Phyle
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Groups

Set up small groups, ministries, classes and serving teams. Keep a roster, take attendance, and let members find a group and ask to join.

Groups hold the places people belong: small groups, ministries, classes and serving teams. Each group gets a roster, attendance, its own events, and, if you like, a listing in the member portal where people can find it and ask to join.

Start a group

  1. Go to Groups and select New group.
  2. Under The basics, give it a Group name, choose a Type, and write a short Description. Members see the description when they browse groups.
  3. Under Leadership, choose a Leader. They're added to the roster as its leader. If you have more than one campus, choose a Campus too.
  4. Under When and where, set the Meeting day, Meeting time and Location. Leave them empty if the group has no regular meeting.
  5. Under Joining, decide who can find the group and how they get in (see below).
  6. Select Create group.

Group types

  • Small Group
  • Ministry
  • Serving Team: these also appear under Serving, where you can add positions and schedule people. See Serving.
  • Class

When a group stops meeting, edit it and turn off This group is active. It's hidden from lists and the group finder but keeps its roster and attendance history. To see inactive groups again, tick Include inactive on the Groups page.

The roster

The Members tab shows everyone in the group, with their contact details, the date they joined and their role. Leaders are listed first.

To add someone:

  1. Select Add a member.
  2. Search for the Person. If they're not in Phyle yet, select Not in Phyle yet? Add a person.
  3. Choose their Role and the date they Joined.
  4. Select Add to group.

You can still add someone when the group is at its capacity; Phyle just tells you it's full.

Administrators and staff can add many people at once: go to People, tick the people you want (or filter the list), choose Add to a group, and pick the group.

Roles

Each person in a group is a Member, Leader or Co-leader. Change a role with the role menu on the person's row; it saves straight away. If the group has no leader yet, the first person you make a Leader becomes its leader.

To remove someone, select Remove on their row. Their attendance history is kept, and you can add them back any time. If you remove the group's leader, the group no longer has a leader until you choose one.

Print or export the roster

On the Members tab, select Print roster for a paper copy. Export as CSV downloads a spreadsheet; it's available to administrators, staff and the group's own leader.

Take attendance

  1. Open the group and select Take attendance (or the Attendance tab).
  2. Phyle opens the group's most recent meeting day. Use the arrows to move a week at a time, or pick a date.
  3. Tick everyone who was there, or select Mark all here.
  4. Came with a friend? Search for them under Add a visitor. Visitors are counted for this meeting but not added to the group.
  5. Select Save attendance.

The first time you save attendance for a day, Phyle adds a group meeting to the calendar for that date, at the group's meeting time (or noon if it has none). Saving again for the same day updates that meeting. Select Open event to see it.

The Attendance tab also shows:

  • Recent meetings: how many of the group came each time, for the last eight meetings.
  • Who's been coming: a dot for each meeting per person, with their attendance rate. Anyone who missed the last three is flagged Missed the last 3, a good prompt for a phone call.

Let people find and join a group

Under Joining in the group's settings:

  • List this group publicly: members can find it in the group finder in the member portal. When it's off, only your team can add people. New groups start unlisted.
  • How people join:
    • Open to anyone: people join right away, as long as there's room.
    • Ask to join: a leader approves each request. This is where new groups start.
    • Closed: not taking new people.
  • Capacity: the group shows as full once it reaches this many members. When an open group is full, people can still ask to join.
  • Childcare is available: shown on the group so parents know before they come.

Members find groups in the member portal under Groups, then Find a group, and can filter by type, meeting day and childcare. They need a sign-in to the portal; see The member portal and directory. There's no public sign-up page for groups outside the portal.

Members can also leave a group from the portal. A leader can't leave their own group there; they're asked to contact the church office.

Answer join requests

Requests waiting for an answer appear in two places: Groups › Join requests for every group, and the Requests tab on each group. The Groups page also shows how many are waiting.

  • Select Approve to add the person to the roster as a member.
  • Select Decline to turn the request down.

When someone asks to join, Phyle emails the group's leader and its leaders and co-leaders on the roster, with their note and a link to answer. When you approve or decline, the person gets an email too: a welcome with when and where the group meets, or a kind note suggesting they contact the church office to find another group. These emails need email connected (see Email and texting) and go only to people with an email address who haven't opted out. Leaders who can't sign in to Phyle can let the office know instead. To see past decisions, select View handled requests.

Leaders and their access

Choosing someone as a group's leader doesn't give them a sign-in to Phyle. What a leader can do depends on the sign-in role you give them under Settings › Users:

  • Volunteer, Staff or Administrator: they can open groups, manage rosters and take attendance. Volunteers and staff see all groups, not only their own. Only administrators and staff can delete a group.
  • Member: they use the member portal. There they see their group's roster, with leaders' contact details and anyone who has chosen to be listed in the directory. They can't take attendance or change the roster.

If you want a leader to take attendance each week, give them a Volunteer sign-in. See Roles and permissions.

Events and emails for a group

  • The Events tab lists the group's upcoming events. Select Schedule an event to add one. See Events.
  • Administrators and staff can select Email group at the top of a group's page to write a message to everyone in it. See Email and texting.
Next guide The member portal and directory