> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.theharvest.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Service planning

> Your Sunday run sheet, your volunteer rota and invitations that actually reach people.

**Services** is where your Sunday gets planned — what happens, in what order, and who is doing it.

<Note>
  A service does **not** need an event. Create one directly under **Services** with its own date. Attaching it to an event is optional, for when you also want to advertise it publicly.
</Note>

## The order of service

Build the run sheet item by item — welcome, worship set, notices, sermon, response. Give each item a length and Harvest works out the clock times for you, so moving one item shifts everything after it.

<Tip>
  Save a service you run every week as a **template**. Next Sunday starts from that instead of a blank page.
</Tip>

## Volunteer rotas

Add the roles a service needs — sound, welcome, kids, worship — and assign people to them.

The rota spans weeks, so you can see the whole month at once and spot the person you have put on three Sundays running.

<Card title="Double-booking warnings" icon="triangle-exclamation">
  If you assign someone to two roles in the same service, Harvest tells you. It does not stop you — sometimes one person really does run sound and lead worship — but you will not do it by accident.
</Card>

## Inviting volunteers

Once the rota is set, send invitations. Each volunteer gets an email with a link.

### The accept link

<Steps>
  <Step title="They open the link">
    No sign-in. No account needed. It works from the email.
  </Step>

  <Step title="They accept or decline">
    One tap.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Your rota updates">
    You see who has answered and who has not.
  </Step>
</Steps>

The link only lets them answer their own invitation — it cannot be used to see or change anything else in your church.

### Reminders and unfilled slots

Harvest flags roles nobody has accepted yet, so you find the gap on Thursday rather than Sunday morning. You can send reminders to anyone who has not replied.

## How invitations are sent

Invitations go by **email**, from Harvest, on every plan. Your volunteers do not need a Harvest account to receive or accept one.

<Note>
  The email shows your church's name as the sender — "Grace Church via Harvest" — so volunteers recognise it, without pretending to come from an address that is not ours to use.
</Note>


## Related topics

- [What's new](/changelog.md)
- [Roles and permissions](/your-church/roles-and-permissions.md)
- [Blog and community](/content/blog-and-community.md)
- [Notes and documents](/content/notes-and-documents.md)