Non members

Is there a way non member youth in our ward can have access to the gospel living app/circles?

Not currently, but I understand that's on the list.

Is there any update on when this is happening? I also have several youth that are non members that would greatly benefit from being added to the circles in the gospel living app.

katiecs wrote:Is there any update on when this is happening?

Not at this time. The Church seldom provides a roadmap for development efforts. From time to time we do get hints but we have not seen any yet.

It's rare that we even know they're adding a feature. They very rarely give any kind of timeline. Probably because they get too many complaints when it's late. See the thread What is the 'Gospel Living' app? Where is it available? as a case in point.

Any update or continued talk of being able to add non-members to circles?

Not yet.

Just checking to see if there is an update on adding non-members to circles. Any updates?

That has not been added yet.

There is a great need for this in our ward as well.

Hopefully, this comes soon as we have non-member youth that would like to be connected to their friends with the app. They have asked to be added and it is disheartening to say that feature is not available.

Agree on the need for this feature. Youth who attend, but who's parents won't agree to the youth's baptism yet, isn't uncommon.

How I wish this was available. We have some non members that attend EQ and it would be a great way to communicate with them. By not allowing them to join it really creates a feeling of being an outsider. It constantly amazes me how technology limits the work. How is the church not more on the forefront?

Another upvote! Just had a non-member young man at a planning activity install the app, sign up for an account, get ready to start getting in on the discussion... annnnnndddd we hit the wall of not being able to connect him. Whomp whomp. #awkward

I agree this is a big need for the app to be usable. Our youth programs for the ward made a big push to get all of the kids on the app when it came out. That left out some unbaptized, recently adopted children of a member family. It also left out an unbaptized Young Mens leader who is the husband of a ward member. Children of divorced parents couldn't be included because we didn't have their records in our ward. We had to move away from the app for communications because it left people out who desperately needed to feel included.

So disappointing because it's such an amazing app! I absolutely love the content for the youth. I also love the concept of them getting their social media from an uplifting and safe source. Please add the feature for admins to add people to circles, especially those who are not members of the ward. I will request this in feedback as well.

It may not be appropriate (or safe) to ask an unbaptized adult to be a Young Men leader. Would that put the Church in a bad position if abuse accusations arise?

Surprisingly, there's no membership or priesthood requirement for Advisers (General Handbook 10.5), but they must complete the training on preventing abuse.

russellhltn wrote:but they must complete the training on preventing abuse.

Just curious. Is this even possible if they don't have a membership record? I wonder how the system would track completion?

davesudweeks wrote:Just curious. Is this even possible if they don't have a membership record? I wonder how the system would track completion?

It seems to require a church login, but I'm not sure as it has to be associated with a MRN.

I don't know as there's any tracking. It may have to be done by screen shot and filed in the ward's records.

As far as I know, non-members can't be recorded in any calling in MLS/LCR.

russellhltn wrote:I don't know as there's any tracking.

Unless it has changed since I was a clerk, the clerk can run a report that shows the status of the training by organization. It doesn't show for everyone - it shows which leaders and teachers in the callings have had the training and which are overdue. I used to run that report regularly and provide it to the various organizations when the training first came out.

But I'm starting to fork the thread - my apologies. We should get back to the topic of the Gospel Living app. I don't believe there is currently any way for someone to join a circle on Gospel Living if they are not a member of the unit. Requesting that feature by feedback from within the app is probably the best way to get it in front of those who direct the developer's priorities. However, I would guess this has been requested a lot via official channels so I'm not sure more feedback for this will make much difference.

davesudweeks wrote:

russellhltn wrote:I don't know as there's any tracking.

Unless it has changed since I was a clerk, the clerk can run a report that shows the status of the training by organization. It doesn't show for everyone - it shows which leaders and teachers in the callings have had the training and which are overdue. I used to run that report regularly and provide it to the various organizations when the training first came out.

However, I highly doubt the report will show a non-member who took the class.

So, while a non-member might be able to take the class, I'd think it would have to be tracked manually.

Speaking on behalf of my ward's youth groups, we have not implemented Gospel Living as our communication platform because it lacks the ability to include non-members. Specific to our situation, we have a father in our ward who needs to be included in the communication regarding his children, however as a former member of the church, we cannot add him since he no longer has a MRN.

Furthermore, the lack of this feature prevents missionary work because it doesn't allow investigators to be looped in on Gospel Living conversations in the "circles".

Please allow non-members to be included.

Same problem in my ward. Circles can't be implemented unless non-member youth can be included.

We need this so badly! Reading through the other posts on this thread, I can see that there is so much need to add functionality to add non-members or non-ward members to communication circles in the Living app. What a shame that a great app goes unused because of this missing functionality.

I want to move to the circles app. There are non members that we need to communicate with.

Also, I would love it if there is an automatic circle for parents of a youth class.

We have this need in our Stake, also.

We need this feature as well. How are we supposed to use the app if we can’t include our neighbors who aren’t members?

Our ward would also love to use this, but can't without excluding so many people. There needs to be a way to create a church account without a MRN. Rename it to C(hurch)RN and let non-members opt in!

Hello, just wanted to see if this is something that has been addressed yet. Thanks!

My ward youth would really benefit from allowing non-members to use the app also. Is there somewhere we can make a more formal request?

I have had two adult investigators upset that they could not access the GospelLibrary app. It is very frustrating to them, because they want to participate with everyone else in the class.

RVJohnson wrote: Sun Oct 16, 2022 7:23 pm I have had two adult investigators upset that they could not access the GospelLibrary app.

The Gospel Library App and the Gospel Living App are different. This thread is about the Gospel Living App, which does require membership.

We have lots of folks who download and use the Gospel Library app who are not members.

Just trying to bump the thread up and see if there are any solutions yet.

The ability to add non-members to gospel living circles is a critical capability. This is the biggest blocker to adoption on our stake, even when units are actively trying to adopt usage of the the app.

jjmandeville wrote: Tue Feb 14, 2023 9:33 pm Just trying to bump the thread up and see if there are any solutions yet.

Bumping the thread here will not generate any solutions. That only happens when feedback is given through the app and those who supervise the developers assign them to make a change. This is a user-to-user forum.

But to specifically respond to your post, no, I have not noticed any solutions yet. And since you have to be a member to use the Gospel Living App, I do not anticipate that change any time soon.

Being able to add "friends not of our faith" was something promised 3 years ago. Set expectations accordingly.

Any update on adding non-members to circles? We lead the activity day boys and have a circles group with all the parents, but we can’t add the parent of a non-member that attends our activities.

bassett95 wrote: Tue Feb 21, 2023 11:56 am Any update on adding non-members to circles?

See the post just before your post. If nothing has happened since the promise made 3 years ago I doubt six days is going to garner any changes in expectations.

We would greatly appreciate this too. I felt bad yesterday trying to explain it to our new YW friend.

We have a young woman whose parents are in active. She’s our front line of communicating to her. They would be willing to sign a form to give her a “ membership code#” but not baptism. Is there some kind of number they can get without being baptized so that they can be added. It’s so critical that we communicate through circles for the safety of the youth and the leaders. Yet it’s very isolating for many youth who can’t be on there. This is a marvelous work and we have so many non-members coming in they can easily feel left out when they can’t be added to such an amazing app. There’s got to be somewhere we can give them a code that’s different from baptized to have just access to the living app.

hsmead wrote: Sun Apr 23, 2023 8:04 am We have a young woman whose parents are in active. She’s our front line of communicating to her. They would be willing to sign a form to give her a “ membership code#” but not baptism. Is there some kind of number they can get without being baptized so that they can be added.

Well, that's an interesting situation with active parents but not allowing baptism. I'm guessing it's a guardianship, foster parenting, or pending adoption situation. That adds an additional complication because if they are not her parents, that would limit what the church systems allow them to do. Last I knew, church membership only had "parents" and not "legal guardianship" fields for a child's membership record.

There is nothing the ward can do to get her a MRN. I'd suggest having the bishop call support to see if there's any magic that Church Headquarters can do. I'm doubtful, but that's your best shot.

russellhltn wrote: Sun Apr 23, 2023 12:39 pm

hsmead wrote: Sun Apr 23, 2023 8:04 am We have a young woman whose parents are in active. She’s our front line of communicating to her. They would be willing to sign a form to give her a “ membership code#” but not baptism. Is there some kind of number they can get without being baptized so that they can be added.

Well, that's an interesting situation with active parents but not allowing baptism. I'm guessing it's a guardianship, foster parenting, or pending adoption situation. That adds an additional complication because if they are not her parents, that would limit what the church systems allow them to do. Last I knew, church membership only had "parents" and not "legal guardianship" fields for a child's membership record.

There is nothing the ward can do to get her a MRN. I'd suggest having the bishop call support to see if there's any magic that Church Headquarters can do. I'm doubtful, but that's your best shot.

I read their post as the parents are "inactive" (written in the post as "in active") which could explain why they don't want their daughter baptized at this time in her life. But it does appear that not being a member of the church is a hard-stop in participating in the Gospel Living app at the present time. It would be good training for her class presidency to council together on how to include this young woman when she doesn't have access to the Gospel Living app right now.

davesudweeks wrote: Sun Apr 23, 2023 3:37 pm I read their post as the parents are "inactive" (written in the post as "in active") which could explain why they don't want their daughter baptized at this time in her life.

That does explain a lot. I only saw "active". Thanks.

Including non-members was something promised years ago, but so far hasn't come about.

My ward is now at the point of being ready to jump headlong into adopting Circles as the official community tool. This issue could be the show stopper. Has anyone tried establishing a non-member record and then establishing the login? It would save me a little time and headache if someone had already stepped in that puddle OR used that solution... Thoughts?

jelmopalmer wrote: Thu Jan 25, 2024 8:57 pm Has anyone tried establishing a non-member record and then establishing the login?

You can create a non-member account, but there's no way to associate them with a ward.

The closest thing you can have to a non-member listed in the ward records is as a spouse to a member. But even then I don't think there's a way to link them to a church account.

jjmandeville wrote: Tue Feb 14, 2023 9:33 pm [ Adding a new feature will only be considered if ] feedback is given through the app and those who supervise the developers assign them to make a change.

Providing feedback via the app appears to be the best solution. Please spread the word about this to flood the software development supervisors with feedback requesting this feature. So tell your friends to post feedback via the Gospel Living app. Sadly, my Stake also refuses to adopt Gospel Living because we don't want to cut non-members out of the conversation.

no5370 wrote: Sun Feb 11, 2024 10:28 am

jjmandeville wrote: Tue Feb 14, 2023 9:33 pm [ Adding a new feature will only be considered if ] feedback is given through the app and those who supervise the developers assign them to make a change.

Providing feedback via the app appears to be the best solution. Please spread the word about this to flood the software development supervisors with feedback requesting this feature. So tell your friends to post feedback via the Gospel Living app. Sadly, my Stake also refuses to adopt Gospel Living because we don't want to cut non-members out of the conversation.

Personally, I think the church is well aware of this desire and the usefulness it can provide. However, privacy issues are not a trivial mountain to climb. Add to that the myriad of individual privacy laws scattered across the many countries in the world and I imagine this is a huge challenge where mistakes can have legal ramifications. The church did state they wanted to incorporate the ability to add nonmembers to the Gospel Living App - the fact it hasn't happened yet is likely not because they don't want to...

no5370 wrote: Sun Feb 11, 2024 10:28 am So tell your friends to post feedback via the Gospel Living app.

The church is not a democracy. The developers do not serve the members, but develop according to the requests of the high level church leaders. The legal department has a great deal of influence.

I don't know if the problem is legal or leadership priorities, but for whatever reason it hasn't happened after many years of promising it. But including non-members raises a number of non-trivial concerns.

I sent this feature request and hope to hear of an update soon

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Please make it possible to add non-member investigators & friends to Circles. Perhaps auxiliary presidency members/youth leaders can request the person be added, and a member of the bishopric can approve them. Then the person in question can provide the final approval to be added into the pertinent circle(s).

Please allow bishoprics to be the arbiters of this function instead of blocking our ability to add non-members globally. This would provide a much-needed additional function of communication, furthering the Church’s mission of “Love, Share, Invite.”

LisaZ wrote: Mon Feb 17, 2025 11:32 am Please make it possible to add non-member investigators & friends to Circles.

This is a commonly requested feature and has been in a number of ongoing forum thread discussions. The Tech Forum is user-to-user discussion and collaborative self help. There is no one in these forums that can do anything about it. We have no indication of any decision makers visiting the forums to read these discussions.

LisaZ wrote: Mon Feb 17, 2025 11:32 am Please make it possible to add non-member investigators & friends to Circles.

I posted the following almost exactly 2 years ago today:

russellhltn wrote: Tue Feb 14, 2023 11:39 pm Being able to add "friends not of our faith" was something promised 3 years ago. Set expectations accordingly.

So, it's been 5 years since the feature was promised. At this point, I don't think it's developer resources, but likely something legal.

At least now there's Local Unit Websites where selected activities can be posted to a public-facing webpage. Not the same, but more then we had 2 years ago.