Membership pathways

A pathway is your church’s own series of steps toward membership, such as “Newcomers lunch”, “Meet an elder” and “Membership class”. Staff record where each person stands and which steps they have done, and each member sees their own progress under Where I am on the member portal’s Home.

Membership pathways come with Membership. You have it if your church’s plan includes Membership, or if it has been added for your church. An owner can check under Settings, on the Your plan card.

The five standings

Every person can have one standing. The five standings are the same in every church, so lists and reports mean the same thing everywhere; the steps of the pathway are your own.

Standing	What the member reads on Home
Visitor	“You are visiting.”
Attending	“You are part of us.”
In process	“You are on the way to membership.”
Member	“You are a member.”
Inactive	“We have not seen you for a while.”

A person with no standing yet is simply not on the Membership list.

Set up your pathway and its steps

1. In the staff dashboard, open Membership.
2. Choose Pathway at the top of the page.
3. The first time, type a name under Pathway, such as “Becoming a member”, and, if you like, a sentence under A line about it. Choose Create.
4. Add the steps in order. For each one, type its name under New step, such as “Take the membership class”. Under What a member reads about it, write what a member needs to know, such as when and where it happens. Choose Add step. Steps are numbered in the order you add them.
5. To take a step away, choose the bin icon beside it, then Remove. Everyone’s completion of that step is removed with it.
6. Choose Close.

Record a person’s progress

1. Open the person’s record: choose their row on Membership, or find them under People.
2. Find the Pathway section. It shows the person’s standing, since when, and its note, then each step of the pathway with a tick box.
3. Choose Set standing (or Change standing, if they already have one). Choose the Standing, the Pathway they are on, the Since date (today unless you change it), and, if it helps, a Note. Choose Save.
4. When the person completes a step, tick it. HoW shows Done with today’s date under the step. If you ticked it by mistake, untick it.

Each change of standing is written on the person’s timeline in words, such as “attending → in process”, and so is each completed step, such as “Completed Membership class”.

See who is where

1. Open Membership. The list shows everyone who has a standing, newest first, with their Standing, Since, Pathway (how many steps they have done, such as “2 of 4 · Becoming a member”) and Note.
2. To see one standing, such as everyone In process, choose it in Any standing. To find someone, use Search by name.
3. Choose a row to open that person’s record and update their progress.

Until anyone has a standing, the list says Nobody yet: “Set a person’s standing from their record; they appear here.”

What members see

When a member signs in to the member portal, Home shows a Where I am card with:

• their standing in words, as in the table above;
• the pathway’s name and its steps, each marked as done or not yet;
• Next: the first step not yet done, followed by what you wrote under What a member reads about it. When every step is done, the card says “Every step is done.”

A member who has no standing yet, at a church with a pathway, sees the steps (none done yet) with the first one as Next. A member with a standing but no pathway sees only their standing.

The card does not appear at all, rather than appearing empty, when your church does not have Membership, when the member’s login is not linked to their own record, or when there is nothing to show (no standing and no pathway).

Members can only look; they cannot change their standing or tick their own steps. Each member sees only their own progress. Your pathway’s name, its steps and what you wrote about each step can be read by any member signed in to your portal.

Good to know

• Write for the member. The step names and What a member reads about it are shown to members exactly as you write them. Choosing Inactive means the member reads “We have not seen you for a while.” The Note on a standing is not shown on the card, but it is part of the person’s own record, so write it as something you would be comfortable with them reading.
• One pathway. The Pathway dialog works with one pathway, which is what most churches need.
• Plan your steps before you start ticking. New steps are added at the end. There is not yet a way on the screen to reorder, rename or reword a step, or to rename the pathway. Removing a step and adding it again loses everyone’s ticks on it.
• Dates. A ticked step is dated the day you tick it; you cannot choose an earlier date for a step. The Since date of a standing can be any date, so you can record a standing that began in the past.
• Unticking. Unticking a step removes its date. The person’s timeline keeps the earlier “Completed” entry.
• Saving the same standing again changes only its date, pathway and note. A timeline entry is written only when the standing itself changes.
• Children. A child’s record is listed and opened only by staff whose role includes children’s records (owners and administrators). Membership coordinators see adults only.
• Reaching people by standing. When you build an audience for an email or text, you can choose people by Membership standing. The Participation report (coming soon) also counts people by standing.
• Limits. A pathway name can be up to 80 characters and a step name up to 120. Each description can be up to 2,000 characters and a note up to 1,000. Two steps in the pathway cannot share a name.
• If Membership leaves your plan, the Membership screen and the Where I am card go away. Nothing is deleted: the standings and steps are there again if Membership comes back.
• Who can do it. Owners, administrators and membership coordinators can see everything here and change it. The built-in Staff role and the other built-in roles do not include Membership. Someone whose role lets them view membership but not change it sees the same screens, but cannot add steps, set a standing or tick a step.

If something isn’t right

• There is no Membership in the menu: your church may not have Membership (an owner can check under Settings, Your plan), or your role does not include it. Ask an owner or administrator.
• “No pathway set up yet.” on a person’s record: open Membership, choose Pathway, and create one.
• “Not saved. A name must be unique in the pathway.”: another step already has that name. Choose a different name.
• “The standing was not saved. Check your access and try again.”: your role may let you view membership but not change it. Ask an owner or administrator.
• “Could not load membership.”: choose Try again. If it keeps happening, contact DCX support.
• A member says they cannot see Where I am: check that their record has a standing or that your church has a pathway, and that the Portal login section of their record shows their login is linked to them.
• A member sees the wrong standing or step: change it on their record. The card shows the change the next time they open Home.

What DCX support can do

With your permission, DCX support can open a support session on your church to look at your pathway and a person’s standing with you, and see why the Where I am card is or isn’t showing for a member. DCX can also tell you whether your church has Membership, and add it for your church if you ask.

How this compares with Planning Center

If you’re coming from Planning Center People:

• Standing is like the Membership type. Planning Center gives each profile a membership type your church can name as it likes (such as Member, Regular Attender or Visitor). HoW uses five fixed standings instead: Visitor, Attending, In process, Member and Inactive. You cannot add your own, but they mean the same thing in every list, audience and report.
• The pathway is like a membership workflow, with fewer moving parts. In Planning Center a workflow is a series of steps; each person in it has a card, each step is a job a team member completes, and cards are assigned to collaborators, can be snoozed, skipped or removed, and keep a history with internal notes. Planning Center workflows can also send emails, skip steps on conditions and move cards forward automatically. HoW’s pathway is a checklist on the person’s record: you tick the steps they have done. There are no assignees, reminders, skipping or automatic steps.
• Standing and steps live together. Planning Center keeps the membership type and workflow cards separate, and a list can change someone’s membership type automatically when they finish a class. In HoW the standing and the steps are side by side in the Pathway section, and you change the standing yourself when the time is right.
• Members see where they are. Planning Center lets you show the membership type on a person’s Church Center profile; its workflow cards are described as a tool for your team. In HoW each member sees their standing, the steps they have done and their next step on Home.
• On the timeline. Both keep a history: Planning Center on the workflow card, HoW on the person’s timeline.
• One pathway. Planning Center lets you build many workflows for any process (first-time guests, volunteering, follow-up). HoW’s pathway is only for membership, and the screen works with one pathway.