Public Group Finder
The Group Finder is a public-facing page that lets visitors and prospective members browse, search, and contact your church's groups without logging in. This article walks through the visitor experience and the settings that control which groups appear.
Where Visitors Find It
The public Group Finder offers several views, all reachable from your church's public link without signing in:
- A card-style list with filters and search
- A map of group locations
- A detail page for each individual group
- A "Message the leader" form
- A QR-code-based signup landing page
These pages do not require an account. Anyone with the link can browse.
Which Groups Appear
A group is included on the Finder list and map when all of the following are true:
- The group is active
- The group is open to new members
- "Show in Finder" is turned on
- The group is not marked Confidential
- The group is a Private or Public group (Teams and Classes are excluded)
For the map view, the group must additionally have a location set, and an Address Visibility of "Fully Public" (exact pin) or "Proximity Public" (an approximate pin within about 0.5–1 km of the real address). Groups marked "Members Only" or "Hidden" are quietly left off the map.
Filters Available to Visitors
The list page offers these filters, all of which can be combined:
| Filter | Notes |
|---|---|
| Day | Sunday through Saturday |
| Category | The built-in list of categories (Bible Study, Fellowship, etc.) |
| Group type | Only shown when the church has defined custom types |
| Tags | Only shown when at least one tag exists |
| Childcare | Filters to groups with childcare provided |
| Online | Filters to online / virtual groups |
| Search | Free text — matches name, description, or location |
Results show 12 per page, sorted alphabetically by name.
Map View
The map is centered on the church (falling back to the geographic center of the matched groups, then to the U.S. center). Each marker shows:
- Group name and short description
- Category label and meeting day/time
- Member count and available spots
- A "Full" badge when the group has reached its member limit
- An "(approximate area)" suffix when the marker is for a proximity-public group
- A link to the group's public detail page
Single Group Page
When a visitor clicks a group card or scans a QR code, they land on the public detail page. It shows:
- Group photo, name, description, and meeting schedule
- Address — shown in full, as an approximate area, or hidden, depending on the group's Address Visibility setting
- Active leader names (with contact info hidden)
- Member count and waitlist position (if logged in and on the waitlist)
- A Join button (if open and not full) or a Waitlist button (if full and the waitlist is enabled)
- A Contact the Leader form (only when at least one leader has an email on file)
- Up to three Related Groups in the same category (padded with random open groups if fewer than two same-category matches exist)
Contact-the-Leader Inquiry Form
Visitors can ask a question without joining. The form requires:
- Name (up to 255 characters)
- Email (must be a valid email address)
- Message (up to 2000 characters)
The form quietly filters out automated bot submissions. Successful submissions:
- Record the inquiry for the church, including the sender's name, email, and message.
- Notify every active leader who has an email on file.
- Show a confirmation message to the visitor.
Inquiries are visible to leaders on the group detail page and in the Inquiries panel; they are not auto-deleted.
Joining from the Public Page
When a visitor clicks Join on the public page, TimelyChurch:
- Checks for a matching person record (by sign-in or by email within the church). If none is found, it asks for Name + Email and creates a record.
- Detects existing membership and stops with an info message.
- Detects a full group and either adds the person to the waitlist (if the waitlist is enabled) or declines with a "not accepting new members" message.
- If the group requires approval, adds the person as pending and leaves a note for leaders to review.
- Otherwise adds the person as an active member immediately.
- Sends the visitor a confirmation email — with a magic sign-in link to the portal when the record was newly created.
Disabling the Finder for a Group
To remove a group from the public Finder while keeping it active internally:
- Turn Show in Finder off on the group detail page, or
- Mark the group Confidential (this also hides it from the map and search results, regardless of the "Show in Finder" setting).
Tip: When you launch the Finder, do a "logged-out" preview as a visitor. Some groups you assume should appear may be missing because the group is closed to new members, "Show in Finder" is off, or a non-public Address Visibility is hiding them from the map.