Parish Software for Serbian Orthodox Churches

A Serbian Orthodox parish keeps a full year: the church Slava, the Christmas Badnjak on January 6, Vidovdan, the picnic, the kolo dancers, church school, and Parastos for the departed. Most of it is carried by the Kolo Srpskih Sestara and a church board of volunteers. ParishSignUp helps them organize it: signup sheets for the Slava luncheon and the picnic kitchen, a confession link, reminders by email or Telegram, and an interface each person can use in Serbian or English.

Organizing a Serbian parish year

The work of a Serbian parish is shared among many hands, and most of it still happens by phone calls between the same few people. The church Slava alone means preparing the kolach and žito, cooking for the luncheon, setting tables, and cleaning afterward. ParishSignUp doesn’t have a special Slava feature; it gives each of those jobs a sheet with names and times, so the organizers can see what is covered.

What ParishSignUp does for a Serbian parish

Slava, picnic, and luncheon signups

A Trapeza sheet collects what each family will bring to the Slava luncheon or a feast-day meal, with fasting and non-fasting suggestions when the feast falls in a fast. A Custom sheet covers the jobs: preparing žito, roasting, setting tables, serving, and cleanup. Event RSVP sheets count adults and children so the kitchen knows how many to cook for.

Serbian and English in one parish

The interface runs in Serbian, English, and 22 other languages. Each person picks their own, so parents who prefer Serbian and children who read English share one sheet. Church photographs from the Serbian tradition can appear as the page background; anyone can turn them off in Profile Settings.

Gospel of the day on the old calendar

Serbian parishes keep the Julian calendar. Because the parish default is the new calendar for every jurisdiction except ROCOR, each parishioner should choose the old calendar once in Profile Settings → Gospel of the day. The reading then arrives daily by Telegram or email, in English (King James) or Russian; there is no Serbian text.

Parastos, Psalter, and confession

When a parishioner reposes, a Psalter Vigil sheet arranges back-to-back readers, and a Trapeza sheet can gather food for the meal after the Parastos. Confession is booked from one parish link; only the penitent and the assigned priest can see a booking, and the priest can cancel a date and notify everyone booked.

Serbian dioceses you can choose

Diocese of Eastern America
Diocese of New Gracanica–Midwestern America
Diocese of Western America
Diocese of Canada
Other / not listed

Through the Serbian church year

The church Slava is three weeks away and the Kolo sisters need cooks, servers, and a cleanup crew.
They create a Custom sheet with slots for each job and a Trapeza sheet for side dishes, and share both links in the parish group. Volunteers sign up in Serbian or English and get a reminder the day before.
The summer picnic needs people at the grill, the bar, and the parking lot in shifts.
A Custom sheet with two-hour shifts across the day lets volunteers pick a time. Signup without an account means guests and relatives can help too.
A family asks for the Psalter to be read before the funeral and a meal after the Parastos.
The priest sets up a Psalter Vigil sheet in one-hour shifts, and the Kolo creates a Trapeza sheet for the meal. Both links go to the parish at once.

What ParishSignUp does not do

It does not sell picnic tickets or take payments, keep the parish books, run child check-in for church school, or keep the parish’s registers of baptisms and weddings. It is a website that works on phones rather than an app-store app. Use it for the people side — who is cooking, serving, reading, and coming — and keep your other tools for the rest.

Setting up a Serbian Orthodox parish

Create the parish and choose Serbian Orthodox Church
Pick your Serbian diocese
Give the priest the Priest role and the board officers admin roles
Ask parishioners to set the old calendar for the Gospel of the day
Create sheets for the Slava, the picnic, and Sunday coffee hour
Share the parish QR code and invite link

Questions from Serbian Orthodox parishes

Can our Serbian diocese see our parish?

Only if your parish lists the diocese and a diocese administrator has been approved by ParishSignUp. They then see the parishes that chose that diocese and a read-only view of published signup sheets, never member emails, drafts, pledge amounts, or confession names.

Is there a Slava feature?

No. There is no special Slava tool. Parishes use Trapeza, Custom, and Event RSVP sheets to organize the luncheon, the work, and the headcount, which covers what most organizers need.

Why does the Gospel of the day come on the wrong date?

The default for non-ROCOR parishes is the new calendar. Open Profile Settings → Gospel of the day and choose the old (Julian) calendar; the reading will then follow the calendar your parish keeps.

Can older parishioners use it without a smartphone app?

Yes. It is a website, so there is nothing to install, and some sheets allow signing up with just a name. Reminders can come by email for those who don’t use Telegram.