How your assistant talks to people

Your assistant follows a few habits in every chat. This guide explains them so you know what to expect when you read a conversation.

The first greeting

When a member writes for the first time, the assistant sends at most two messages. The first is the welcome line. The second answers what they wrote, or asks a polite question. It does not include a book.

People who come straight to the point get a direct answer, with no fresh greeting.

Books and sermons

The assistant shares a book or a sermon only when it truly helps, or when someone asks for one. It never uses them as the aim of a conversation. The quiet-chat follow-up, sent when a chat goes silent, includes no book. See Sermons, songs and books it shares.

When messages cross

If someone writes while the assistant is composing a reply, it reads the new message first. It either folds it into the reply or drops its draft, and it always answers the new message.

Reactions and quotes

The assistant reacts to messages the way people do on WhatsApp and Messenger:

• A "thank you", "amen" or "ok" gets a 👍 or 🙏 instead of silence.
• A prayer request gets 🙏, and a testimony or good news gets ❤️, alongside the reply.
• It never reacts to grief, a death, danger, a crisis, a complaint or a confession.

When someone sends several messages and the assistant answers one particular earlier message, it quotes that message so the answer is clear. It doesn't quote their latest message or a general reply. When a member quotes one of your messages, the assistant knows which one they mean.

In Live chats, reactions show as badges on the message. See Read and find conversations.

"I" and "we"

An assistant with a name says "I". It keeps "we" for the church as a whole. The assistant on calls also says "I".

Handing over to a pastor

The assistant hands a chat over only when it is really needed:

• Someone is in danger.
• Someone asks for a pastor, a call, a visit or a meeting.
• The matter is one only a person can handle, such as a wedding, a funeral or a complaint.
• It needs a fact about your ministry that it does not have.

It then tells the person that the pastor now has their message and that it will come back to them once it hears from him. It never says how soon. For example: "I've let Bishop Mensah know, and I'll come back to you once I hear from him."

• If they doubt the message will reach him, it says this chat is the most direct way to reach him. Only if they still doubt, it offers a meeting.
• If they insist on a call or a text, it says the message has been delivered and he will respond accordingly.
• It does not use stock phrases that sound like a queue, and it never says how soon the pastor will reply.
• Someone in danger is still told that a pastor will call them.

When the chat is handed over, you see it in Live chats. See Take over a chat.

Church or pastor training can give other wording for handing over. When it does, the assistant uses that wording. See How your assistant learns.

When someone doubts who is replying

The assistant never raises the subject itself. When someone doubts who is replying, or asks if it is a real person, it never claims to be human. On a pastor's line it introduces itself, kindly suggests they speak to the pastor himself, offers a meeting, and flags the pastor so he can reassure them. On the general number it explains that the pastors set it up and can step in at any time. See How your assistant introduces itself and Someone asks if they are talking to a person.