Turn off membership for a ministry
Not every ministry has members. A podcast, a Bible study, or a teaching ministry may just want people to get updates. When you turn membership off, your public page offers Follow instead of Join, and people sign up for email or text updates in one short form.
Before you begin
- You need access to your church's Settings.
Step-by-step
- Go to Settings > General. Open Settings from the main menu and stay on the General tab.
- Find the Membership section. The Membership row shows On or Off.
- Click the pencil. Select the pencil icon next to the current setting to open the Can people become members? window.
- Choose Off. Your choice saves automatically and the window closes. The Approval row disappears, since there are no member requests to approve.
What people see when membership is off
- Your church page. The main button reads Follow. Someone who already follows sees Following, which opens Notification preferences and Unfollow.
- The follow form. Tapping Follow opens a short form: first name, last name, email, phone, and whether they want emails, texts, or both. There is no member option and no account to create. Afterward they see You're following.
- No member faces. The small row of member photos on your church page is hidden.
- Members-only forms and groups. These still say they are for members, but they no longer offer a Become a member button.
Good to know
- Followers are subscribers. In People, the people who follow show as Subscriber, and your emails and texts reach them the same way.
- Existing members stay members. Turning membership off doesn't change anyone already in your church, including your admins. Pending requests stay on your Home page for you to approve or reject.
- You can still add members yourself. Open a person in People and change their Membership to Member whenever you need to.
- Turn it back on anytime. Choose On in the same window, and your page offers Join again.