Events

The web site calendar will ideally become the central point for sharing schedules throughout the church, with many different organisers contributing new events. 

Events are associated with groups, for example Sunday Morning meetings should be entered in the church life group as they are applicable for all church members, whilst small group meetings are specific to the small group. Entering events in the correct group allows the personalisation features of the web site to work correctly, enabling users to view only the events that are most relevant to them.  

Adding Events

Events can be added individually into the system or you can import an existing calendar (eg if you already have information stored in Outlook) through an import wizard from within the Web Office.

To directly add events, go to the appropriate group and click on the Events tab.  Under the appropriate day of the calendar click on the  button.  A recurring event (ie an event that is repeated every week, month or every 3rd Tuesday), can be specified, so that you only have to enter the event information once and it is repeated throughout a time period. Any subsequent modifications to this event (for example, changing the time) can apply to all the events in the series or just the single event you are editing.

Existing calendar information can be exported as a Comma Separated file and imported into your churchinsight system. Follow these steps to save your Outlook calendar information to a file that can be imported by the Calendar import wizard:

  • Select the Import and Export option found under the File menu.
  • Highlight the Export to a file option
  • Select the Comma Separated Values (Windows) option
  • Click on the Calendar within Outlook you wish to export
  • Choose where you wish the file to be saved

    Before your web site launches, the dates, times and locations of currently planned events should be entered into the calendar. As a starting point, aim to have a complete calendar for the current month.

    For more assistance with adding events refer to the help system within the Web Office or read our Events Quickguide.

    Exporting Events

    Your churchinsight system should become the initial place for church events to be added to the schedule. Your web site can gain contributions from many different sources making it the comprehensive list of what is going on in your church. To use this information in other formats, for example to create brochures and newsletters, you can export the calendar information to a file.

    To export calendar information select the 'export calendar information' task from below the calendar of a group within the web office and follow the steps within the export wizard.