Tech Forum

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.