Permissions and Broadcast Roles
Different broadcast tools in TimelyChurch are gated by different permissions. This article explains who can send what, and how to grant or revoke broadcast access through Roles & Permissions.
Quick Reference: Who Can Send What
| Broadcast Tool | Who Can Use It |
|---|---|
| Church Announcements | Administrator; roles with Create / Edit write drafts, roles with Publish put them live |
| Email Campaigns & Automations | Administrator (with send access) |
| Direct Messages | Administrator, Team Leader (with send access) |
| Group Messages / Announcements | Administrator, group leaders (messaging or announcement access plus leadership of the target group) |
| Email Template management | Administrator (with edit access) |
Note: "Administrator" is the built-in full-access role. The other built-in roles (such as Finance Admin, Team Leader, Team Member and Member) get only a read-level slice of the communication features by default. For example, Team Leader can send direct messages and view announcements, but cannot create/publish announcements or send email campaigns. Grant those actions by editing a role under Roles & Permissions.
Permission Model
TimelyChurch uses a module + action permission system. A permission is the combination of:
- A module: a feature area such as Announcements, Messaging, or Email Campaigns
- An action: what the user can do within that module: view, create, edit, delete, send, publish, or manage
For example:
- View announcements: can read announcements
- Create announcements: can compose new announcements
- Publish announcements: can put an announcement live or take it down
- Send messages: can send direct messages
- Send email campaigns: can send email campaigns
Each action is checked against the current user's permission for that module + action combination before it runs. If the check fails, the user gets a clear message instead of a blank error page. For example "You don't have permission to…", or "Publishing an announcement needs Manage access in Communication. Ask your church administrator if you need it."
Communication Modules in Detail
Messaging
Available actions: view, send, manage
- View: Can open the inbox and read conversations they're part of
- Send: Can compose new messages and replies
- Manage: Can see and act on email and Telegram delivery problems on the Need Attention page (bounced or failed emails, campaigns that got stuck)
Announcements
Available actions: view, create, edit, delete, publish
- View: Can open the Announcements page (most members already see public announcements)
- Create: Can compose new announcements. Without Publish, a new announcement is saved as a draft: "This will be saved as a draft. Someone with Manage access in Communication can publish it."
- Edit: Can modify existing announcements, pin them, and approve, hide or delete comments
- Delete: Can archive or permanently remove announcements
- Publish: Can put an announcement live or take it down, change when a live announcement goes live or comes down, switch it between public and members-only, and email it to members
See Drafts and Publishing for how this looks on the page.
Email Templates
Available actions: view, create, edit, delete
Controls who can use the Email Templates page for the automatic system emails (schedule reminders, substitute requests, and so on). Sending a test email and turning a template on or off need the Edit action. Most churches leave this with the Administrator role only. Turning off the wrong template stops that email for everyone.
Email Campaigns
Available actions: view, create, edit, delete, send
Controls who can use the Email Campaigns module, which also covers email automations (trigger-based emails such as a welcome email when someone registers for an event). Send Now and Schedule need the Send action. Sending bulk email is a high-risk action (deliverability impact, accidental "Reply All" effects), so this is typically scoped to admins and a small handful of trusted communicators.
Plan gate: Email Campaigns and Email Automations are also gated at the plan level. Even with the permission, you can only use them if your church is on a plan that includes the corresponding feature (available on the higher tiers). If your plan doesn't include them, you'll see an upgrade prompt instead of the tool.
Granting and Revoking Permissions
Permissions are granted by role assignment. Each member is assigned a role per church, and each role has a list of allowed module + action pairs.
To change a person's broadcast access:
- Go to Administration > Roles & Permissions in the left sidebar of the admin portal (it sits alongside Team Members and is available to users with access to the Team area).
- Either edit the role they already have, or create a new role with the modules and actions you want. The editor uses simple access-level pills (None, View, Edit, Full Access) as a shortcut over the underlying individual actions, so you don't have to toggle each one by hand.
- Assign or change a person's role from the Team Members page (each member row has an inline role selector).
The built-in Administrator role is pre-configured with all relevant communication permissions and cannot be edited (its access is locked to "full"). Custom roles, for example a "Communications Coordinator" you create yourself, are typically given a narrower slice (e.g., create and edit announcements but not delete them).
Special Cases
Group Leaders and Group Announcements
Sending an announcement to a single group is gated by both the messaging/announcement send permission and whether the user is a leader of the target group. Even an admin without leader status will be allowed (admins implicitly lead all groups), but a regular member must be a designated leader of that group to send a group-wide message.
Magic Links
Anyone can request a magic link by entering their email on the portal login page; no role is required. The platform only sends the email if the address matches an existing person in the church, so this is not considered an unauthenticated broadcast surface.
Permission Scopes
In addition to action permissions, each role has a scope that limits which records it can act on. A role's scope is one of:
- Own Records Only: Only records the user created or that belong to them
- Team Members: Records belonging to the teams/groups the user leads
- All Records: All records in the church (the scope used by the Administrator role)
Scopes are applied automatically, so a Team Leader with a team scope (shown as Their teams on the Roles page) sees only the people, groups, classes, follow-ups and families connected to the teams they lead, even where their action permission would otherwise allow more. This narrowing starts on the date shown in the notice administrators see at the top of the admin pages; before it, Their teams roles still see the whole church. See Roles & Permissions.
Auditing Broadcast Activity
For accountability:
- Announcements are timestamped with the creation and last-updated time and the user who made each change. The detail page shows this info.
- Email Campaigns track who created them, plus per-recipient send/open/click logs.
- Announcements also have an Activity tab listing edits, publishing, and email sends.
- Email delivery totals for the day appear on the Email Templates page (see Email Logs).
If you suspect a permission was misconfigured or abused, contact TimelyChurch support. The activity is recorded and support can help you review it.