Schedule an Event from Telegram
You can request an event without opening the app at all — right from a chat with your church's Telegram bot. This article walks through the /schedule_event flow and how approving a request by tapping a button works.
Starting a Request
Send /schedule_event to your church's Telegram bot (or choose Schedule an Event from the bot's /menu). TimelyChurch walks you through a short series of questions, one at a time:
- What kind of event is this? — you're shown only the event types you're actually eligible to request, the same eligibility rules used on the web (Request an Event).
- Which team is hosting? — only asked if you belong to more than one team that could host this type of event; if there's just one obvious choice, TimelyChurch fills it in automatically and skips straight to the next question.
- What's it called? — the event's title.
- When? — reply in plain language, like "thursday 7pm-9pm" or "aug 24 7:00pm-9:00pm."
- Which room? — pick from your church's rooms, or "No room."
- Review — a summary of everything you entered, with the chance to go back and change anything before you send it in.
Submitting goes through the exact same approval policy as the web request form — if the event type needs approval, your request is held for the right approver; if it doesn't, it's scheduled right away and you'll get a confirmation in the chat.
If there's a scheduling conflict with the room and time you picked, you'll be told right there in the chat, so you can try again with a different room or time — you're not left wondering why nothing happened.
You can send /cancel at any point to stop the wizard, and it will time out on its own if you go quiet partway through.
Approving From Telegram
If you're set up as an approver and someone requests an event that needs your sign-off, you'll get a private message from the bot with the event's details and two buttons: ✅ Approve and ❌ Decline.
- Tapping Approve schedules the event immediately — no further steps.
- Tapping Decline asks you to reply with a short reason (or tap ⏭ Skip to decline without one) — the same optional note you can add from the web's Need Attention inbox.
The requester is notified of your decision the same way they would be from the web — see Approve or Decline Event Requests.
If a request needs more than one approver (the "resource owner + leader" case), each approver gets their own message and taps their own buttons — the event only goes live once everyone required has approved.
Note: Unlike the web Need Attention inbox, an admin standing in for an absent approver won't be able to decide a request by tapping in Telegram — that override is web-only, to keep the tap-to-decide surface limited to the person the request actually asked.
Related Articles
- Request an Event — the same request flow on the web.
- Approve or Decline Event Requests — the web approver experience this mirrors.
- Set Up Event Types & Approval Rules
- Telegram — Messages and Two-Tap Actions — connecting your Telegram account.
Last updated: August 8, 2026