Ushers And Parking Sign Up Sheet (free, online)

How to set it up

Ushers and the parking team are the same kind of problem: a set number of people, every service, every Sunday, from a team that rotates. Put both on one page as separate lists. Ushers need a head usher plus enough people to seat late arrivals and pass the offering. Parking needs two or three people in vests at the entrances for the twenty minutes before each service, more on Easter and Christmas Eve.

The mistake is running the two teams from two different lists in two different places, so the same volunteer gets asked twice and double-booked once. One tip: ask for availability across the whole month rather than one week at a time, and let the schedule go out once. People plan around it better than they plan around a text on Saturday night.

Questions people ask

Do ushers and parking need different sheets?

No. One page with a list for each team. Volunteers give availability once, and you assign them to the team they prefer. A select question at signup, 'usher or parking?', makes assigning fast.

How many parking volunteers?

One at each entrance to the lot, plus one directing the overflow row. For most churches that's three. Double it for Easter and Christmas Eve and put those dates on their own list.

What about training new ushers?

Add a checkbox at signup, 'I've ushered before', and pair a new person with an experienced one on their first Sunday. The head usher row makes sure someone is in charge at each service.

Why not a paper sheet or a Google Form?

A paper sheet lives in one place and fills up with the first people who walk past it. A Google Form takes forty signups for a row that needed two, and you find out in the spreadsheet. An online sign-up sheet closes each row when it's covered, sends a reminder the day before, and gives every person a link to cancel so the spot reopens. See the side-by-side with Google Forms.