Setting Up a Repeating Event

Many church activities happen on a regular rhythm: Sunday services, weekly small groups, a monthly prayer night. Instead of building a new event every time, set one event to repeat. You do this right inside the event editor, using the same fields you already use for a one-time event.

Before you begin

You need the Admin or Staff role.
Repeating is set on the event itself, so you can turn it on while creating a brand-new event or while editing an existing one.

Step-by-step

Open the editor. Click New event to start a fresh event, or open an existing event and stay on the Event tab. Either way you land in the editor, with a live phone preview on the right that updates as you type.
Set the first date and time. In the Date & time card, pick the Date and Time. This first date becomes the anchor of the series, so it is also the very first time the event happens.
Open the Repeats dropdown in the Date & time card. You have four choices:
- Doesn't repeat: a normal one-time event.
- Weekly: repeats every 7 days, on the same weekday as your first date.
- Every other week: repeats every 14 days, on the same weekday.
- Monthly: repeats on the same day of the month as your first date.
Churches with weekday patterns turned on see an On row when they choose Monthly. Keep Day of month for the same date each month, or choose First, Second, Third, Fourth or Last and a weekday for a pattern like every first Friday. And also the adds a second position, for a group that meets on the first and third Sunday. The editor shows the pattern in words and the next three dates as you choose.

A series has to start on a date of its pattern: a first-Friday series starts on a first Friday. If your date isn't, the editor names the first matching date and offers to use it.
Set an end date, or leave it open. As soon as you choose anything other than Doesn't repeat, an Ends field appears next to Repeats. Leave it reading Never and the event keeps repeating with no stop date. To end the series, pick a date; to undo that, click Clear to send it back to Never.
Save the event. Click Publish to make a new event live, or Save when you turn an existing one-time event into a repeating one. The repeating schedule takes effect right away.

Change how an existing event repeats

Open the event and click Edit next to How it repeats in Date & time. Choose Weekly, Every other week, or Monthly (and, with weekday patterns on, the day or weekday position), set when it Ends, and choose what your church page shows: The next date, one card that moves on after each date, or Every date in the next 2 months. Click Save for all dates.

Once a series has sign-ups, attendance, volunteer assignments, or dates you customized, how it repeats stays the same and the end date can only move later from here. To end it sooner, use End series in a date's "..." menu. To repeat on a different pattern, duplicate the event.

Meet somewhere else on some dates

If your group meets at a second place on some dates, like every other week, open the event and find Different place on some dates in the Location card. Click Set up (or Edit once it's set).

Enter the Other place.
Tick the dates that meet there. For a weekly event, Every other week ticks every other date for you, starting from the first one you ticked. Each date shows the address it will have.
Click Save. Only the dates you ticked change; untick a date to send it back to the usual address.

The list covers about six months; click Show more dates to go further. When the last ticked date passes, later dates use the usual address again, so set up the next stretch before then. Finish or discard the date you're editing first: the row waits until it has no unsaved changes.

Edit one date or the whole event

Open a repeating event and use the date picker at the top to choose a date. The whole editor fills in with that date's details. You can change its name, category, description, cover, date, start and end date and time, location, whether the location stays hidden until people register, sign-ups, closing registration, attendance limit, guests, registration message, and its run of show, including whether the schedule shows and who can see it.

Click Save, then choose:

This date: changes only the selected date.
This and following dates: changes this date and later dates in the original order of the series.
All dates: includes past dates.

Only the fields you changed are applied. Existing exceptions for those fields are replaced within your chosen dates. If you change the address with This and following dates or All dates, the window says how many dates with a different place it replaces. Other details and cancellations stay as they were. Moving a date keeps its attendees, check-ins, and volunteer assignments attached to it.

Some settings are the same on every date: how it repeats, the time zone, who can see the event, who can sign up for it, whether church members show as expected to attend, how people respond (Register or RSVP), the Maybe option, the deadline, guest details, price and payment, and photos. Each shows its current value with an Edit button. Edit opens a window, and Save for all dates saves that setting for every date right away, without touching your other unsaved changes to the date. Who can sign up opens the same window as who can see the event (see Choosing Who Can Sign Up for an Event). Who gets sign-up emails, under Notifications, also covers every date and saves right away. Registration questions save right away too, and say so beside their controls.

If you switch dates or sections with unsaved details, choose Stay, Discard, or Save. A failed save keeps your draft. If another admin saved first, reload the event before trying again; copy any draft text you want to keep before reloading.

Good to know

Monthly keeps the same date, not "every 30 days." A monthly event set for the 3rd always lands on the 3rd. If a month is too short for your date (for example the 31st in February), that month's date moves to the last day of the month, and the series returns to the 31st the next month: Jan 31, Feb 28, Mar 31. Check the upcoming dates when starting near the end of a month.
Weekday patterns always have a date. Every month has at least four of each weekday, so "fourth Sunday" and "last Sunday" always exist. In a month with exactly four, the fourth and the last are the same day, so a "fourth and last" pattern meets once that month.
Each date is its own occurrence. A repeating event shows as a single entry you manage in one place, but every date has its own spot on the calendar and its own attendee list.
People can sign up for every date at once. When someone taps Register or Going, they choose Just this date or Every week (or Every other week, Every month). Regulars who pick every week appear on each date's list automatically and can still skip a single date. A week that's full puts them on that week's waitlist, and a week with sign-ups closed leaves them off its list; the sign-up screen lists those weeks before they register. When one date has its own price, new sign-ups choose one date at a time. See Setting Up Registration and RSVPs.
Special dates can keep their own details. Use a date-specific cover, name, description, start time, or location for holidays and guest services without rewriting past dates.
One date can keep its address private. If one week meets at someone's home, pick that date, set its location, and turn on Hide location until registered with This date. Everyone sees "Address shared after you register" for that date, on its page, church page cards, emails, and calendar files, until they sign up. People signed up for every date see it. The other dates keep showing their address.
Repeating events go straight to the Schedule tab. Because the event repeats, it appears on the Schedule tab automatically, where you can assign volunteers for each date. You do not need to turn anything on for that.
To stop an event from repeating, click Edit next to How it repeats and pick the last date under Ends. If the series already has sign-ups, attendance, assignments, or customized dates, the end date can only move later from there. Use End series in a date's "..." menu instead: it shows what goes away and can email the people signed up for those dates. See Ending a repeating event early.