Creating Lessons

Lessons are the core teaching content in TimelyChurch's Education module. Each lesson contains everything a teacher needs to prepare for and deliver a class, along with optional parent-facing content that can be shared with families.

Creating a New Lesson

1. Navigate to Lessons from the admin sidebar.
2. Click the New Lesson button in the top right corner.
3. Fill in the lesson details in the creation form.
4. Click Save to create the lesson.

Lesson Fields

Required Fields

• Title -- The name of the lesson (up to 255 characters). This is the only universally required field, though your church settings may require additional fields.
• Status -- Every lesson must have a status:
  • Draft -- Work in progress, not yet available for scheduling.
  • Approved -- Ready for use, visible to teachers for lesson selection.
  • Archived -- No longer in active use but retained for reference.

Content Fields

• Description -- A rich text description of the lesson content. Supports formatting through a built-in editor.
• Scripture Reference -- The Bible passage(s) covered in the lesson (up to 255 characters). Can be made a required field in Lesson Settings.
• Learning Objectives -- What students should learn or be able to do after the lesson. Can be made a required field in Lesson Settings.
• Supplies Needed -- A list of materials and supplies required to teach the lesson.

Organization Fields

• Audience -- The target age group for the lesson:
  • Kids (0-11)
  • Youth (12-18)
  • Adults (18+)
  • All Ages
• Category -- The topic or theme of the lesson. Default categories include Bible Study, Worship, Discipleship, Evangelism, Prayer, Fellowship, Missions, and Other. Custom categories can be added in Lesson Settings.
• Suggested Age Group -- A freeform field for more specific age targeting (e.g., "3rd-5th Grade"), separate from the broader audience setting.
• Suggested Duration -- The recommended teaching time in minutes (1 to 480 minutes). Displays in a formatted "Xh Ym" format for longer lessons.
• Tags -- Comma-separated keywords for additional organization and searchability.

Series/Curriculum Fields

• Series Name -- Groups the lesson into a named curriculum series (e.g., "Heroes of Faith" or "Summer 2025 Curriculum").
• Series Order -- A number indicating where this lesson falls within the series sequence (starting from 1).

Parent-Facing Content

These fields contain information that can be shared with parents and families through the member portal:

• Member Summary -- A simple "what we learned today" summary written for parents.
• Memory Verse -- The scripture text to memorize (up to 500 characters).
• Memory Verse Reference -- The citation for the memory verse (e.g., "John 3:16"), up to 100 characters.
• Home Activity -- A suggested activity families can do at home to reinforce the lesson.
• Discussion Questions -- Conversation starters parents can use with their children about the lesson topic.

Adding Attachments

Lessons support two types of attachments: uploaded files and external links.

Uploading Files

1. Open a lesson by clicking on it from the lesson list.
2. In the Attachments section, click Add Attachment.
3. Select File as the attachment type.
4. Choose a file from your computer.
5. The file uploads automatically. For larger files, a progress bar displays the upload status.

Files are stored securely in cloud storage. There is no restriction on file type, but each file is subject to the upload size limit configured for your church.

Adding External Links

1. Open a lesson by clicking on it from the lesson list.
2. In the Attachments section, click Add Attachment.
3. Select Link as the attachment type.
4. Enter the full URL of the external resource.
5. Click Save.

External links are useful for referencing YouTube videos, online curriculum providers, Google Docs, or other web resources.

Removing Attachments

Click the delete icon next to any attachment to remove it. For uploaded files, the file is permanently removed from storage.

AI-Generated Discussion Questions

If your church has AI features enabled, the lesson editor includes an AI Assistant panel directly underneath the Discussion Questions field. This lets you generate (or refine) family discussion prompts in a few seconds rather than writing them from scratch.

Generating Questions

1. Open a lesson in edit mode and scroll to the Discussion Questions field.
2. In the AI Assistant panel, type a short instruction in the prompt box. Examples:
   • "Generate 3 questions about forgiveness for ages 6-8"
   • "Add reflection questions for middle schoolers"
   • "Make the questions more age-appropriate"
3. Click Generate (or press Enter).
4. The AI uses the lesson's Title, Scripture Reference, Suggested Age Group, and any questions already in the field as context, then writes new questions into the Discussion Questions textarea.
5. Review the result, edit anything you want to change, and click Save Changes to persist the lesson.

What the AI Knows

The generator passes the following context to the AI provider (xAI Grok):

• The lesson title.
• The scripture reference (if any).
• The suggested age group (if any).
• Your church name.
• Any existing discussion questions already entered (so you can iteratively refine).

The AI does not see attendance records, member data, or anything outside the lesson form.

Recommended Workflow

• Start with a few keywords in the lesson title and scripture reference before generating.
• Use the AI as a first draft, then edit for tone and theology.
• If the result is off, refine the prompt (e.g., "Shorter, only 3 questions, focus on application") and regenerate -- the existing content is included as context so it builds on previous output.
• All AI-generated text is editable; nothing is locked or auto-saved until you click Save Changes.

For the full picture of what AI features TimelyChurch offers and how to enable them, see the AI Features Overview. For a deeper look at lesson-specific AI generation, see AI Lesson Assist.

Note: The AI Assistant panel only appears when Content Generation is enabled for your church in AI Settings. If you don't see the panel, an admin must enable it first.

Duplicating a Lesson

To create a new lesson based on an existing one:

1. Open the lesson you want to duplicate.
2. Click the Duplicate action.
3. A copy of the lesson is created with "(Copy)" appended to the title.
4. The duplicate starts as a Draft with a teach count of zero.
5. All attachments are copied to the new lesson.
6. Edit the duplicate to make any needed changes.

Duplicating is useful when creating variations of a lesson for different age groups or when building out a curriculum series.

Lesson Statuses and Workflow

Draft

New lessons start as drafts (or are automatically set to draft if your church requires approval). Drafts are visible to admins but are not available for teachers to select when choosing lessons for their schedules.

Approved

Approved lessons are available in the lesson library for teachers. Only approved lessons appear when a teacher selects a lesson for a scheduled class. Admins can approve lessons individually or in bulk.

Archived

Archiving a lesson removes it from active use. Archived lessons can be restored at any time. Permanent deletion is also available for lessons that are no longer needed.

Approval Workflow

If "Require approval for new lessons" is enabled in Lesson Settings:

• New lessons (including those submitted by teachers) are saved as Drafts.
• An admin must review and approve them before they become available.
• Teachers can also propose lessons for specific schedules, which go through a separate review process.

Tips for Organizing Lessons

• Use Series Name to group lessons into multi-week curriculum tracks.
• Use Audience to ensure the right lessons appear for the right classes.
• Add Tags for cross-cutting themes (e.g., "Christmas", "VBS", "missions") that span multiple categories.
• Fill in Parent-Facing Content to help families continue the conversation at home.
• Use the Suggested Duration field so teachers can plan their class time effectively.