Realm Service Volunteer Step-by-step Information
Realm is more than just a scheduling tool—it’s your personal hub for church life at St. Barnabas. Whether you’re managing your volunteer schedule, communicating with your ministry team, or updating your availability, Realm makes it easy to stay organized and engaged. Embracing Realm means fewer emails, clearer communication, and more time spent doing what matters most: serving together in community. Dive in and discover how simple it can be to stay connected and make a difference!
Set Your Availability in Realm
On the Serving overview page, you can set which days of the week you're available. If you have specific dates that you'll be unavailable - for travel or other events, you can also set that here. These settings will tell your team's team leaders when it's best to assign you to a volunteer schedule.
Here’s how to set or update your availability:
Go to the Serving section: In the top-left corner of your screen, click Serving.
Select your available days: Check the boxes for the days of the week you’re available to serve.
Add any dates you’re unavailable: If you’ll be away for travel or other commitments, click add date(s).
Enter the start and end dates for your time away, then click add.
Save your changes.
Manage Your Volunteer Preferences
You can set your preferences from your team's page. Let your team leaders know how often you’d like to serve and whether you want to be scheduled with a family member.
Here’s how to set your preferences:
Go to the Serving section: In the top-left corner of your screen, click Serving.
Edit role preferences: In the roles preferences section, find your role and click the edit icon next to it.
Set your serving frequency: Use the “How often can you serve in this role?” drop-down menu to choose your preferred frequency.
Choose family scheduling preferences (optional): If you’d like to serve with or not with a specific family member, select the appropriate option and choose their name from the drop-down list.
Save your changes.
Add Yourself to a Volunteer Schedule in Realm
You can sign up for open volunteer opportunities directly from your team’s schedule—if signups are enabled.
Note: You must be a member of the team and approved for a specific role in order to sign up.
Here’s how to add yourself to a schedule:
Go to the Serving section: In the top-left corner, click Serving.
Open your team’s schedule: Go to “Your Teams” section and click the name of your Team, then go to the Schedules tab.
View a schedule: Click the name of the schedule you’d like to view.
Sign up for a volunteer opportunity: Click +Add under the opportunity you’d like to take.
If you’re not yet approved for the role, click Submit Request to ask your team leader for access.
Want to serve more than once? Select Repeat, then choose how often you’d like to sign up for that opportunity.
Confirm your signup: Click Sign Up to save your selection.
View Your Upcoming Volunteer Assignments
Easily keep track of when and where you’re scheduled to serve—and who you’re serving with.
Here’s how to view your upcoming assignments:
Go to the Serving section: In the top-left corner, click Serving.
See your full assignment list: On the serving overview page, click see all assignments.
Browse accepted or declined assignments: By default, you’ll see assignments you’ve accepted. To view assignments you’ve declined, click the Declined tab.
View assignment details: Click the name of any assignment to see more information about it.
See who else is serving: In the assignment details, click the people scheduled to serve tab to view the full volunteer team for that date.
Accept or Decline Volunteer Assignments
When you’re added to a schedule, you’ll receive a pending assignment. You can review the details and choose whether to accept or decline.
Here’s how to respond to assignments:
Go to the Serving section: In the top-left corner, click Serving.
Check for pending assignments: In the awaiting your response section, you’ll see how many assignments are waiting for your reply.
View assignment details: Click new assignments to see a list of pending assignments.
To see more details—such as the team leader or who else is serving—click the name of the assignment.
Respond to assignments:
Click Accept or Decline for each individual assignment.
Or use Accept All or Decline All at the top of the page to respond to all pending assignments at once.
Respond to Volunteer Assignments by Email
When you’re scheduled to serve, you’ll receive an email notification with a direct link to accept or decline your assignments—quick and easy!
Here’s how to respond from the email:
Open the Assignment Request email you receive from Realm.
Click Respond to Assignments to view your pending schedule.
In the Pending Assignments section:
Click Accept next to the assignments you’d like to confirm.
To decline, click Decline, enter your reason, then click Yes, Decline to confirm.
To respond to all assignments at once, click Accept All or Decline All at the top of the page.
Send a Replacement Request in Realm
If something comes up and you can’t serve on your scheduled date, you can request a replacement from your team—if your team leader has enabled this option for the schedule.
Here’s how to request a replacement:
Go to the Serving section: In the top-left corner, click Serving.
View your accepted assignments: Click see all assignments to view your schedule.
Select the assignment you need to change: Click the date of the assignment you can no longer serve.
Click Find a Replacement.
Choose potential replacements: Realm will suggest volunteers from your team. Select one or more, then click next.
Add a personal message (optional): Include a brief note if you’d like, then click send to submit your request.
Respond to a Replacement Request in Realm
If a fellow volunteer can’t serve on a scheduled day, you may receive a request to take their place. You can choose to accept or decline the request.
Here’s how to respond:
Go to the Serving section: In the top-left corner, click Serving.
Check for replacement requests: In the awaiting your response section, you’ll see how many replacement requests are waiting.
View request details: Click replacement requests to see more information.
If the volunteer included a message, it will appear with the request.
Respond to the request:
Click Accept to take the assignment and be added to the schedule.
Click Decline if you’re unavailable to serve.
Check the Status of Your Replacement Request in Realm
After sending a replacement request for a volunteer assignment, you can easily track whether someone has accepted it.
Here’s how to view your request status:
Go to the Serving section: In the top-left corner, click Serving.
View your assignments: Click see all assignments to open your schedule.
Check the status of your request: The status of any replacement request will appear below the assignment details.
Replacement Request Statuses:
Replacement request not accepted yet – Your request is still pending.
Everyone declined your replacement request – All invited volunteers declined.
Your replacement request has been accepted – Another volunteer accepted and is now on the schedule in your place.
Special Note: If no one accepts your replacement request, please contact your Serving Team Leader for help finding coverage.
Still have questions?
Feel free to contact the church office—we’re happy to help!
