Schedule services and gatherings, make them repeat, book rooms without double-booking, take sign-ups and share a public calendar.
Everything your church gathers for lives under Events: Sunday services, classes, group meetings, outreach and special events. An event can repeat, book rooms, take sign-ups, appear on your public calendar and record attendance. This guide walks through each of those.
Schedule an event
- Go to Events and click New event. You can also click a day on the Calendar to start an event on that date.
- Under Details, give it an Event name and choose a Type: Worship Service, Group Meeting, Class, Outreach or Special Event. The type sets its color on the calendar.
- Pick a Group if the event belongs to one. Its members are offered for one-tap check-in. Leave it empty for a church-wide event.
- Set when it Starts and, if you like, when it Ends. Add a Description if people need to know more.
- Under Where, type a Location (a place name or an address) and tick any Rooms you need. If your church has more than one campus, you can also choose a Campus.
- Choose whether it repeats (see below), then decide on sharing, sign-ups and check-in under Sharing and sign-ups.
- Save. You land on the event's page.
Check people in is on for new events. Turn it off for events where you don't track attendance. You can still record a headcount on the event's page.
The calendar
Events › Calendar shows a month at a time. Use the arrows and Today to move around, and tap a type at the top to show only that kind of event. If you have campuses, a campus menu narrows it further. Events › Events lists the same events with a search box and Upcoming and Past views.
Repeating events
When you create an event, the Repeat card lets you choose Every week, Every two weeks or Every month, and a Last date. Phyle creates every date at once and tells you how many it scheduled.
- Monthly events keep the same week and weekday, such as the first Sunday or second Tuesday. If you start on a fifth weekday, months without one use the last.
- A series can run up to a year ahead. To go further, create a new series when this one ends.
- Each date is its own event with its own attendance and sign-ups. The event page shows a Series card so you can jump between dates.
Changing or deleting a series
When you edit one date of a repeating event, Phyle asks what your changes apply to: Only this event, or This and the following dates. If you move the day or time, the later dates move by the same amount.
Deleting works the same way. Staff and admins see a Delete menu with Only this event or This and the following. Earlier dates always stay. Deleting an event also removes its attendance and sign-ups, so Phyle asks you to confirm.
Rooms and room booking
Add your spaces once under Events › Rooms with Add a room. Each room has a Room name, an optional number of Seats, Notes (such as "Projector, piano, kitchen access") and, if you have campuses, a Campus.
When you tick rooms on an event, Phyle checks for clashes. If a room is already booked at that time, the event isn't saved and you'll see which event has the room and when, for example: "Fellowship Hall is already booked for Youth Night on…". Choose another room or a different time. The check also covers every date of a new repeating series.
Open a room to see its upcoming bookings. To retire a room without losing its history, edit it and turn off Available to book. It disappears from the event form, and existing bookings stay.
Taking sign-ups
Turn on Take sign-ups in the Sharing and sign-ups card. You can then set:
- Limit: the most people who can come. Leave it empty for unlimited. Once it's full, new sign-ups join a waitlist.
- Sign-ups close: a deadline. Leave it empty to stay open until the event starts.
- Cost: a price per sign-up. Leave it empty if it's free.
- Questions to ask: up to 12 of your own questions, such as "Any allergies or dietary needs?". Phyle always asks for a name, email, phone and how many are coming.
People sign themselves up on your public calendar. If the event isn't shown there, only your team can add sign-ups.
Paid events
Phyle records the cost and shows it on the sign-up form, but sign-ups don't take payment online. People see "The church will be in touch about how to pay." Each paid sign-up starts as unpaid. From the menu beside a name you can Mark as paid, Waive the cost or Mark as unpaid.
Managing sign-ups
The Sign-ups card on the event page shows seats taken, seats left, people waiting and anyone unpaid. From there you can:
- Click Add a sign-up for someone who told you in person. Choose Someone in the directory or A guest, and tick Email them a confirmation if you'd like them to have a copy.
- Use the menu beside a name to Move off the waitlist, Cancel sign-up or Restore sign-up. Cancelled sign-ups stay on the list, greyed out.
- Open the … menu for Download spreadsheet (staff, admins and the group's leaders), Copy sign-up link or Sign-up settings.
When a seat opens up, Phyle doesn't move people off the waitlist on its own. The card tells you a seat is free, and you choose who gets it. They get a confirmation email when you do.
Everyone who signs up gets a confirmation email with a private link to view or cancel their sign-up. If email isn't connected yet, sign-ups are still recorded, but the emails don't go out. See Email and texting to connect it.
Events › Registrations
Events › Registrations gathers sign-ups for every upcoming event in one place: totals for people signed up, on a waitlist and unpaid, a card for each event taking sign-ups, and a searchable list of everyone. Filter by event or status to find someone quickly.
Your public calendar
Turn on Show on the public calendar to list an event on a page anyone can see without signing in. Find it with the Public calendar button on Events › Registrations, or from Public page on any shared event.
Each public event gets its own page with the date, time, place, description and, if sign-ups are on, the sign-up form. Copy its link from the event page and share it in emails, on social media or on your website. Events that aren't public stay private, even to someone who guesses the link.
The calendar feed
At the bottom of the public calendar, people can tap Subscribe to add your church's events to their phone or computer calendar, or Copy link to paste the feed into a calendar app. New public events then appear on their own. The feed includes public events only, and calendar apps check it for changes every so often, so updates can take a little while to show up.
Attendance
Each event page has an Attendance card. Record a Headcount for everyone in the room, check people in one by one, or click Open check-in to run the full check-in station. For children's check-in, kiosks and name tags, see Check-in and kiosks. To schedule volunteers and plan the order of service for an event, see Serving.
Next guide Check-in and kiosks