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
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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.
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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.
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Open the Repeats dropdown. In the same Date & time card, click Repeats. 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 2 weeks: repeats every 14 days, on the same weekday.
- Monthly: repeats on the same day of the month as your first date.
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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.
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Save the event. Click Publish to make a new event live, or Save if you are editing one that is already published. The repeating schedule takes effect right away.
Edit one date or the whole event
Open a repeating event and use the date picker at the top to choose the date you want to edit. Cover photo, event name, description, start time, and location can vary by date. Category, repeating schedule, registration, payments, visibility, past photos, schedule, and notifications apply to every date.
When you change a date-specific detail and click Save, choose one option:
- This date: changes only the selected date.
- This and future dates: changes the selected date and all later dates. Past dates stay unchanged.
- Every date, including past: changes every date and replaces earlier exceptions for the details you changed.
If you also changed an event-wide setting, the save window names it and explains that it applies to every date regardless of your choice.
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 occurrence moves to the last day of the month instead, so a "31st" event shows up on Feb 28 or 29 and then returns to the 31st the next long 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.
- 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.
- 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, open it, set Repeats back to Doesn't repeat, and save.