Connections

A connection lets two profiles see each other’s private profiles. Open Connections from the sidebar’s Community section — either for the profile you have selected, or account-wide from Dashboard → Connections. Connected profiles can also appear in your updates feed, which you control per connection.

Pending requests

When someone asks to connect with you, the request appears under Pending requests with the requester’s name, their title and organization, and how many connections you have in common. Approve accepts it; Decline turns it away.

Declining is immediate and silent — there is no confirmation, and the other person is not told. They can send a new request later.

Automatic connections

Some connections make themselves. Family records and shared organizations create connections that show an Automatic connection subtitle with either a Family · badge or a Colleague · badge. They appear in your list like any other connection, but they cannot be removed here — they exist because of the underlying family or organization record, so change that instead.

The same is true of connections Homeward inherits through an organization link: these arrive under Inherited connections with an Inherited badge and a note naming the two organizations involved.

Choosing whose updates you see

The Updates column holds a Show updates checkbox for each accepted connection. Leave it checked and that profile’s updates appear in your updates feed; clear it and their updates stop appearing without ending the connection. This column only appears when you are looking at an individual profile — organizations see a dash instead.

Below the table, the Updates from connections card lists the recent updates from profiles you follow, with an excerpt of each.

Removing a connection

Manual connections — ones someone asked for — can be undone. Open the actions for the row and choose Withdraw request for a request still pending, or Remove connection for an accepted one. Both open a confirmation dialog:

Withdraw request? — “Withdraw your connection request to ? They won’t be notified, and you can send a new request later.”
Remove connection? — “Remove your connection with ? They won’t be notified, and either side can reconnect later.”

Automatic and inherited connections have no remove button, because they are not requests anyone made.

Mutual connections

Each pending request shows the connections you already share, with names and an overflow count. Use it as a sanity check before approving someone you only half-recognise.

Finding more connections

If you have none yet, the page tells you where to start: family and current colleagues appear automatically, or you can visit any profile and choose Connect. How a family record creates a connection is covered in Family, organizations, and ministry partners, and you can also let Homeward approve requests for you automatically — see Visibility, connections, and profile managers.