For congregations
One copy of OSChapel belongs to one congregation. The install steps are in the repository's README.
What staff can do
| Task | How |
|---|---|
| Services and groups | Add anything that repeats: worship every Sunday, a study every other Wednesday, a work day on the first Saturday of each month, until further notice or to a last date. Services are listed on the home page and in a calendar file; every date is on the calendar and holds its room, so nothing is approved over it. One date can be cancelled or moved with a note visitors see. A service can't be put on time that's already taken. Moving or stopping it asks for a reason, which is published with the change. |
| Events | Publish events on a calendar (worship, classes and groups, children and youth, community), for everyone or for members and regular attenders. Events for everyone go to search engines, feed readers and event directories; events for members are listed only on the site's calendar pages and in its calendar files. |
| Facility requests | See requests waiting, approved, declined and cancelled, and who each is for. Approve, decline or cancel with a note the requester never sees. Approving one that would overlap a service, a group, an event or another approved request is refused, and the page says what it clashes with. |
| Holds | Hold a room for repairs, a funeral or a staff event. A hold blocks requests like an approved one. |
| The congregation | Name, tradition, address, contact, a note for first-time visitors, the facility use policy, whether requests are open, and the accessibility details. |
| Rooms and grounds | Name, capacity, step-free access, access notes, use fee, whether people can ask to use it; retire a room instead of deleting it. |
| Sign-in | An emailed link, or a passkey added on the account page: a fingerprint, face or PIN on the person's own device. No passwords. |
What people who ask to use the rooms see
The facility use policy, then a form asking for the room, date, start and end time, what it's for, whether it's for the congregation or another group, expected attendance and how to reach them. Attendance over the room's capacity, a date in the past or a request longer than a day is explained on the form. They get a reference, and the status page for it shows only the title, room, time and decision.
What it doesn't do yet
- Requesters get no email yet.
- No payments, deposits or contracts. The use policy and fees are text the congregation writes.
- An event for members isn't private: it is listed on the calendar pages, and anyone with its address can read it.
- The install steps haven't yet been rehearsed by someone new.
Try it
The Glimmer Community Chapel demo resets every hour: send a request, then choose Staff sign-in with any email address and approve it.