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User Guide  /  Adding Leaders & Roles

Adding Leaders and Assigning Roles

Healthy ministries depend on the right people leading the right teams. This section walks through how to identify a new leader, grant them leader permissions, and assign them to a role within their ministry.

📷 Screenshot: The Ministry detail page with a "Leaders" panel showing existing leaders and an "Add Leader" button.

Where leadership is managed

Leadership is set in two places — and the distinction matters:

  1. In ChurchCRM — the source of truth. Marking someone as a leader here is what unlocks portal-side permissions.
  2. In the Church Portal — where day-to-day role assignments and serving rotations happen.

For the portal to recognize a leader, the person must first be marked in ChurchCRM. Everything else flows from there.

Step-by-step: promoting a member to leader

This is a two-part process: grant the permission in ChurchCRM, then assign the role in the portal.

Part 1 — In ChurchCRM (admin only)

  1. Log in to ChurchCRM with an admin account.
  2. Navigate to Group Manager → Ministries.
  3. Click the ministry you want to add a leader to (e.g., Worship).
  4. Open the Leaders & Admins panel.
  5. Click + Add Leader.
  6. Type the person's name in the search and pick them from the list.
  7. Choose the leadership level (Leader, Co-Leader, Assistant) and click Save.

📷 Screenshot: ChurchCRM's Leaders & Admins panel with the "Add Leader" dialog open.

Part 2 — In the Church Portal

After the person is marked as a leader in ChurchCRM, ask them to log out and back in (or wait a few minutes). Then:

  1. Open the portal and click Ministries in the menu.
  2. Click the ministry you just added them to.
  3. The new leader appears in the Leaders panel automatically.
  4. (Optional) Assign them a specific role within the ministry — see below.

Assigning a role within a ministry

A "role" inside a ministry describes what someone does on the team — not their leadership status. Examples include Worship Leader, Vocalist, Drummer, Sound Engineer, Greeter Captain.

  1. Open the ministry detail page.
  2. Find the person in the Members list.
  3. Click their name to open the inline editor.
  4. Pick a role from the dropdown.
  5. Click Save.

The role now shows beside their name in the roster and is the default value when they're scheduled.

A real example

The church plant in South Campus has just identified Ben as the new Welcome Team lead.

  1. Pastor Marie (admin) opens ChurchCRM, navigates to Welcome Team, clicks + Add Leader, picks Ben, and selects Co-Leader.
  2. Ben logs out of the portal and logs back in.
  3. He now sees a Schedule Editor option for the Welcome Team in his menu.
  4. Pastor Marie opens the portal, goes to Welcome Team, and assigns Ben the role Greeter Captain alongside his co-leader status.
  5. Ben can now schedule volunteers for upcoming Sundays.

What to expect

  • Permission changes propagate to the portal within a few minutes (or instantly on the next login).
  • The new leader sees the Schedule Editor and any other leader-only tools immediately.
  • The previous leader (if any) keeps their permissions until removed — leadership is additive, not exclusive, by default.
  • Roles are visible to everyone in the ministry's roster view, so the team can see who plays what.

Removing a leader

When a leader steps down or rotates out:

  1. In ChurchCRM, open the ministry's Leaders & Admins panel.
  2. Click the Remove button next to their name.
  3. Confirm.

In the portal, they immediately lose access to the Schedule Editor for that ministry. They remain a member (and can still be scheduled to serve) unless you also remove them from the ministry roster.

Best practices

  • Have at least two leaders per ministry. Single-leader ministries break down when that person travels, gets sick, or steps away.
  • Document role expectations. A new Greeter Captain should know what's expected on a Sunday morning. Use the ministry's description field for the basics.
  • Audit leadership quarterly. Ministry seasons change; revisit who's leading what every three months.
  • Coordinate with ChurchCRM admins. The portal and ChurchCRM should never disagree about who leads what.

Common mistakes to avoid

  • Adding a leader only in the portal. This won't work — ChurchCRM is the source of truth, and the portal will revert on the next sync.
  • Assigning a role before granting leader permission. The role assignment requires the person to already be in the ministry; if they're not, you'll need to add them as a member first.
  • Forgetting the logout/login step. A newly promoted leader may not see their new tools until their session refreshes.