Notifications

TimelyChurch automatically sends notifications to keep your team informed about important events. The notification system supports three delivery channels: in-app notifications, email notifications, and push notifications. This article explains what triggers notifications, how they are delivered, and the preferences each team member can control.

Notification Channels

In-App Notifications

Every notification creates an entry in the user's notification center within TimelyChurch. Open it from the Notifications item in the left sidebar -- when you have unread notifications, a number badge appears next to it. In-app notifications include:

• A title and descriptive message
• A color-coded icon indicating the notification type
• A link to the relevant page (schedule, lesson, etc.)
• A timestamp showing when the notification was created
• Read/unread status tracking

The Notifications page lets you filter by Status (All, Unread, Read) and by Type, mark a single notification read or use Mark All Read to clear everything at once, and delete notifications you no longer need. Certain action-required notifications show inline buttons so you can resolve them without leaving the page: a substitute request shows Claim this sub request, a supply request shows Approve & fulfill and Deny, and a submitted lesson shows Approve lesson and Reject with reason (you type a short reason for the teacher, then click Submit rejection).

Email Notifications

When a notification is created, the system checks whether the recipient has email notifications enabled. If enabled, an email version is sent that carries the same information as the in-app notification, formatted for email.

Push Notifications

If a user has opted in to browser push notifications, the system also sends a push alert to their subscribed devices. Push is opt-in per device: the user's browser prompts them to allow notifications, and they can turn it off again from the browser or from their notification preferences in the portal.

Notification Types and Triggers

Scheduling Notifications

Substitute Request Notifications

Lesson Notifications

Certification Notifications

Supply Request Notifications

Invitation Notifications

Family & Household Notifications

Group Notifications

Resource Booking Notifications

Communication Notifications

Q&A and Moderation Notifications

For Q&A sessions, the in-app notification and push alert arrive for every question. Email is paced: the first question of a session is emailed right away, and later questions arrive together in a digest, at most once every 10 minutes, with every question listed. See Creating a Q&A Session and Reviewing Reported Content.

Group, Event, and Volunteer Reminders

How Reminder Timing Works

The reminder notifications above run on sensible platform defaults. These defaults govern when a reminder becomes due and how often it repeats. They are applied automatically -- there is currently no self-service church settings screen for changing them. If your church needs different timing, contact TimelyChurch support.

The defaults are:

Lesson Needed Reminders

• Wait Days -- Number of days after a schedule is created before sending the first reminder (default: 2 days)
• Urgent Days -- Days before the class when the reminder is treated as urgent (default: 3 days)

Schedule Reminders

• Saturday Evening -- A reminder the evening before Sunday teaching (default: on)
• Sunday Morning -- A reminder the morning of teaching (default: on)

Substitute Request Reminders

• Reminder Hours -- Hours before a follow-up is sent on an unclaimed substitute request (default: 24 hours)
• Notify Admins -- Administrators are also notified about unresolved requests (default: on)

Certification Reminders

• Warning Days -- Days before expiration to start sending warnings (default: 30 days)
• Reminder Frequency -- How often the warning repeats: daily, weekly, or monthly (default: weekly)

Supply Request Reminders

• Reminder Hours -- Hours before a follow-up is sent on a pending supply request (default: 24 hours)

Email Delivery

• Email Enabled -- Email notifications are sent alongside in-app notifications (default: on)
• Email Digest -- Batching notifications into a single digest email instead of individual emails (default: off)

Notification Timing

Scheduled notifications run on a set schedule, and the send times honor your church's own timezone. A reminder set to go out at 8:00 AM arrives at 8:00 AM where your church is, not at a fixed server time -- so a Texas church and a UK church both get their morning reminders at a sensible local hour.

The standard send times (all in your church's local time) are:

The reminder defaults described earlier -- wait days, urgent days, reminder hours, and the Saturday Evening / Sunday Morning schedule reminders -- control which notifications are eligible to be sent and how the message reads. The send hours in the table above are set by TimelyChurch and are not currently church-configurable, but they always fire in your local timezone.

User-Level Notification Preferences

Each team member controls their own notification emails from the Notification Settings page in the portal (open your account menu and choose Notification Settings). Its settings card is titled Email Notifications for administrators and Team Notifications for other team members. There you'll find:

• Email notifications -- A master switch for all notification emails to your account, while you still see everything in your in-app notification center
• Per-type toggles -- Turn individual notification types on or off
• Delivery -- For donation activity (people who receive it), choose Instantly, Daily digest or Weekly digest
• Reminder timing -- Team members can choose how many Days before teaching to receive their schedule reminder (1 to 7 days)

Changes save automatically as you toggle them. Push notifications are managed separately, per device, through the browser prompt described above.

Tip: If your church has turned a notification email off for everyone (for example by turning off its template on the Email Templates page), it shows as Off on this page with the note "Your church has turned this off for everyone", and it can't be turned on individually. In-app notifications still appear.

Notification Urgency

Some notifications include urgency indicators:

• Substitute Requests -- Can be marked as urgent by the requester, adding a "URGENT" prefix to the notification
• Certification Expiring -- Notifications become more urgent as the expiration date approaches
• Supply Requests -- Can be flagged with urgency levels
• Lesson Needed -- Becomes urgent when the teaching date is approaching and no lesson has been assigned

Telegram Direct Messages

Besides in-app, email and push notifications, members who have connected their own Telegram can receive personal notifications as private Telegram messages from your church's bot -- many with one-tap buttons that send their answer straight back to TimelyChurch, no login needed. (Connecting Telegram, the bot commands, and the broadcast side of the integration are covered in Telegram — Messages and Two-Tap Actions.)

Choosing Which Messages You Get

Telegram messages are strictly opt-in. Nothing is sent until the member turns on Get notifications on Telegram in the Telegram settings of their portal profile (under Connected accounts). They can then choose categories, grouped like this:

• What's mine to do -- Serving & volunteering, Teaching schedule, My tasks & assignments, Approvals waiting on me, Safety & emergencies
• What's coming up -- Events & meetings, My groups
• Messages & news -- Direct messages, Church announcements, People & directory, Other updates
• Private — needs sharing consent -- Giving & pledges, Prayer requests, Check-in & safety

Two more controls shape delivery:

• Quiet hours -- An optional window when no direct messages are sent ("No DMs during these hours. Leave blank for none."). Safety & emergencies alerts -- emergency lockdowns and urgent check-in safety alerts -- are the exception and always come through, so they reach a safety officer even at night.
• Private categories -- The three Private categories contain personal information and stay off until the member turns on the Share my birthday & anniversary in Telegram digests switch in their Telegram settings (that switch also puts their name in the church's birthday and anniversary posts). Giving messages never show amounts in the chat.

Related Articles

• Communication Overview
• Email Templates
• Sending Emails
• Email Logs
• Messaging
• Reviewing Reported Content
• Telegram — Messages and Two-Tap Actions