Prospect vs member
The prospect / member distinction is the most important CRM decision. It defines who shows in your health reports, who gets broadcast communications, and who counts as “your church” when the pastor asks for the numbers.
Definitions
- Prospect: someone in your system whom the church does not yet count as part of the congregation. May have visited once, filled a connect card, registered for an event, nothing more.
- Member: someone the church has decided to count as part of the congregation. That decision is pastoral and made by you, not the system.
This isn’t academic. It changes the reports:
- Attendance rate: % of members present, not prospects.
- Church growth: new members, not new prospects.
- Denomination reports: members.
Promoting prospect to member
Promotion is manual. There’s no “after 4 visits they become a member” automation. This is on purpose: turning someone into a member should be a human decision.
How to promote
- CRM → [Prospect] → Actions → Promote to member.
- Confirm.
- Optional: log the membership rite date (membership class, baptism, etc.).
Change is immediate. Audit log captures who promoted and when.
Demote (exception)
If a promotion was premature, you can reverse within 30 days from [Member] → Actions → Back to prospect. After 30 days, the change requires org_admin and is logged as discipline or departure.
For a clean ending (move, joined another church, deceased), use [Member] → Status → Deactivate with the reason. Don’t demote to prospect — it loses semantics.
Available states
| State | Meaning | Counts in health reports |
|---|---|---|
prospect | Active prospect | No |
member | Active member | Yes |
member_inactive | Inactive member (sabbatical, non-attender) | Configurable |
departed | Member who formally left | No |
deceased | Deceased | No |
Best practices
- Write down your criteria for what makes someone a member at your church. Could be: completed membership class, was baptized, serves in a ministry.
- Review prospects monthly: those who haven’t returned in 90 days, mark
departedor leave as prospects but out of regular comms. - Don’t inflate the member count: the number is useful if it reflects reality. Over-counting is fooling yourself.