Search Builder

Previous (Former) Church

This Condition located on the Membership category tab in Search Builder looks at the church name that is in the Previous Church field on the Profile > Member tab on the people record. Normally, the membership coordinator would add this to the person’s record when they make a decision to join your church. Because this is a text box and you can type whatever you want, you will want to be careful how you use this Condition or you may not get the results you expect.

Use Case

If a church in your area has to disband and its members are joining other churches, you might be interested in how many have joined your church. You can search first for those with a Join Date greater than the date the church disbanded. Then add this Condition and enter the start of the name of the previous church. This will give you everyone who has joined your church and were previous members of the disbanded church.

Tip

Take advantage of the built-in searches and the reports in TouchPoint. The Decision Summary report includes those who have joined and are grouped by Join Type. Clicking on any total on that report will take you to Search Builder with the search built for you.

See also

Decision Summary Report

The Comparisons are as follows:

  • Equal - an exact match (if you use 1st Baptist Church Nowhere USA, that’s exactly what you will get - but not First Baptist Nowhere)

  • Starts With - matches the beginning letters (if you are in the habit of using FBC as a start for First Baptist Church, then use FBC and Starts With)

  • Ends With - matches the ending letters

  • Contains - matches letters anywhere inside the name

  • Does Not Start With - does not match the beginning letters

  • Does Not End With - does not match the ending letters

  • Does Not Contain - does not contain specific letters

  • Not Equal - not a match

  • After - returns any names alphabetically after the letter or letters entered in the Value field

  • AfterOrSame - same as above, but includes the letter or letters entered in the Value field

  • Before - returns any names alphabetically before the letter or letters entered in the Value

  • BeforeOrSame - same as above, but includes the letter or letters entered in the Value field

  • Leave the Value empty to find those without a Previous Church.

Keep in mind that you will get better results if you have an idea of the policies for your church regarding how you enter church names. Then you will know what to enter in order to find what you are looking for.