Community Group Leader Resources

Hey there!

Thanks for being a community group leader! We created this page to be a one-stop shop for all your resources.

Planning Center Online Resources

Planning Center Online (PCO) is an incredibly helpful tool for group leaders. Essentially this is the software that you will use to manage your group from. We use this as our church management software so that it syncs to all other platforms of our church.

Logging In

Simply go to groups.planningcenteronline.com. You’ll be prompted to either create a password or log in. Just type in your phone number or email to login and then create a password.

Emailing Your Group

We expect you to email your group regularly. You can use other means as well (Facebook group, text, GroupMe, Etc) but email is always the standard. And it’s super simple. Click here to see how.

Accepting Requests

This is super important! If someone requests to join your group, we don’t want to leave them hanging. You’ll get an email when you get a request. Make sure and accept the request and email them the info.

Pro tip: Have a template email created with main details of your group so you can copy and paste it for new requests. Also if you’re looking for a sample of a welcome email. Look no further!

Setting Up Your Events

This feature is super helpful. You have the ability to create and edit your group gatherings. You can also include an automated reminder email with the group on this. 👌 Click here for the step-by-step instructions on this.

Taking Attendance

This part is super simple but super important. You’ll get an email reminding you to take attendance and you just check who’s there. Keep in mind this only happens when you have your events set up. 👍

Other Resources

Slack

This is our team messaging system. We encourage you to throw any questions or ideas on there as you may not be the only one thinking it. If you haven’t join slack yet, just click here.

Online Virtual Small Group Games

It can be a challenge to connect and have fun with an online group. Click here for some fun ways you can do that.

Referring to Counselors

Part of growing in community is identifying issues. In and through your group, you will help people overcome things that are holding them back from growth. But an issue may come up that you may not have the availability, capacity or expertise to help them with. There is no shame in referring. You’re actually helping them more when referring them. If you come across a situation like this, it’s okay to bring it up to your Group Coach, but also we want to you have our list of counselors to refer to.