Spiritual Journey Planner Guide

Overview

When you open the Spiritual Journey Planner, you'll see a calendar view of your current journey plan. The calendar shows your spiritual goals (in blue) and activities (in different colors based on type).

Creating and Managing Journeys

Creating a New Journey

You can create multiple spiritual journey plans, each with its own title, description, and settings.

1. Click the Create New button in the top right corner.
2. Enter a title for your journey (for example, "40 Days of Prayer").
3. Add a description to remember what this journey is about.
4. Choose whether to make it public or private.
5. Click "Create" to save your new journey.

Switching Between Journeys

You can easily switch between your different journey plans:

1. Click the My Plans button in the top bar.
2. You'll see a list of all your journey plans.
3. Click on any journey to load it.
4. Use the search box to find a specific journey if you have many.

Copying a Journey

You can make a duplicate of any journey plan:

1. Click the My Plans button.
2. Find the journey you want to copy.
3. Click the copy icon next to that journey.
4. A new journey titled "Copy of [original name]" will be created with all the same entries.

Rescheduling a Journey

You can move all entries in a journey to a new date range:

1. Click on the calendar title (month/year) at the top of the calendar.
2. Select new start and end dates for your journey.
3. Choose whether to update the existing journey or create a new copy.
4. All entries will be adjusted to fit within the new date range.

Setting Spiritual Goals

Spiritual goals are like daily journal entries that help you plan your spiritual focus for each day.

Adding a Daily Spiritual Goal

1. Click on a date (not a time slot) in the calendar (use the month view for easier all-day clicking or click 'all-day' at the top of the day column).
2. The Spiritual Goals dialog will open.
3. Fill in any of the following sections:
   • Scripture Reading Goals - Bible passages you plan to read
   • Prayer Focus - People or topics to pray for
   • Quiet Time/Meditation Goal - Plans for reflection or meditation
   • Gratitude Practice - Things you want to be thankful for
   • Spiritual Intentions - Your main focus for the day (required)
   • Additional Spiritual Goals - Any other goals you have
4. Click "Save Goals" to add this to your calendar.

Editing a Spiritual Goal

To change a goal you've already created:

1. Click on the blue event in the calendar that represents your spiritual goal.
2. Update any of the fields in the dialog that opens.
3. Click "Save Goals" to update your calendar.

Scheduling Activities

Activities are specific timed events for your spiritual growth. They include Bible studies, devotionals, faith builders, and prayer guides that you've created or saved before.

Adding an Activity

1. Click on a time slot in the calendar (week view works best for this).
2. The Add Activity dialog will open.
3. Choose an activity type:
   • Bible Study - In-depth scripture studies (green on calendar)
   • Daily Devotional - Daily reflections (indigo on calendar)
   • Faith Builder - Spiritual growth resources (amber on calendar)
   • Prayer Guide - Guided prayer sessions (pink on calendar)
   • Act of Kindness - Actions to help those in need (red on calendar)
   • Act of Kindness to Stranger - Kind acts for people you don't know (purple on calendar)
   • Custom - Create your own spiritual activities (blue on calendar)
4. Search for or select a specific activity from your saved content.
5. Adjust the start time if needed.
6. Set the duration (15 minutes to 2 hours).
7. Click "Add to Calendar" to schedule this activity.

Acts of Kindness & Custom Activities

For Acts of Kindness and Custom activities, you'll need to provide more details:

1. Select "Act of Kindness," "Act of Kindness to Stranger," or "Custom" as the activity type.
2. Enter a Title for your activity (required).
3. Add a Description to explain what the activity involves.
4. Include any Additional Details like location, materials needed, or people involved.
5. Set the start time and duration as with other activities.

Time Zones and Calendar Events

All calendar events are created based on your local time zone where created. This means:

• Activities will appear at the correct local time regardless of where you view your calendar.
• When sharing journeys with participants in different time zones, their view will not automatically adjust to their local time.
• If you travel to a different time zone, your calendar willnot adjust events to show in your current local time.
• Spiritual goals are all-day events and are not affected by time zone changes.

Editing an Activity

To change an activity you've already scheduled:

1. Click on the colored activity in your calendar.
2. Update any settings in the dialog that opens.
3. Click "Update Calendar" to save your changes.

Deleting an Activity

To remove an activity from your calendar:

1. Click on the activity in your calendar.
2. Click the trash icon (red button) in the bottom left of the dialog.
3. The activity will be removed from your calendar.

Managing Participants

You can create groups of participants to share your spiritual journeys with. This is great for small groups, Bible studies, or prayer partners.

Creating a Participant Group

1. Click the Manage Participants button in the top bar.
2. Click "Create New Group" if you don't have any groups yet.
3. Enter a name for your group (like "Prayer Team" or "Bible Study Group").
4. Add a description to help remember the group's purpose.
5. Click "Create Group" to save it.

Adding Participants to a Group

1. In the Participant Manager, select the group you want to add people to.
2. Click "Add Participant".
3. Enter the person's name, email, and phone number (optional).
4. Click "Add" to include them in the group.
5. Repeat for each person you want to add.

Removing Participants

To remove someone from a group:

1. In the Participant Manager, select the group.
2. Find the participant you want to remove.
3. Click the delete icon next to their name.
4. Confirm the removal when prompted.

Deleting a Group

To delete an entire participant group:

1. In the Participant Manager, select the group you want to delete.
2. Click the "Delete Group" button at the bottom.
3. Confirm the deletion when prompted.

Publishing Your Journey

Publishing your journey makes it available to the participants in your groups. They will receive notifications and can track their progress on the journey with you.

Publishing to a Group

1. First, make sure you've created a participant group and added members.
2. Click the Publish button in the top bar.
3. Read the publishing terms and check the "I agree to the terms" box.
4. Click "Publish Journey" to make it available to your participants.

What Participants Will See

When you publish a journey:

• Participants will receive an email notification with a link to view the journey.
• They can see all the spiritual goals and activities you've scheduled.
• They can track their own progress through the journey.
• They cannot edit your original journey.

Privacy Considerations

Remember these important points about sharing your journey:

• Only publish content you're comfortable sharing with others.
• Personal reflections in your spiritual goals will be visible to group members.
• Participants will receive email and possibly SMS notifications.
• You can unpublish a journey at any time by contacting support.

Dashboard Integration

The Spiritual Journey Planner is now fully integrated with your improved dashboard, making it easier to see upcoming activities and track your progress.

Viewing Your Next Steps

From your dashboard, you can easily see and manage your upcoming spiritual activities:

• Your next scheduled activities appear in the "Next Steps" section of your dashboard.
• Click on any activity to open it directly, view details, or begin the activity.
• Mark activities as completed directly from the dashboard with a single click.
• View your completion progress to stay motivated on your spiritual journey.

Data Syncing and Backup

The Spiritual Journey Planner automatically saves your data and works even when your internet connection is unreliable.

Automatic Syncing

• Your data is automatically synced with the server every 5 minutes.
• Any changes you make are temporarily stored on your device.
• When you have internet connection, changes are sent to the server.
• You can manually sync by clicking the refresh icon next to "Spiritual Journey Planner".

Multiple Device Support

You can access your spiritual journey plans from different devices:

• Log in to your account on any device to see all your journeys.
• Changes made on one device will sync to your other devices.
• Your last selected journey will be remembered across devices.

Tips and Best Practices

Planning Your Journey

• Start with a clear purpose for your spiritual journey (like "40 Days of Prayer" or "Scripture Memory Plan").
• Set realistic goals that you can maintain consistently.
• Mix different activity types to keep your spiritual practice varied and engaging.
• Schedule regular reflection time to review your progress and adjust your plan.

Using the Calendar Effectively

• Month view is best for adding daily spiritual goals and seeing your overall plan.
• Week view is better for scheduling and managing specific timed activities.
• Click on the calendar title to quickly reschedule your entire journey if needed.
• Color coding helps you quickly identify different activity types (Bible studies are green, devotionals are indigo, etc.).

Group Journey Ideas

• Church small groups can use shared journeys for Bible reading plans.
• Prayer partners can coordinate prayer times and focuses.
• Mentorship relationships can track spiritual growth activities together.
• Family devotions can be planned and shared with all family members.

Troubleshooting

Quick Reference