PIN-Protected Take-Home Materials
Sometimes you want a parent to be able to grab this week's coloring page or study sheet straight from your public event page — no login required. But most curriculum you buy comes with a plain rule: don't post it openly on the web. TimelyChurch squares that circle with a PIN: take-home downloads that anyone in your church family can reach with a simple code, and that stay out of open public view.
Where It Appears
When a class session on an event has a lesson with materials, a Class materials section can appear on the public event page in the Events Hub. For each class, it shows the lesson title, the family-facing take-home content, and the materials — either as direct downloads or behind a PIN.
Three Visibility Modes
Each class's materials can be shared one of three ways:
- Hidden — not shared publicly at all. The materials never appear on the public page.
- PIN protected — shown publicly, but downloads require a 6-digit PIN.
- Public — anyone with the link can download.
You set a church-wide default in Lesson Settings → General Settings → Class materials sharing, and each class session can override it (or keep Use church default) (on the Classes & Lessons tab). So you might keep everything PIN-protected by default, but make one printable flyer fully public.
Setting the PIN
- Open Lesson settings (the gear icon at the top of Drive).
- Under Class materials sharing, choose PIN protected as the default visibility.
- Enter a 6-digit PIN. Leave the field blank later to keep the current one.
Share that PIN however suits your church — print it in the bulletin, put it on the classroom door, or text it to your class list. A parent enters it once on the event page and the downloads open.
Why a PIN? Publishers typically prohibit open web sharing of their curriculum. A PIN keeps take-home downloads inside your church family — one tap for a parent, but not something a search engine or the wider internet can reach.
Built to Actually Protect the File
The PIN isn't just a screen you can skip past:
- The PIN is never shown back to anyone, even in settings. TimelyChurch only tells you whether a PIN is set ("A PIN is set. Enter a new 6-digit PIN to replace it.").
- Downloads are checked on the server. A PIN-protected file is served through a controlled link that verifies the PIN was entered — so the file can't be reached by guessing its address.
- After a few wrong PIN attempts in a row, TimelyChurch makes the visitor wait before trying again, to prevent guessing.
Parents: How to Unlock
On the public event page, a parent finds the class under Class materials, enters the 6-digit PIN their teacher gave them in Enter PIN to Access Materials, and clicks Unlock. The materials list unlocks for download. That's the whole flow — no account, no app.