How to use LCR with a group (not yet a branch)

[jtyewhit]

We have people meeting together in a Portuguese group. They are not yet the size of a branch, but they are big enough that we are running into problems because we don't have a formal LCR way to track them. They are using a spreadsheet for now.

I need some kind of LCR support for a group because they have a baptism coming up shortly and I don't know where to put the record.
We'll want to be able to track membership, baptisms, ordinations, callings, etc. for this little group. LCR supports branches, wards, and stakes. Is there any way to use it to track a group?

People in this group come from various cities around Seattle. I don't have a centralized place to track records associated with them.

Is there a hybrid solution that spans organizations smaller than a branch? At some point, finances are going to be a concern. There is a bishop who looks after this group, but his ward gets no funding for this group and I'm thinking about someday their being a welfare need, or they want to organize an activity, etc.

Looking for guidance on how to handle the records and organization for this group that we want to nurture. Hopefully it eventually grows into a branch, but we aren't there yet.

[scgallafent]

The membership records for the group should be in the ward that supervises the group. Here are the instructions from the Handbook:

In stakes, the stake president assigns a bishop or branch president to organize and supervise the group. In missions, the mission president assigns a branch president to organize and supervise it.

and

Membership records of group members are kept in the ward or branch that supervises the group.

Since you said that "there is a bishop who looks after this group," I am going to assume that there is a ward assigned to supervise the group. Since the membership records are kept in the ward or branch that supervises the group, there is a formal way to track them: LCR. I would recommend NOT maintaining a separate Excel spreadsheet with membership records. (Was that subtle enough? )

Some other thoughts:

People in this group come from various cities around Seattle. I don't have a centralized place to track records associated with them.

Groups do not cross stake or district boundaries. If that is the case, you may need to counsel with the bishop and stake president responsible for the group and review the instructions in section 37.7 of the Handbook.

There is a bishop who looks after this group, but his ward gets no funding for this group and I'm thinking about someday their being a welfare need, or they want to organize an activity, etc.

The ward is responsible for funding the group. The membership records are in that ward and those members' participation influences the ward's budget allocation. If the bishop feels like there is a funding issue because of the group, he should counsel with the stake president.

[jtyewhit]

This is super helpful. Thank you.

The guidance I just got from Salt Lake confirms everything above. They said that basically a group is treated as if it were a class. Classes don't stand alone; they are 'hosted' by a ward. In like manner as a class, a group is hosted by a ward. All membership records, callings, and finance stuff happens per normal as part of the ward. To keep track of the group, you can assign members that participate in the group to a custom class designation in your ward like Portuguese_RS, Portuguese_EQ, etc.

With people distributed outside the host ward boundarys, as in our case, the Stake President needs to get permission from the area presidency before moving membership records to the host ward. So we'll do that.

Thank you so much for the quick response! I really appreciate being able to get great guidance on this forum.