You will need the Full Write Events permission to perform this action.
Vacation Bible School (VBS) usually runs across several days and needs registration and check-in. In One Church Software you can set all of that up on a single event. This guide walks through creating the event, adding a graphic, connecting your registration form, turning on check-in, and promoting it.
Setting up your Vacation Bible School event
Create the event
From the left-hand menu, go to Events > Calendar and click Add New, or choose + New > Event from the top toolbar. The Add Event window opens with four tabs: General, Details, Registration, and Check-In.
On the General tab, enter:
Name - the title of your event, such as "Vacation Bible School." Required.
Date - the start and end dates. For a VBS that runs across a week, set the start date and end date to cover the whole week. Leave All Day checked for an all-day event, or uncheck it to enter specific start and end times.
Calendar - the calendar that hosts the event. Required; defaults to Main.
Visibility - use Is Public? to control whether the event can be shared publicly by link, and Listed? to control whether it appears on your public calendar and listings.
Recurrence - if VBS meets on a repeating pattern (for example, the same time each evening), open the Does not repeat drop-down and choose a pattern.
Tip: A VBS week can be built two ways. Use a single multi-day event when the week is one continuous event, or a recurring event when each day stands on its own. See How do I set up a multi-day event? and How do I make a recurring event?
On the Details tab, add a Description of your VBS, the event Address, and any Category you'd like to tag it with.
Add an image or graphic
Once the event is created, add a graphic to the header. Hover over the event's calendar graphic and click the pencil icon. You can add an image by URL, from Unsplash, from your Library, or by Upload.
Connect the registration form
Connect your Vacation Bible School registration form so families can sign up:
Open the Registration tab (from Actions > Edit event).
Turn on Registration Required?.
Under Sign Up Form, choose your Vacation Bible School form.
Click Save. If the event repeats, click Update Future to apply your changes to all upcoming occurrences.
Take attendance from the event:
To take attendance, open the Check-In tab and turn on Enable check-in?.
Need to build the form first? See How to create a VBS registration form?
Publish and promote the event
Publishing the event makes it visible to your congregation and guests. You can share and promote it with a public link or QR code, feature it on your church website or in the My One Church App, or send out email notifications.
Track attendance with check-in
With check-in enabled, you can track who attends VBS in two ways:
Check-in System - set up check-in stations where volunteers search for people by name or phone number.
Attendance Tracking - mark people as present directly within the event.