Hours of hand-scheduling
Juggling who's trained, who's married to whom, who can't do evenings, and who served three weeks running.
For children's ministries on Planning Center
Every room,
two by two.
Arkrooms builds your kids' ministry schedule for you. Every room gets the right adults, a woman in every room, and current training. Your leaders approve it, and it's published to Planning Center. Sundays just work.
No sign-up for the demo: pick a made-up volunteer and click around.
Sunday mornings shouldn't run on a spreadsheet and a group text.
Rules nobody checks
Planning Center's sign-ups are first come, first served. Nothing stops two men in the nursery or an expired background check.
The 8 a.m. scramble
Call-outs by text, a room one adult short, and no record of who didn't come.
"Which room am I in?"
Volunteers who don't know the room, the time, who they're with, or how to set it up.
How it works
Your church stays in Planning Center. Arkrooms does the hard part.
- 1
Sign in with Planning Center
Arkrooms reads your teams, households, training dates, blockouts and room bookings. There's nothing new to type in.
- 2
Get a schedule that keeps your rules
Every room and service is filled automatically. Leaders tweak it, see every check pass, and approve.
- 3
Publish and relax
It goes into Planning Center Services. Volunteers get their Sundays, reminders and a calendar that updates itself.
Child safety, built in
A schedule that breaks a safety rule can't be approved.
- The right number of adults in every room, and a woman in every room
- CM training in date, and a passed background check if you require one
- Couples together, teens only as extras (and only with a parent, if you like)
- A parent kept out of, or put into, their own child's room: your choice
- Your church's own rules too, as musts or preferences
- Subs, trades and sign-ups are checked against the same rules, every time
When someone can't make it
Subs that are safe, fast and fair.
A volunteer taps "Can't make it?" The request goes only to the people who can take that room without breaking a rule. The teams next in the rotation hear first, then everyone. A leader approves with one tap.
- Last-minute emergencies alert leaders and ask every team
- Optional: a sub is a trade, and Arkrooms keeps track of who owes a Sunday
- "Who didn't come?" the morning after, so reliability shows up in your stats
Volunteers know exactly where to go
The room, the time, who they're with, and how to set it up.
Every volunteer gets a simple page and email with their Sundays: the arrival time, the room on a map of your building, their partner, and your setup notes. Reminders arrive on the days they choose, and their phone calendar keeps itself up to date.
- Your own floor plan, traced over a picture of it
- A welcome tour and a guide for each role
- Nothing for volunteers to install: it works in any browser
For directors and leaders
See coverage, fairness and follow-through at a glance.
Fair rotations by team, or one team taking turns. A "Needs you" list puts what's waiting first. Stats and alerts cover no-shows, late call-outs and training about to expire. You can mark a Sunday's services cancelled for Christmas or a combined service, or let volunteers sign up for open places, with the rules still checked.
Planning Center is where your church lives.
Arkrooms makes it work for kids' rooms.
| Planning Center alone | With Arkrooms | |
|---|---|---|
| Kids' safety rules | Not checked | Checked on every schedule, sub and trade |
| Building the schedule | By hand, or a generic auto-fill | Every room filled to your rules, ready to approve |
| Sign-ups | First come, first served | Off, or open places with the rules checked |
| Subs | Ask around | Only people who can take that room are asked |
| Room, map and setup notes | Not included | In every volunteer's Sunday |
| Who didn't come | Not tracked | Tracked, with alerts |
| Households and couples | Light preferences | Rules you can rely on |
Private by design
Schedules keep Planning Center IDs, not names. Contact details stay in Planning Center, and nothing is sold or shared.
Sunday-safe
Updates never go out during services, and every release is watched and rolled back automatically if anything looks wrong.
Made in a real church
Built with a children's ministry that runs six teams across three services every Sunday.
Questions
Do we have to leave Planning Center?
No. Planning Center stays your system of record. Arkrooms reads from it and publishes the approved schedule back into Planning Center Services.
What can Arkrooms change in Planning Center?
Only the schedules your leaders approve and publish, plus fixes an admin chooses on the discrepancies page. Everything else is read-only.
How long does setup take?
An admin signs in with Planning Center, names your teams and services, and marks your rooms on the floor plan. Your first schedule can be proposed the same day.
What does it cost?
Early access is free while we work with our first churches. Pricing will be simple and per church.
Is the demo real?
It's the real app with made-up volunteers. It resets every night, so click anything.