How to Give Someone Access
Permission changes needs to be applied by a director/staff member.
- Open People.
- Search for and open the person's profile.
- Tap Add Church Permission.
- Select the permission that matches their responsibility.
- Confirm the grant.
For permissions to apply, they may need to close out and reopen the app.
The Main Messaging Permissions
| Permission | What It Actually Does |
|---|---|
| Create group chats | Lets someone start regular group chats for day-of teams and other groups of 32 people or fewer. |
| Manage channels | Lets someone create and manage channels for larger, private, or discoverable communities. |
| Member moderation | Lets authorized staff restrict messaging or ban someone from the app. This is the spicy one, so give it out carefully. |
There are other permissions for things like announcements, albums, calendars, checklists, City Group administration, and other parts of the app. The same rule applies to all of them: give the narrowest permission that gets the job done.
Create Group Chats
Give Create group chats to someone who needs to make regular chats for day-of teams or other smaller groups.
This does not give them permission to create channels, moderate members, or administer the whole church. It only unlocks regular group-chat creation.
Regular group chats still have the 32-member limit, including the creator. City Group chats are separate and are created by City Group leaders from the group's Manage tab.
Manage Channels
Give Manage channels to someone who is responsible for communication with a larger group of people.
This allows them to create channels, choose whether a new channel is public or private, and manage the channel after it is created. They can also make a channel an Announcement Channel so only the owner and admins can post.
This permission is for people who actually own that communication responsibility, not everyone who wants a cool channel with their name on it.
Member Moderation
Give Member moderation only to staff who are trusted to take action on another person's access.
It unlocks two moderation actions:
- Restrict Messaging: The person can still enter the app and read messages, but cannot send anything anywhere until an authorized leader lifts the restriction.
- Ban from App: The person is signed out, cannot access the GCT app, cannot view public GCT data from that device, and cannot sign into their account or another account from that device.
That second one is a device ban, not just an account logout. Do not hand this permission out like candy.
How to Remove Access
- Return to the person's profile.
- Find the permission under Church permissions.
- Swipe left on the permission.
- Tap Revoke.
- Confirm the removal.
Revoking a permission stops that person from using the protected action again. It does not automatically delete conversations or channels they already created.
When Access Should Be Reviewed
- Someone changes teams or responsibilities.
- A temporary project or event ends.
- A leader no longer needs to create chats or channels.
- A staff member no longer owns moderation responsibilities.
- Nobody remembers why the person has the permission in the first place.
If the last one happens, that is usually a pretty good sign that it is time to ask.
TLDR
| They Need To | Give Them |
|---|---|
| Start a day-of team chat | Create group chats |
| Create or manage a large communication space | Manage channels |
| Restrict messaging or ban people | Member moderation |
| Do one specific thing | The one specific permission for that thing |
| Do everything | Probably stop and ask whether they really need to do everything |