Lists and segments

To send a communication you first decide who. Ministrium offers two mechanisms: lists (static) and segments (dynamic).

Static list

A static list is a fixed set of members. Useful for:

• Sunday volunteer team
• Retreat sign-ups
• Baptism class cohort

List: "Zacatecas Retreat 2026"
Type: Static
Members: 47 (added manually or via CSV import)

If a new member signs up for the retreat, they must be added manually to the list.

Dynamic segment

A dynamic segment is defined by rules: membership is recomputed at send time.

Segment: "Active youth at Downtown"
Rules:
  - campus = "Downtown"
  - age between 13 and 25
  - attendance last 30 days ≥ 2
  - email opt-in = true

When the next campaign goes out, the system re-evaluates rules and produces the current list. Nothing to maintain — the list manages itself.

Available operators

Rules combine with AND by default, with OR and nested groups available.

Visual builder

[ AND ]
  ├─ campus IS Downtown
  ├─ age BETWEEN 18 and 35
  └─ [ OR ]
       ├─ tag CONTAINS "leader"
       └─ groups COUNT >= 1

Drag-and-drop UI. Each change shows a live count (“142 members match”).

Combine lists and segments in a send

When creating a campaign, recipients can be:

• A list
• A segment
• Union (list A ∪ segment B)
• Intersection (list A ∩ segment B)
• Difference (segment A − list B)

Useful for: “all retreat sign-ups EXCEPT leaders (who already got another email)”.

Quotas

Best practices

1. Use segments for recurring audiences (weekly newsletter to “active members”).
2. Use lists for one-off audiences (sign-ups to a specific event).
3. Prefix segment names: [NEWSLETTER], [EVENT], [OPS].
4. Document the segment’s intent in the description — the next staffer will thank you.