What members see of your groups

Everything your congregation can see or do with groups sits on one tab of the churchHQ app. This page walks that whole surface so you can describe it from memory and answer the questions it produces.

Where members find groups

Groups is a tab in the bottom bar, and there is a Groups tile in the row of quick actions on the home screen. Home also carries a My Groups card listing the groups the person belongs to as plain chips, with a Browse → link in the corner. That link opens the Groups tab on My Groups, so they still tap Browse to see the rest. Someone in no group at all sees You're not in a group yet and Find a group to join →, which does open Browse directly.

My Groups and Browse

Two pills sit at the top of the Groups tab: My Groups and Browse.

My Groups lists what they belong to. If a request is still unanswered, the list splits: a Pending requests section on top, each card carrying an amber Pending pill, then My groups underneath. With nothing pending there are no section headings, only cards. The empty state reads Not in any groups yet.

Every card shows the group name, the type chip, the first two lines of the description, the meeting line (for example "Tuesdays at 7:00 PM · Library"), the member count, and up to three leader photos.

Browse lists the groups they could join. A group appears there only when all four of these are true:

• Its status is Active, so archived groups are gone from the app entirely.
• Its visibility is Published. A draft is invisible here and cannot be joined even by someone who has the link. See Creating a group.
• They are not already an approved member.
• They have no pending request on it. The moment they tap Request to join, the group leaves Browse and reappears under Pending requests.

The empty state is No groups to join, with "You're already in all available groups."

The search box above the list reads Search groups... and matches the group name only, ignoring capitals. It does not search descriptions, leaders, or locations, and there is no filter by type, day, or campus. No results gives No groups match your search. My Groups has no search box.

The group page, line by line

Tapping a card opens the group. From top to bottom:

• A back link reading Groups.
• The banner, in a wide 3:1 frame. A group with no banner gets a soft gradient block in your church's accent color instead, so the page never looks broken. Banners are set on the dashboard.
• The group name, with the type chip beside it: Small Group, Class, or Ministry.
• The description, exactly as you typed it. The card clips it to two lines; this page shows all of it.
• A calendar row with the day and time ("Tuesdays at 7:00 PM"). Recurring groups get the day pluralized.
• A pin row with the meeting location, as typed.
• A clock row reading Runs through {date} for a fixed-length or one-time group with an end date. Recurring groups never show this row.
• Leaders (Leader when there is one): photo or initials, full first and last name, and the role underneath.
• Members: photo or initial and first name only, in a grid. No last name, no email, no phone, no link to a profile. Leaders are not repeated here. This section is shown only to approved members of that group. Anyone browsing sees the leaders and nothing else.
• The member count, which counts approved members. The card back on the list counts pending requests too, so a group with two open requests can read "12 members" on the card and "10 members" inside.

Nothing about Scout's intelligence reaches this page. No engagement status, no health pill, no notes, no attendance.

The one button at the bottom

There is a single control at the foot of the group page, and it has four states.

| What they see | When | |---|---| | Request to join | They are not in the group. While the tap is in flight it reads Requesting..., and a failure shows Couldn't send your request. Please try again. | | Request pending | Their request is unanswered, with the line "A leader will respond soon." | | You're in this group | They are approved. Leaders get · Leader or · Co Leader appended. | | How did your meeting go? | A leader or co-leader owes a reflection on a recent meeting. It replaces the confirmation pill, with "Log attendance and a quick reflection." underneath. |

A request notifies that group's leaders and co-leaders with a push titled New group request, and lands in Pending requests on the group's dashboard page, where you approve or decline it. Leaders cannot approve from their phone. That flow is in Members, leaders, and join requests.

Joining is one way

A member can ask to join. They cannot get themselves out. There is no Leave group button anywhere in churchHQ and no way to hide a group from their list. Removing someone is staff work, done on the group's page in the dashboard by hovering their row and clicking the ✕.

So expect requests to reach the office instead. Tell your leaders the same thing, because a member is likely to ask them first.

Muting a group without leaving it

This is what you offer someone who wants a group to stop sending them notifications. In churchHQ they tap their avatar in the top right to open Profile, scroll to the Update notifications card, and use the toggle on that group's row. On means notifications, off means muted. The card explains it in place: "Choose which teams and groups can notify you. Muted ones still show in your Updates feed. You just won't get a notification."

Two limits worth knowing. Muting stops the push and nothing else, so the update still arrives in their Updates feed. And only approved memberships are listed, so a person with a pending request has no row to toggle. The card is hidden altogether for anyone in no teams or groups. More on that screen in Notifications and profile.

What is not there

Members hunt for these, and none of them exist:

• No group chat and no messaging of any kind. The only way to reach a group through Scout is an Update posted to that group, by staff or by one of its leaders, which arrives as a push and sits in the Updates feed.
• No files, links, or resources. There is nowhere to attach a study guide, a document, or a video.
• No meeting calendar. The day, time, and end date are text on the page. Scout does not generate upcoming meetings, does not put them in the schedule, and has no RSVP.
• No contact details for anyone, including the leaders. A member who wants to email their leader has to already know how.
• No attendance visible to members. What a leader records after a meeting is read by staff only.
• No capacity, waitlist, age range, or category. The type chip is the only classification a group has.
• No public signup page. Requesting to join requires a signed-in churchHQ account linked to a person record, so a group cannot be advertised as a link to strangers.