RSVPs are great, for events that need them. But there are times when collecting RSVPs can be confusing, such as:
- A Registrations signup is running along with the group event and people think they have registered just by submitting their RSVP in Groups.
- A recurring group event like a weekend church breakfast, that also has scheduling with Services, can confuse people if they are sending an RSVP for the group thinking it’s the same as accepting their volunteer role.
RSVPs can also get quite a bit noisy in Church Center for members if they are in multiple groups who are meeting regularly, while they are constantly having to RSVP for a meeting they know they are committed to.
But the day has come, we are excited you now have the option of turning off RSVPs for events!
How does it work?
New Events: You’ll see a new Ask for RSVPs checkbox, unselect that box, and create the event. This setting will work for one time events and repeating events, and is checked by default.
This setting is available on the admin side of Groups as well as Church Center (v2024.12.02 or above on the app)
Turning off asking for RSVPs will disable RSVP collection for that event
Disabled RSVP status indicators will show next to the events in the calendar
Turning off RSVPs will remove the RSVP buttons from Emails as well as Church Center (v2024.12.02 or above on the app)
Existing Events: You can turn off RSVPs for existing events as well, as long as they aren’t in the past.
Group Settings Defaults: To expand this even further, you can change this setting in the event defaults for a group.
Group Type Settings Defaults: And you can even set this for the event defaults for the group type
Why is this awesome?
We know this has been a top feature request in Groups, and we are so excited to add it! There are so many types of events that a group can have set up, and giving this granular control over RSVPs should open up options on how you curate your events. We receive many feature requests about enhancing RSVPs, and as we look at building the next set of features, we’d love to hear any feedback from you by clicking on the (?) icon in the top right corner of Planning Center - we’re just a click away!
To RSVP or not RSVP, that is now the question!
🧡 Team Groups