Volunteer scheduling for small churches
Sunday's coming.
Know who's showing up.
SimpleServ fills your volunteer schedule with one-tap email invites. No volunteer logins, no app to install, no group-text chaos. Just real answers before Sunday.
Free 14-day Pro trial · No credit card needed · Set up in an afternoon
Zero
volunteer logins, ever
One tap
to accept or decline
1 afternoon
to get fully set up
$0
to start, no card needed
Sound familiar?
Scheduling volunteers shouldn't be the hardest part of ministry
You didn't sign up to be a full-time scheduler. But somehow, every week ends the same way.
The group text nobody answers
"Can anyone do sound this Sunday?" Three days of silence, then two people volunteer for the same spot.
The spreadsheet only you understand
Color-coded tabs, last year's names, and no way to know who actually saw the schedule.
The 8:45 AM surprise
Finding out your greeter is out of town as the first families walk in. Again.
Asking the same three people
It's easier than chasing everyone else, until your most faithful volunteers quietly burn out.
What SimpleServ does
Everything you need to fill Sunday. Nothing you'll need a training video for.
The dashboard
Every open spot, at a glance
One screen shows every upcoming service and exactly where it stands: who's confirmed, who hasn't answered, and where you still need someone. Check it from your phone on Sunday morning with one thumb.
This Sunday
Sunday service · 9:00 AM
5/7
Next Sunday
Sunday service · 9:00 AM
7/7
All set ✌
Volunteer responses
Volunteers answer from their inbox. No account, no app.
Each request arrives as a friendly email from your church's name, with two buttons: accept or decline. That's the whole thing. Your 75-year-old greeter and your 16-year-old sound tech both get it instantly, with nothing to download and no password to forget.
Grace Chapel via SimpleServ
to Dana
Can you serve this Sunday?
Hi Dana! You're invited to serve as a Greeter at the 9:00 AM service on July 12.
Recurring services
Build your Sunday once, reuse it every week
Set up "Sunday 9 AM" with its usual positions (3 greeters, 2 on sound, 2 at kids check-in) one time. Every week after that, it's one click to create the service and start inviting people. No rebuilding the same schedule from scratch every Monday.
Service template
Sunday 9:00 AM
No-show prevention
Reminders go out and subs get found, automatically
Everyone scheduled gets a "you serve tomorrow" reminder without you lifting a finger. And when someone declines, you know right away, with a one-tap list of teammates who are free that day, so finding a sub takes seconds instead of a phone tree.
Tomorrow · automatic reminder
👋 Hi Marcus, reminder that you're on Sound tomorrow at the 9:00 AM service. See you there!
Jen declined · Greeter, this Sunday
3 people on the Greeters team are free that day.
Find a subImport from a spreadsheet
Bring in all your volunteers (names, emails, teams) from a CSV in about a minute. No typing 40 names by hand.
Blockout dates
Volunteers mark the weekends they're away on their personal schedule page, so you never ask someone who's at the lake.
Text message add-on
Coming soonPrefer texting? Volunteers will get the request by text and reply Y or N. Hard monthly cap, never a surprise bill. In carrier approval now.
That's the highlight reel. There's plenty more: fair one-tap auto-fill, calendar invites, a message log, and co-leader accounts.
See every feature →A volunteer's week
Follow one invite from Thursday night to Sunday morning
Thursday · 7:12 PM
The ask lands in their pocket
Marcus gets a friendly invite from your church, right in his email. No portal, no login screen, no "download our app first." (Two-way texting is coming soon.)
Thursday · 7:12 PM
Grace Chapel via SimpleServ
Can you serve this Sunday?
Hi Marcus! You're invited to serve on Sound at the 9:00 AM service.
Thursday · 7:13 PM
One tap, and he's in
Accept or decline, right from the message. SimpleServ records the answer, updates your dashboard, and thanks him. Total volunteer effort: about four seconds.
✌
You're in
Sound · Sunday 9:00 AM
Grace Chapel
No account created · nothing installed
Saturday · 9:00 AM
The reminder he didn't have to ask for
"You serve tomorrow." Sent automatically to everyone scheduled. It's the single biggest no-show killer, and you didn't lift a finger.
Saturday · 9:00 AM
Grace Chapel via SimpleServ
👋 Hi Marcus, reminder that you're on Sound tomorrow at the 9:00 AM service. See you there!
Sent automatically. Nobody had to remember.
Sunday · 8:45 AM
Everyone actually shows up
You check your phone in the parking lot: 7/7, all set ✌. While other churches are firing off panic texts, you're just… going to church.
Sunday · 8:45 AM
Sunday service · 9:00 AM
7/7
All set ✌
No panic texts. Just church.
Try it yourself
You be the volunteer
This is the entire experience your volunteers get. No login, no app, no instructions. Go ahead, tap an answer and watch the church's dashboard react.
Your inbox
Grace Chapel via SimpleServ
to you
Can you serve this Sunday?
Hi! You're invited to serve as a Greeter at the 9:00 AM service.
What the scheduler sees
This Sunday
Sunday service · 9:00 AM
6/7
You declined · Greeter, this Sunday
3 teammates are free that day.
Find a subWant the real thing?
We'll send this exact invite to your actual inbox, from your church's name, so you can tap "Count me in" for real. One email, no list, no follow-ups.
How it works
From spreadsheet chaos to "All set ✌" in three steps
Bring in your people
Upload your volunteer list from a spreadsheet, or add them by hand. Sort them into teams like Worship, Kids, and Greeters.
Build your Sunday once
Set up your service with the positions you need: 3 greeters, 2 on sound. Save it as a template and reuse it every week.
Send invites, watch spots fill
Volunteers get an email and tap accept or decline. Your dashboard fills up in real time, and reminders go out automatically.
Why we built this
The big church platforms are built for churches with staff. SimpleServ is built for the volunteer who does this on Tuesday nights.
If you've opened Planning Center and felt like you needed a seminar to schedule three greeters, you're exactly who we made this for. No modules, no admin certification. Just your people, your services, and real answers.
The honest comparison
Where SimpleServ fits
There are really three ways churches schedule volunteers. Here's the honest version of how they stack up.
| Group texts & a spreadsheet | SimpleServ | Planning Center Services | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Built for | Nobody. It just sort of happened | Small churches that need Sunday staffed | Larger churches that want an all-in-one platform |
| Time to set up | You're already in too deep | One afternoon | Onboarding, imports, and training videos |
| What volunteers need | To scroll past 47 unread group messages | Nothing. One tap from their email, no account ever | Works best with the Church Center app |
| Knowing who's confirmed | Vibes | A live fill meter: 5/7 at a glance | Detailed reports, once everything's configured |
| Reminders | You, manually, on Saturday night | Automatic emails (texts coming soon) | Included, once configured |
| Also does | Whatever the tabs remember | Just scheduling. That's the point. | Service plans, songs, check-ins, giving & more |
| Monthly cost | Free, except your sanity | Free–$35, flat | Varies by church size |
The genuinely honest bit ✌
Planning Center is excellent software. If your church runs service plans, check-ins, and giving through one system, and someone on staff has time to own it, you should probably use Planning Center. But if your whole problem is "I need seven people confirmed by Sunday and I'm doing this on Tuesday nights," you don't need a church operating system. You need SimpleServ.
And if you grow into Planning Center someday? Genuinely, we'll cheer for you.
Do the math
How much of your week goes to chasing people?
Between the asking, the re-asking, the reminding, and the last-minute replacing, each volunteer spot costs about 12 minutes of somebody's week. Slide to your church's size and see what you'd get back.
Time back every year
95
hours
That's more than two full work weeks you're not spending in group texts.
Pricing
Priced for church budgets, not enterprise ones
Every new account starts with 14 days of Pro, free. No credit card, and it drops to the Free plan if you don't upgrade. Never a surprise charge.
Free
For trying it out with a small team
$0 forever
- ✓ Up to 5 volunteers
- ✓ 1 admin account
- ✓ A few services & teams
- ✓ Email invites & responses
- ✓ Fill-status dashboard
Starter
For most small churches
$15 per month
- ✓ Up to 50 volunteers
- ✓ 3 admin & user accounts
- ✓ Unlimited services & teams
- ✓ Automatic reminders
- ✓ Blockout dates
- ✓ Text message add-on (coming soon)
Pro
For growing, multi-team churches
$35 per month
- ✓ Up to 200 volunteers
- ✓ Unlimited admin & user accounts
- ✓ Everything in Starter
- ✓ Reporting: response rates & no-shows (coming soon)
- ✓ Priority support
Text message add-on
Coming soonTwo-way texting is on the way: volunteers get the request by text and reply Y or N, with a hard monthly cap and automatic email fallback. We're in carrier approval now (texting rules, not us). Every plan includes email invites from day one.
$10/mo
400 texts
$25/mo
1,200 texts
Upgrade, downgrade, or cancel anytime, right from your settings.
Want to help shape the product? 10 founding churches get 90 days of Pro free →
Founding churches
Want to help shape SimpleServ?
You don't need an invitation to use SimpleServ. Anyone can sign up above and start scheduling today. But if your church wants a hand in building the tool, we're partnering with 10 founding churches at launch. It's a trade, and here's the whole thing in writing:
You get
- ✓ 90 days of Pro, free: every feature, up to 200 volunteers (the usual trial is 14 days)
- ✓ A direct line to the founder, not a support queue
- ✓ A real say in what gets built next
We ask
- Actually use it: real services, real volunteers, real Sundays
- A short feedback chat once a month while we're in beta
- A testimonial, but only once you're genuinely happy
After the 90 days, you pick a plan or drop to Free. No card on file, no strings. We read every application personally and reply to each one.
Rather skip the feedback calls and just get scheduling? Totally fine. start your regular free trial and go. This program is completely optional.
Apply for a spot
10 spots at launchWe only use this to reply to your application. Nothing else, ever.
Questions
The stuff you're probably wondering
Do my volunteers need to create accounts or download an app?
Never. Volunteers get an email and tap accept or decline. That's the entire experience. They also get a personal schedule link where they can see upcoming assignments and mark dates they're away, still with no login. (Two-way texting is coming soon, too.)
What happens when someone declines?
You're notified right away, and one tap opens a list of everyone on that team who isn't already scheduled that day. Pick someone, send the invite, done. No phone tree required.
Do I need a credit card to start?
No. Every new account gets 14 days of the Pro plan free, no card required. When the trial ends, you drop to the Free plan automatically, and you only pay if you choose to upgrade.
When is texting coming?
Soon! Text messaging requires a carrier approval process that every texting service goes through, and ours is underway. When it launches, it'll be an add-on ($10 or $25 a month): requests go out by text, volunteers reply Y or N, and there's a hard monthly cap with automatic email fallback, so nobody gets missed and you're never charged overages. Until then, email invites and reminders are included on every plan.
We're on spreadsheets (or Planning Center). How hard is switching?
Export your volunteer list as a CSV, upload it, and your people are in: names, emails, phones, and teams. Most churches are fully set up, first invites sent, in a single afternoon.
What if we outgrow our plan?
Upgrade anytime from your settings and it takes effect immediately. Annual billing gives you 12 months for the price of 10, which is handy if your church budgets once a year.
This Sunday could be covered by Tuesday
Import your volunteers, send your first invites, and watch the spots fill. Free for 14 days. No card, no commitment.
Start your free trialSet up in an afternoon. Cancel anytime.