Group Waitlist
When a group reaches its member capacity, TimelyChurch can place additional joiners on a waitlist instead of rejecting them. This article covers the full lifecycle: enabling the waitlist, automatic enrollment, leader actions, and historical entries.
Enabling the Waitlist
The waitlist is off by default. To turn it on:
- Open the group detail page.
- Toggle Waitlist Enabled in the group settings.
When this is on and the group is full, anyone trying to join is added to the waitlist instead of being rejected.
The toggle has no effect on its own — you must also set a member capacity (a positive number) so the group can ever count as full.
How People End Up on the Waitlist
There are three entry points, all of which add the person to the waitlist:
| Source | Trigger | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Public Group Finder | A visitor tries to join a full group | Visitor sees "Added to waitlist at position N" |
| QR-code signup | A visitor signs up by scanning the group's QR code | Same flow as the public Finder |
| Admin "Add Member" | When the group is full and an admin tries to add a new member | The admin can override and bypass the waitlist if they have edit permission |
In each case, the new entry is assigned the next sequential position (1-indexed) and is automatically scoped to your church.
Status Lifecycle
Each waitlist entry carries a status:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Waiting | The default. Person is in line and hasn't been notified yet. |
| Notified | A leader has notified them that a spot is opening. They have 48 hours to claim it before it expires. |
| Joined | They were promoted to an active member. The waitlist entry is preserved for history. |
| Expired | The 48-hour notify window passed without a claim. |
| Cancelled | Either the person backed out or a leader removed them from the waitlist. |
Active waitlist views (the count badge, the waitlist tab) consider only waiting and notified entries. Joined / expired / cancelled entries show under "Historical entries".
Leader Actions (Admin Panel)
The admin panel exposes the full set of waitlist operations:
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| View waitlist | Shows the active and historical sections |
| Promote an entry to active member | Moves the person into the group as a member |
| Notify the next person in line | Sets their status to notified |
| Remove an entry | Sets their status to cancelled |
| Reorder entries | Drag-and-drop to change the order |
All of these require the group-edit permission (view-only permission is enough for the waitlist list itself).
Promote Flow
Promoting an entry enforces guardrails before adding the member:
- Already joined check — stops if the person has already joined.
- Capacity check — if the group is still full, it returns an error: "Cannot promote — the group is still at capacity. Remove a member first."
- Member creation — the person is added to the group as an active member.
- Chat sync — if the group has chat enabled, the new member is added to the conversation.
- Notification — the person is emailed that they've been approved to join.
The waitlist entry's status flips to joined (it is not deleted). This preserves the history.
Notify Flow
Notifying an entry flips it to notified, records when they were notified, and sends them a "spot available" message. The 48-hour expiry timer starts here. If the person doesn't claim the spot in 48 hours, the entry is marked expired (automatically or by manual cleanup) and the next person in line can be notified.
Leader Actions (Member Portal)
Group leaders managing a waitlist from the portal have a subset of the admin actions:
| Action |
|---|
| Promote a waitlist entry |
| Remove a waitlist entry |
Notification and reordering remain admin-only today.
What the Person Sees
A person on the waitlist who returns to the group's public page sees:
- A "You're on the waitlist at position N" banner instead of a Join button.
- An option to remove themselves from the waitlist.
When they get the "spot available" notification, the email contains a Magic Link to either confirm joining or pass.
Historical Entries
The waitlist UI shows a "Historical" section listing all entries with status joined, expired, or cancelled. This is useful for:
- Auditing who eventually got into the group.
- Seeing who declined or let their spot expire (so you know whom not to re-prioritize on the next opening).
- Understanding the demand curve over time.
Historical entries are kept indefinitely. Deleting a group also deletes its waitlist entries.
Best Practices
- Set a realistic member capacity first. If you don't, the group never becomes "full" and the waitlist never engages.
- Notify in batches of 2–3 when you have multiple openings, instead of all at once. The 48-hour window means a few people will lapse — you want a buffer.
- Use the "Notes" field on the waitlist entry to record why someone is on the list ("knows the leader", "transferring from another group", "moving here in June"). It surfaces on the waitlist UI to help leaders prioritize.
- Reorder by drag-and-drop when fairness or pastoral context calls for it. Position is not strictly first-come-first-served — leaders can reshuffle freely.
Tip: When a group consistently has 5+ people on the waitlist, that's a strong signal to multiply the group. Consider asking the current leaders to coach a new leader and split the group, then reset the waitlist on the new group.