# Roles > Name the places you need people, such as small group leader, elder or guest host. Say what each one asks, see who holds it from Planning Center, who is ready, and who is growing toward it. For: Leader, Pastor, Admin, Owner Canonical: https://emmauos.com/docs/roles A **role** is a place your church recognizes and needs filled: small group leader, serving team lead, guest host, deacon, elder. It isn't a Planning Center team. One role can be a position on several teams, or leading a group, or something Planning Center never tracks at all. ## Adding a role Open **Pipeline** in the sidebar (Roles is its first tab) and use **Add a role**. Start from a starter role (small group leader, serving team lead, guest host, kids volunteer, mentor, elder or deacon) or **Start from nothing**. A starter is a draft: open **Change this role** to change every word, the target and who can see it. A role has: - **A name and a track**, usually Lead or Belong, so it shows in the right column of [Pipelines](/docs/pipelines). - **How many you need.** Optional. With a target, the Roles page shows it as a ring, for example 6 of 10, and adds up the places to fill across every role. - **What it asks.** Plain expectations, one per line, such as "Meets with a coach once a month". - **Requirements** EmmauOS can check, and **qualities** only people can see. See [What a role asks](/docs/role-requirements). - **Who sees it.** *Leaders and pastors*, or *Pastors only*. A pastors-only role, such as elder, is never shown to a ministry leader, never named to the person, and never sent to Planning Center. - **A review.** Holders can carry a review date, such as every year for group leaders or every 3 years for elders. ## Where the roles come from Every role on the list is one someone on your team added. EmmauOS never invents one, and nothing is added for you from Planning Center. The Roles page lists them A to Z; the Overview shows the three furthest below the target you set. Holders come from Planning Center or are added by hand, and Ready and Growing are worked out from what the role asks each time you open it. For how to choose your first role and run it week by week, see [Fitting the pipeline to your church](/docs/apply-the-pipeline). ## Reading the Roles page **What we need** lists each role as one row: a ring for how many hold it against how many you need ("6 of 10"), how many are still to fill, the faces of the people with the most room who are ready or growing toward it, and **Find people**. People with room to serve come first; someone already serving in three places or more comes last. ## Who holds it EmmauOS reads Planning Center for you. A role can say who holds it there: everyone who leads a group, everyone on a Services team, or a position such as Team Lead. When Planning Center changes, the holders change. You can also add a holder by hand, and end a holder when they step down. ## Ready and growing On a role's page, **Who could hold it** has four tabs, each with a count: - **Ready**: everything the role asks is met. - **Growing**: one or two things still to go, and at least one already there. - **Holding**: who has it now, and when each is due a review. - **Asked**: who someone has already been asked about, by whom and when, so nobody is asked twice. Below it, **Suggested** lists people who meet every check EmmauOS can make but whom nobody has vouched for yet. Tap a quality chip, such as Character, to say it yourself. **What it asks and the last few months** opens the role's requirements and its 12-week chart. Every person comes with reasons, not a score: "At Serve or beyond", "Has served 9 months", "Among their strongest: Shepherding", "Character: Pastor Dana". Something nobody knows yet says so, rather than counting against them. ## Apprentices Next to each person in **Holding it now**, name who is learning the role from them, such as a co-leader who will take the group over or start the next one. A leader with nobody learning from them shows **No apprentice**, and the Roles list counts them for each role. See [Apprentices](/docs/apprentices). Each apprentice moves through four handover steps, and a pastor can open an apprenticeship to the leader and the apprentice once they have talked with both. ## Ways to grow into it A role's page lists the classes, courses and conferences your church links from it, to hand someone growing toward it. Pastors pick them there or from a resource's form. Your team sees them on the role and under "Growing toward" on a person's page. The person never does. See [Ways to grow](/docs/resources#ways-to-grow). ## Reaching out Next to anyone in Ready or Growing, **Who knows them?** finds the people closest to them. See [Who knows them](/docs/who-knows-them). ## Plans Seed and Small keep one role, so you can try the idea. Growing keeps five. Large has no limit and adds [Planning Center lists and workflows](/docs/planning-center-lists-and-workflows). ## What EmmauOS never does - Tell someone they are being considered. You tell them when you're ready. - Show a role, a list or a reason to the person in it. - Name someone who asked to be held back, who hasn't agreed to be contacted, or who is under 18. - Rank people against each other.