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Add a member ​

Use this flow when you need to add one person — a new family, a visitor who decided to stay, a leader you missed during import. For larger sets, bulk import is faster.

Open the new-member dialog ​

From Members, click the create button in the top right. The dialog opens with the most important fields up top.

Add member dialog

Required fields ​

Only three fields are required to save:

  • First names — the member's given name(s). One value here even if they use multiple.
  • Last names — family name(s).
  • Date of registration — when this person joined the church. Defaults to today.

Everything else is optional at first. You can fill it in over time as you get to know the member.

The dialog scrolls through several sections. Fill in what you have:

SectionFields
ContactPrimary phone, secondary phone, email
DemographicsDate of birth, gender, marital status
AddressCountry, state, city, street
Church relationshipMember type, who invited them, org unit
PhotoDrag in a face shot — square crops best

TIP

The "who invited them" field is what powers the connection network. Setting it consistently lets you see your evangelism family tree at a glance.

Custom fields appear after save ​

If your church has defined custom fields, they show up on the profile after the member is created — not in the create dialog. This keeps the create flow short for everyone while still letting you capture rich data per church.

INFO

The reason custom fields wait until the second step is that they're configured per-org. Letting them in the create dialog would make the form unpredictably long. Once the member exists, the profile renders every field your church has configured.

Save ​

Click the save button. The dialog closes and you land on the new member's profile. From there you can:

  • Upload or replace the photo.
  • Fill in custom fields.
  • Mark attendance retroactively.
  • Add notes.
  • Send a welcome message via Messaging.

The member also appears immediately in:

  • The main Members list.
  • The "Recent signups" tile on the dashboard.
  • Any workflows listening for the member.created trigger.

Duplicates ​

If a member with the same name + phone or name + email already exists, you'll see a soft warning before saving. You can either:

  • Edit the existing record — recommended.
  • Save anyway — useful when two real people share a name. Run the duplicate scanner later if it turns out to be a mistake.

Common questions ​

Does the member need an email to be added? No. Phone-only is fine. If you plan to invite them to sign in later, you'll need an email at that point.

Can shepherds add members outside their assigned unit? No. The unit picker only shows the units a shepherd can manage. Admins see every unit.

What if I don't know their date of birth? Leave it blank. The field is optional. Reports group "unknown DOB" as a separate bucket so it doesn't skew demographics.

Next steps ​