can:

1. give it a title,
2. add contacts immediately or later,
3. define which congregations have access to this list.

Newsletter lists – targeted distribution for communication

Newsletter lists allow you to organise different recipient groups for sending newsletters.

You can create lists for example for:

• general church information,
• parents,
• teenagers,
• new members.

Contacts can sign up for specific newsletter lists themselves and choose which types of messages they want to receive.

Only contacts who have given consent will receive emails.

(More info in the article on Consent Management.)

How to create a new list

1. Go to Contacts > Lists.
2. Click Create in the top right corner.
3. Choose whether you want to create a Filter, Participant list, or Newsletter list. Alternatively, you can create a new list directly from the contacts overview using the blue New button at the bottom left.
4. Fill in the required fields (name, criteria, congregations, etc.).
5. Save your new list.

Editing lists

All list types can be edited afterwards.

• Filters: criteria, name, and settings can be changed.
• Participant and newsletter lists: contacts can be added or removed anytime under “More” for each list.
• Changes are applied immediately.

Deleting lists

1. Go to Contacts > Lists.
2. Click More > Delete on the list you want to remove.
3. Confirm the warning prompt.

After deletion:

• the list is permanently removed,
• the contacts themselves remain in the system.

To delete lists, you need the special permission “Delete keywords and lists” – this allows removing lists across congregations without deleting the contacts themselves.

Multi-congregation function

If you work with multiple congregations, lists can be assigned to one or more congregations.

In the list overview, you can see at a glance which congregations are linked to each list.

Benefits of lists

• Targeted communication to specific groups,
• Creation of recipient lists for newsletters,
• Preparation for events or courses,
• Easy evaluation of contact groups,
• Organisation of teams or volunteers.

Keywords: lists, filters, participant lists, newsletter lists, contacts, address book, create filter, filter contacts, dynamic lists, static lists, edit lists, delete lists, Excel export, newsletter, consent, communication, multi-congregation, permissions, ChurchDesk contacts

Updated on: 20/10/2025