Messages & magic links
About SMS: email sending works for everyone today. SMS sending is being rolled out gradually during the test phase — if it isn't switched on for your church yet, email does exactly the same job in the meantime.
Once a plan is ready, SundayPlan handles the part that used to take all evening: asking everyone. Each volunteer gets a personal "magic link" — a link that is theirs alone, where they can answer without logging in to anything.
Compose and send
From a finished plan, you send requests to the people in it. You can write a short personal message to go along with the request — "Thanks for serving this month!" goes a long way. Messages go out by email, and by SMS as SMS sending rolls out.
What the volunteer sees
The volunteer gets a message with their own link. They tap it and see exactly what they're being asked: which service, which date, which role. Two buttons: accept or decline. That's the whole experience — no app to install, no account to create, no password. It works on any phone or computer with a browser.
Watching the answers come in
As volunteers answer, the plan fills in. You see at a glance who has accepted, who has declined and who hasn't answered yet — so the Sunday-morning surprise becomes a Tuesday-evening adjustment instead.
Declines and swaps
If someone declines, the role opens up again and you can ask the next person — auto-fill can suggest who. SundayPlan is also built for swaps, so that a volunteer who discovers a conflict can pass the task to someone else with the planner kept in the loop, rather than everything going through phone calls.
Tips for happy volunteers
- Keep contact details fresh — a magic link can only arrive if the email address or mobile number is right.
- Send requests well in advance, and keep the message short and warm.
- One question per message beats five — people answer faster when the ask is clear.