🔐Roles

Roles are different from Groups in that they are only used determine what access a user account has to Lightpost.

Roles have only a couple, but important, purposes:

• Define membership of your congregation (see "indicates membership" below).

• Grant permissions to specific parts of Lightpost.

• Organize access to parts of Lightpost, allowing delegation of responsibilities to specific parts of Lightpost.

☑️ "Indicates Membership"

There is an "Indicates Membership" option that can be enabled on any role.

By enabling this option on a role: anyone who is assigned this role will be able to login as a member to your Lightpost account.

Any user who is given a role with this option enabled now has access to all the standard member features that are activated for your account. This includes the Directory, Prayer List, Group Posts, Sermons, Involvement, and more.

The "Indicates Membership" option does not grant any admin permissions. It only provides access to the member-facing features of Lightpost.

A user must belong to at least one role that has "Indicates Membership" enabled in order to log in.

Visitors & Non-Members

Lightpost does not offer any options to provide a limited level of access to visitors or non-members.

In terms of access, there are only members and non-members. A user either has a role with "Indicates Membership" enabled (and can log in), or they do not (and cannot log in).

Roles are only needed for members and should only be used for members.

You should use Groups for defining and organizing things like former members, visitors, non-members, etc.

Permissions

For each role, there are a number of permissions that can be enabled or disabled.

Important: Most permissions are specific to Admin Access.

There is not the ability to limit what a normal member of your congregation sees or has access to. By selecting the "indicates membership" option for a role, this automatically grants them access to all standard member features, such as viewing the Directory, Prayer List, Group Posts, etc.

Permissions are organized into some of the following groups:

Permission Group	What It Controls
Account	Manage account-level settings
Users	View, create, edit, and delete people; manage their roles and groups; view extended profile info; manage family photos
Roles	View, create, edit, and delete roles; assign and unassign roles to users
Groups	View and manage groups; assign and unassign users to groups
Finance	Access giving/contribution data, manage financial records, view reports, view contribution amounts
Announcements	View, create, edit, and delete announcements
Calendars	View, create, edit, and delete calendar events
Sermons	View, create, edit, and delete sermons
Attendance	View and manage attendance records; record general, per-user, and class attendance
Prayers	View, create, edit, and delete prayer requests
Involvement	Manage involvement/ministry areas and selections
Bible Classes	Manage Bible classes; register for classes (member app)
Worship Assignments	View and manage worship assignment schedules
Family Circles	View and manage family circle groups
Interactions	Create, view, and manage interaction/contact notes
Podcasts	View, create, edit, and delete podcasts
Reports	Access reporting features
Files	View, upload, and manage shared files
Child Check-in	Manage child check-in settings and enable kiosk mode
Crisis Check-in	Manage crisis/emergency check-in
Visitor Tracking	View and manage visitor records and settings
Programs	View and manage church programs
Website	Manage your Lightpost website, edit pages, and view site statistics
Sign-up Sheets	View and manage sign-up sheets
Song Tracking	View and manage song tracking (admin and member app)

Within each group, permissions are typically broken down into finer actions such as view, manage (create/edit), and delete, giving you granular control over what each role can do.

Some permissions are flagged as "Member App" permissions -- these control specific features within the member-facing app (e.g., the ability for members to register for Bible classes or manage their own involvement selections).

Default Roles

When a new Lightpost account is created, the following default roles are available as a starting point. You can customize these or create your own:

Role	Description
Account Admin	Full access to all features and settings
Elder	Available for you to define permissions
Deacon	Available for you to define permissions
Member	Standard membership access with no admin permissions

These roles can be fully customized -- you can rename them, change their permissions, or delete them (with the exception of system-protected roles). You can also create entirely new roles to fit your congregation's structure.