Build serving teams and positions, schedule volunteers with suggestions and one-tap replies, track requirements, and plan and run the order of service.
Serving is where you organize the people who make Sunday happen: greeters, musicians, sound, kids' teachers and everyone else. You set up teams and their positions, schedule people for each service, ask them by email or text, and plan the order of service they'll follow.
A good order to start in: create your teams and positions, add members, then schedule your first service.
Teams and positions
A serving team is a group with the type Serving Team, so its members are managed the same way as any group (see Groups).
- Go to Serving › Teams and click New team.
- Enter a Team name, choose a Team leader if there is one, and describe What this team does.
- Click Create team. The team's page opens.
- Click Add a position for each role the team fills, such as Greeter, Usher or Sound. Set People needed and any Notes for volunteers, like "Arrive 30 minutes early".
- Click Manage members to add the people who serve on this team. They become quick picks when you build a schedule.
To change the order positions appear on the schedule, click Edit on a position and set its Order. Lower numbers come first.
Team settings
The team page also has:
- Preferences beside each member: Most times a month they'd like to serve on this team, and Preferred times if your services run at several times.
- Households: Keep households together (prefer the rest of a household when one of them is already serving) or Keep households apart (so someone at home is free).
- Sign-up sheet: turn on Let members sign themselves up and team members can take open places from their portal. They're confirmed straight away, never over the number a position needs, and never on days they're away.
Who can schedule
Staff and admins can schedule every team. A volunteer can schedule only the teams they lead, as the named team leader or as a leader or co-leader on the team's roster. Other teams are view only for them.
Build a schedule
Serving › Schedule shows upcoming services with who's serving and where you still need people. Tiles at the top count open slots this week, people who haven't replied and declines that need cover. Tick Only gaps to see just the holes. Services with no one scheduled yet are listed under Not scheduled yet.
Open an event's schedule with Open schedule or Start schedule. Then fill it in any of these ways:
- Add: click Add on a position and tap a team member's name, or search for Someone else.
- Suggest: let Phyle fill the empty places for you (see below). Each team also has its own Fill gaps or Suggest button.
- Copy from…: copy everyone from an earlier event into the same positions. People who declined there are left out.
If a position needs a different number of people at one event, click the sliders icon beside it to change People needed at this event, or choose Not needed this time.
As you schedule, Phyle warns you about clashes beside a name: Away (time away covers that date), Already serving (in another position at this event), Serving elsewhere (at another event at the same time) and Requirement due. These are warnings, so you can still schedule someone if you know it's fine.
How Suggest picks people
Suggest only picks team members who are free that day, aren't already on the event or serving at another event at the same time, and haven't reached their Most times a month. Among them, it prefers people who like that start time, then follows the team's household setting, then favors people who've filled that position before, and finally whoever has gone longest without serving.
Suggestions are added as Not asked yet, so you can look them over before anyone is asked.
Week by week
For one team at a time, click Week by week. Positions run down the side and the next eight weeks of services and team events run across. Tap an empty place to add someone. Use Switch team to change teams.
Ask people to serve
Once the schedule looks right, click Send requests. Everyone not yet asked gets an email asking if they can serve, with buttons to accept or decline. If text messaging is connected and the person has agreed to texts, they get a text with the same link. To ask just one person, use the menu beside their name and choose Send the request.
The link opens a page that needs no login. They tap Yes, I'll be there or I can't make it. If they can't make it, they can say What's come up? and suggest a teammate under Know someone who could cover?. Their team leader (or whoever scheduled them) then gets an email with a one-tap link to add that teammate or pick someone else from the team. Members can also answer from their portal (see Member portal).
Each person shows as Not asked yet, Awaiting reply, Confirmed or Declined, with any reason they gave. If someone answers you in person, use the menu beside their name to Mark confirmed or Mark declined.
If email isn't connected, requests are recorded but not delivered. Ask people in person and set their reply yourself, or connect email (see Email and texting). Anyone with neither an email address nor texting is listed so you can ask them yourself.
Reminders
Confirmed volunteers get one reminder by email (and text, if they've agreed to texts) two days before they serve. Reminders go out once a day at 8:00 AM your church's time. Someone who confirms later than that still gets a reminder the next morning, as long as the event hasn't happened yet.
Time away
Serving › Time away holds the dates volunteers can't serve. Click Add time away, choose Who is away?, the First day away and Until, and an optional Reason. Time away can also repeat Every week, Every other week or Every month, same week and day until the Until date.
People who are away aren't suggested, can't take those dates from a sign-up sheet, and show an Away warning if you schedule them anyway. Members can add their own time away from their portal.
Requirements
Staff and admins can track background checks, training and anything else volunteers need on file under Serving › Requirements.
- Click New requirement. Give it a Name and Description, and set Renew every if it expires (leave it empty if it doesn't).
- Under Who needs it?, tick the teams it applies to, or leave them all unticked for everyone who serves.
- Open the requirement and click Add a person for each record, with a Status (In progress, Cleared or Not cleared), the Completed on date and any Notes. Phyle works out the expiry date for you.
The Needs attention list shows records that have expired or will in the next 60 days. Nothing on file lists people who still need a record. Team pages show each member as Up to date or with items to sort out, and the schedule shows Requirement due beside anyone missing one. Team leaders who aren't staff see only that something isn't up to date, not the details.
The order of service
Every event can have an order of service: the songs, sermon, announcements and everything else, in order. Open it with Order of service on the serving schedule, or Plan the service on the event's page.
- Click a button under Add: Song, Header, Sermon, Announcement, Video or media or Other.
- Give each item a title and a length in minutes. Start times are worked out from the lengths.
- Drag items, or use the arrows, to reorder them. Headers like "Before the service" split the plan into parts.
- Click Details on an item to add a Description and Notes for teams, such as "Lights down for the video" for your production team. For songs, pick a Song from the library and set the Key and Arrangement.
- Click Save.
The top of the page shows when the plan ends and how it fits the event's length. Give the event an end time to see whether you're running over.
Times: rehearsals and several services
Under Times, click Add a time to add a Rehearsal or another Service to the same event, such as a 9:00 and an 11:00 with the same plan and team.
With two or more services, volunteers say yes or no to each one, so someone can serve at 9:00 but not 11:00. Rehearsals are shown to everyone serving but not asked about. A position only counts as filled when every service has enough people, and the schedule says which one needs more. If someone says no to one service, their team leader is emailed with the service they'll miss.
Live mode
Click Live to run the order of service full screen during the event. It shows a clock, what's on now with its elapsed time and team notes, and what's next. Tap the screen or use the arrow keys to move along. Every screen showing live mode follows along within a few seconds, so the stage, booth and greeters' tablet stay in step. With several services, pick which one you're running at the top, and the planned times follow it.
The song library
Serving › Songs keeps the songs your church sings. Click Add a song and enter the Title, Author, Usual key, CCLI number, Arrangement and any Notes, like "Capo 2. Slow the last chorus."
When you pick a song in an order of service, its key and arrangement fill in, and you can change them for that day. The library shows when each song was last sung, and you can search by title, author or CCLI number.
Next guide Care and workflows