Small groups that don’t quietly fall apart.
A group directory people can actually browse, rosters that stay current, weekly guides leaders write once, and (with Care) a nudge when someone stops coming, instead of the month after they’ve gone.
Groups don’t fail loudly.
They fail one missed Tuesday at a time, and by the time anyone notices, the person has already stopped thinking of your church as theirs.
Nobody knows which groups have room
The list on the website is nine months old. Two groups are bursting, three have four people, and a new family can’t tell them apart.
Attendance lives in a leader’s head
Or a notebook, or a text thread. Which means it can’t be handed off, and it can’t be noticed.
Drift is invisible
David missed two weeks. Nobody chased it, because nobody was counting. The third week he stopped answering.
Small Groups, in detail.
A group directory people can actually browse
Groups appear on a map (offset by a privacy radius so a leader’s exact address is never published), filtered by tags, and flagged when they’re new or kid-friendly. Every group has a public page you can link from your website, no login required.
- Map discovery with a privacy radius, so “near me” works without exposing a home address
- Tags you define: Tuesdays, young adults, Spanish, west side
- Kids Welcome and New Group flags for the two questions everyone asks first
- A public /o/yourchurch/groups page to link from your existing website
Capacity and waitlists that handle themselves
Set a cap. When the group fills, the next person joins a waitlist and is promoted automatically, in order, the moment a spot opens. If a leader adds someone to a full group anyway (because that’s what leaders do), the cap simply rises to make room rather than blocking them.
- First-in, first-out promotion the moment a seat frees up
- Join requests a leader approves, or open joining, your call per group
- Adding to a full group raises the cap instead of throwing an error
Meetings, notes, and the weekly guide in one place
Leaders take attendance, log what the group actually talked about, and post the week’s guide from the same screen. The guide goes out in the SG Weekly email and shows up in the app, so “what are we doing Tuesday?” stops being a text you have to answer.
- Per-meeting notes and meeting types: normal week, social, service project, off
- Leader-written weekly guides, sent by email and shown in the app
- Group announcements, and with Chat, a channel of the group’s own
- Leader changes are logged, so a handoff has a paper trail
The nudge, the week it matters
Leaders take attendance in seconds, and the ones who forgot get a reminder. Add Care, and Churchory watches that attendance for them: when someone misses three meetings in a row, the leader finds a check-in note already drafted, with the person’s name and a way to reach them, while a message still feels like being noticed rather than being audited.
- Missing-attendance reminders surfaced to the right leader, not to a report nobody opens
- With Care, a drafted check-in when someone misses three meetings in a row
- Prayer requests logged from the leader’s phone and kept with the group
- Church-wide view for staff: which groups are healthy, which are quietly emptying
The rest of what Groups does.
Small groups touch half the church, so Groups plugs into the products around it, when you have them.
Where this connects
Groups works on its own, on free Core. Add any of these when you need them (every product shares one directory and one permission system), or get them all with Churchory One.
Churchory Groups is small-group software for churches: a group directory people can browse on a map, rosters with capacity and waitlists, attendance leaders take in seconds, prayer requests and weekly guides. It's $99 a year (or $25 a month) on its own, or part of Churchory One, and runs on the same people directory as every other Churchory product.
What problem does Groups solve?
Small groups rarely fail loudly. The list on the website is months old, so newcomers can't tell which groups have room; attendance lives in a leader's notebook, so nobody notices when someone misses three weeks; and by the time anyone asks, the person has stopped thinking of the church as theirs.
How does it work?
Set up your groups
Create each group with its leaders, meeting day and time, location and the tags you use (Tuesdays, young adults, Spanish, kid-friendly). Youth and college ministries are groups too.
Let people find them
Publish groups to the map and list in the app and on a public page you can link from your website. The map uses a privacy radius, so a leader's home address is never published.
Handle joining and capacity
Choose open joining or join requests a leader approves. Set a cap; when the group fills, newcomers join a waitlist and are promoted automatically, in order, when a seat opens.
Run the week
Leaders take attendance in seconds, log notes and prayer requests from their phone, and post the weekly guide, which goes out by email and appears in the app.
Notice drift
Leaders who forget attendance get a reminder, staff see which groups are healthy, and with Care added, someone who misses three meetings in a row prompts a drafted check-in note for the leader to send.
Common situations
A newcomer asks which group to join
Send them the public groups page. They filter by night and life stage, see which groups have room, and request to join; the leader gets the request and approves it from their phone.
A popular group is full
New people join the waitlist instead of being turned away. When someone leaves, the next person is promoted automatically and both they and the leader know.
Someone stops coming
Attendance shows the gap the week it happens. With Care, the leader finds a short check-in note already drafted after three missed meetings. They edit it and send it, or not.
A leader steps down mid-semester
Assign a new leader; the roster, attendance history and prayer requests stay with the group, and leader changes are logged so the handoff has a paper trail.
What should you expect during setup?
Most churches set up Groups in an afternoon: import or create your groups and leaders, add tags, and send leaders a link to the app. If you request the free migration, we move your groups, leaders and rosters for you. Plan one short training call with your leaders before launch. Taking attendance is the only habit they need.
Who uses it?
More questions
Can leaders take attendance from their phone?
Yes. Leaders take attendance, log notes and record prayer requests from Churchory Mobile or the web, in a few taps per meeting.
Will a leader's home address be shown on the map?
No. Groups appear on the map offset by a privacy radius, so "near me" works without publishing anyone's exact address.
Does each group get its own chat?
With Chat added, yes. Each group can have its own channel, and a group leader moderates their own group's chat.
Can we run youth and college ministries in Groups?
Yes. Youth and college ministries run as groups with their own leaders, rosters, attendance and chat.
Can leaders see only their own group?
Yes. Give leaders the "manage what you're assigned to" level for Groups and they can run their own group and nothing else.
Is there a separate youth ministry product?
No. Youth and college ministries run as groups in Groups, with their own leaders, rosters, attendance and chat. Age-group ministries and their rosters also live in Core's people directory, so every church can organise people by life stage whatever products it owns.
Does each product work on its own?
Yes. Every product runs on Core by itself except Retreat Builder, which needs Events because every retreat is an event. Products light up extra features when you own them together: Groups plus Chat gives each group its own channel, Sunday plus Care puts first-time guests on the follow-up list, and Events plus Newsletters pulls upcoming events into a newsletter.
Can we import our old attendance records?
Yes. The free migration brings up to two years of attendance history, and the history import in Settings → Data & Import has presets for Planning Center, Breeze and a generic spreadsheet if you'd rather do it yourself.
How does Churchory track attendance?
Attendance is captured in the room, not reconstructed on Monday: Sunday check-in and headcounts come with Sunday, group attendance with Groups, and kids check-ins with Kids. Staff see week-over-week history and a list of the groups that forgot to take attendance.