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Creating Groups

Creating a group in B1 Admin is straightforward. You will set up a category, name your group, and then configure its settings. Groups help you organize your church into meaningful units like small groups, committees, and classes.

Training Video​

Creating Groups and Adding Members in B1 · Watch on YouTubeNext video: Group Join Requests and Group Calendars in B1

Before You Begin

  • You need an active B1 Admin account with permission to manage groups. See Roles & Permissions if you're unsure about your access level.
  • Decide on a category structure for your groups (for example, "Small Groups," "Ministries," "Committees"). Categories help keep related groups organized.

Adding a New Group​

  1. Open the Jump menu (the search bar at the top-left of B1 Admin), expand People, and click Groups.
  2. Click Add Group in the page header. A New Group form opens below the list. Enter a Category Name. Categories help you organize related groups together (for example, "Small Groups," "Ministries," or "Committees"). If a category already exists, you can select it from the list.
  3. Enter the group's Name.
  4. Click Add (or Cancel to close the form). Your new group will appear in the list, with its category shown under its name.

Configuring Group Settings​

Once your group is created, you can fill in additional details:

  1. Click on the group name in the list to open it.
  2. Click the Edit button on the left side of the group page, below the group's details. The Group Details form opens.
  3. Configure the following options:
    • Category Name and Group Name -- Change the group's category or rename it.
    • Meeting Time and Meeting Location -- When and where the group typically meets (for example, "Wednesdays at 7 PM" in "Room 204").
    • Description -- A brief summary of what the group is about, written in the formatting editor. This is visible to members.
    • Photo -- Click the photo box or Add Photo to pick or upload an image for the group.
    • Slug -- The short key name used in the group's web address on your church site.
    • Labels -- Assign one or more descriptive labels to the group (for example, "In-Person", "Online", "New Members Welcome"). Labels are freeform tags you define; check all that apply, or click Add New Label to create one. Labels can be used to filter groups in the Groups Browser website element.
    • Campus -- The campus the group belongs to, if your church has more than one.
    • Enrollment -- Choose who can join this group:
      • Open (members can join immediately) -- Anyone can join without approval
      • Request to Join (leader approval required) -- People must submit a join request that requires approval (see Group Join Requests)
      • Closed (admin-add only) -- Members must be added manually by leaders or administrators
    • Discussions -- Turns the group's chat feed on or off, where any member can post. On (Yes) by default.
    • Announcements -- Turns on a second, leader-only chat feed -- members can read and react, but only leaders can post. On (Yes) by default.
    • Show roster on website -- Set to Yes to list the group's members on its page on your church website.
    • Confidential group -- Hide this group and its roster from public pages, the group finder, and non-members. Use this for sensitive groups like recovery or counseling ministries; only the group's members and church staff can see it.
  4. For classes and children's rooms, the form also has these sections:
    • Age & Grade -- Minimum Age and Maximum Age (in years and months) and Minimum Grade and Maximum Grade, used to suggest the right room at check-in. Leave them blank (or No limit) for no limit. See Check-In Safety.
    • Check-In Capacity -- Capacity, Guest Capacity, Children per Volunteer, Minimum Volunteers, and Closed for Check-In. See Check-In Safety.
    • Attendance -- Track Attendance (set to Yes to record attendance for this group), Attendance Reminder Emails (reminds the group's leaders when one of the group's calendar events took place yesterday but no attendance was recorded), Parent Pickup, and Print Nametag (check-in options for children's groups).
    • Service Times (optional) -- Pick a service time in Add Service Time and click the plus button to associate the group with it; click the remove icon next to a service time to take it off. See Attendance Setup for details on service times.
  5. Click Save to apply your changes, or Cancel to close the form without saving.

The left side of the group page shows the group's category, meeting time and location, description, labels, and service times, plus check marks for Track Attendance, Print Nametag, Parent Pickup, Discussions, and Announcements so you can see at a glance which are turned on.

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Adding a clear description and meeting time helps members know what to expect when they join a group.

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Turning off both Discussions and Announcements removes the Messages tab from the group entirely in the member portal. Turning off just one hides its tab; members are moved to whichever feed is still on. Existing messages are kept either way -- the toggles only control new posting.

Duplicating a Group​

Starting a new session of a recurring class or ministry? Instead of re-entering all the settings, duplicate an existing group:

  1. Open the group and click Duplicate (below the Edit button on the left side of the group page).
  2. Confirm the duplication.

The copy carries over the original's settings -- category, description, photo, meeting time/location, enrollment, labels, campus, chat feeds, confidentiality, age and grade limits, check-in capacity, and attendance options -- but not its members or service times. The new group opens right away; it is named after the original with " (Copy)" appended, so rename it from the group settings.

Archiving a Group​

When a group is no longer active but you want to keep its history instead of deleting it:

  1. Open the group and click Edit to edit its settings.
  2. Click Archive and confirm.

Archived groups drop off the main Groups list. To find one again, click the Show archived button next to the category buttons at the top of the Groups page, then click Restore next to the group and confirm to bring it back.

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Archiving a group does not delete its members, attendance history, or calendar events -- it only hides the group from the default list until you restore it.

Deleting a Group​

To remove a group permanently, open it, click Edit, click Delete at the bottom of the Group Details form, and confirm. Deleting can't be undone -- if you might need the group's history later, archive it instead.

Next Steps​

After creating and configuring your group, you are ready to:

  • Add members -- Search for people and add them to the group. Use the star icon (Make Leader) to designate group leaders. See Group Members.
  • Set up a calendar -- Create events and recurring meetings for the group. See Group Calendar.
  • Communicate -- Email, text, or send a push notification to the group's members from the group page. See Group Members.
  • Export data -- Click Export above the group's member list to download it. To download the whole list of groups, click Export in the header of the Groups page.
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Every group belongs to a category, and the main Groups page lets you filter the list by category. You can always rearrange or rename categories as your church grows.