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 -- substitute requests, supply requests, and submitted lessons -- show inline buttons (for example Claim this sub request or Approve & fulfill) so you can resolve them without leaving the page.

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

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 can control their own email notifications from the portal Profile page, in the Email Notifications (or Team Notifications) section. There you'll find:

• Email notifications -- A master switch to turn off all notification emails to your account while still seeing them in your in-app notification center
• Per-type toggles -- Turn individual notification types on or off
• Reminder timing -- Team members can choose how many days before teaching to receive their schedule reminder

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

Tip: Platform email delivery settings take precedence. If email is turned off at the church level, individual users' email preferences do not apply -- the email will not be sent regardless of personal settings. 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

Related Articles

• Communication Overview
• Email Templates
• Sending Emails
• Email Logs
• Messaging