Ministries
What Are Ministries?
Ministries are the serving teams, departments, or groups within your church (for example: Worship Team, Hospitality, Children's Ministry, Small Groups). In OnArk, you set up your ministries and link them to assessment result types. This enables two things:
1. Ministry Suggestion in Forms — A Form section can include a "Ministries" field that presents guests with a list of your ministries and invites them to express interest.
2. Assessment-Based Matching — Ministries can be linked to specific Spiritual Gifts, DISC, or Enneagram result types, so OnArk can suggest relevant ministries to guests based on their assessment results.
Navigate to Admin → Ministries to manage your church's ministries.
The Ministries List
The Ministries page shows a grid of all your ministries. Each card displays the ministry name. You can: • Search ministries by name using the search bar
• Sort by Name or Creation Date using the sort dropdown
• Click a ministry to open and edit it
Creating a Ministry
1. Go to Admin → Ministries.
2. Click "Add Ministry".
3. A new ministry named "Untitled Ministry" is created and you are taken directly into its editor.
Editing a Ministry
Open a ministry by clicking its card. The ministry editor page has the following fields, all of which auto-save as you type (no save button needed):
Ministry Name
The name displayed to guests in Ministry form fields and in reports. This is also used in the Ministries page listing.
Ministry Description
A description shown to guests when they browse ministries in a class form. Describe what the ministry does and who it is for.
Linking to Assessment Result Types
You can connect a ministry to specific test result types so that guests who receive those results are shown this ministry as a relevant suggestion.
The page displays three collapsible groups — one for each assessment:
Enneagram
Shows all 9 Enneagram types (Type 1 through Type 9). Click any type to select it for this ministry. Selected types are highlighted.
Spiritual Gifts
Shows all Spiritual Gifts result types (such as Teaching, Giving, Leadership, Mercy, etc.). Click any gift to link it to this ministry.
DISC
Shows all DISC result type combinations (such as D/I, S/C, C/S, etc.). Click any combination to link it to this ministry.
Each group panel can be expanded or collapsed using the toggle button in the panel header. Selected items are highlighted in the primary color.
Deleting a Ministry
On the ministry edit page, click "Delete Ministry" in the top navigation bar. Confirm the deletion. The ministry is permanently removed.
How Ministries Appear to Guests
In Form Sections (Ministry / Team Suggestion Field)
When you add a Ministries input to a Form section, guests see a list of your church's ministries. They can expand each ministry to read the description and click to indicate interest. Their selection is saved as part of their form submission.
In the Form section editor, you can configure which specific ministries are shown or hidden in each field.
Assessment-Based Suggestions
If a guest completes a Test section and their result type is linked to one or more ministries, those ministries can be surfaced as suggestions. This feature works through the Ministry (Team Suggestion) form field — the form reads the guest's assessment results and surfaces the most relevant ministries.
Common Questions
Do I need to set up ministries before creating classes? No. You can create classes and form sections first. Ministries can be added at any time. The Ministry field in a form simply shows whatever ministries exist when a guest takes the class.
Can a ministry be linked to multiple assessment result types? Yes. A ministry can be linked to any number of result types across all three assessments.
Can a result type be linked to multiple ministries? Yes. For example, the Spiritual Gift of "Leadership" could be linked to both a Small Groups ministry and a Leadership Development ministry.
What if I have no test sections in my class? Can I still use ministries? Yes. The Ministry (Team Suggestion) field in a form works independently. Guests can browse and select ministries without having taken any assessment. Assessment-based filtering only applies if a guest has completed a test section earlier in the same class.
How many ministries can I add? There is no limit. Add as many ministries as your church has.
What info do guests see about a ministry team? Only the Team Description is visible to guests. Leader name, leader email, leader phone, and the internal team name are not shown to guests — those fields are for admin use and automations.
What are the leader name/email/phone fields used for? They're used in admin features, especially automations. When you create an Email automation, you can type the team leader's name or email to send notifications to the right person. Fill them out even if you're not using automations yet — we may use them in more features in the future.
How do I notify a ministry team leader when a guest selects their team? Create an Email automation on the section containing the Ministry Team input. Set the trigger to when that section is completed and add the leader's email as the recipient. If the leader is set up in the ministry team record, their name/email may appear as a suggestion when you type it.
How do I limit how many ministry teams are suggested (e.g. only top 3)? The number of suggestions is fixed by the assessment (e.g. top 3 for Spiritual Gifts, with ties included). You can't change that number in settings. In the Ministry Team input settings for a section you can hide specific ministries, but there's no "max suggestions" option.
Can I format the ministry team description (bold, links, lists)? The ministry description field has limited formatting. Rich formatting may not render consistently for guests. Keep descriptions concise; if you need more detail, you can link to an external page from the description if the field supports links.