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Chatbot UX Model

Not a ChatGPT Clone -- A Ministry Tool

The ChurchWiseAI Chatbot is designed as a pastoral care tool, not a generic question-answering bot. The fundamental design difference: ChatGPT answers questions. ChurchWiseAI builds relationships. Every UX decision flows from this distinction.

A visitor who asks "What time are services?" is not looking for a fact -- they are nervous about visiting. A person who asks "Are you affirming?" is really asking "Will I be accepted here?" The chatbot is trained to hear the question behind the question and respond pastorally before answering factually.

What This Means in Practice

• Short responses first. Simple questions get 1-2 sentence answers. The chatbot offers to go deeper only if asked. No walls of text.
• One call-to-action per response. Never overwhelm with options. Each response ends with one clear next step.
• One follow-up question per response. Earn trust through conversation, not interrogation.
• Empathy before facts. The chatbot acknowledges the feeling behind the question before delivering information.
• Progressive disclosure. Start brief, go deeper when invited. Contact information is requested naturally after trust is built, never cold-asked.

The HEAR Protocol

Every conversation follows the HEAR protocol -- the chatbot's pastoral methodology:

Step	Name	What It Means
H	Hear	Active listening. Read between the lines. Identify the real need behind the stated question.
E	Empathize	Emotional validation. Acknowledge the visitor's feelings before answering the factual question.
A	Assist	Practical help. Provide the answer, take an action (schedule, submit, register), or connect to a resource.
R	Refer	Human connection. When the situation exceeds what AI can handle, connect to a pastor, staff member, or crisis resource.

The HEAR protocol is enforced via the system prompt. The LLM is instructed to apply each step before formulating a response. For simple factual questions (e.g., "What time is the service?"), steps H and E may be light -- a brief acknowledgment before the fact. For pastoral care conversations (grief, crisis, prayer), all four steps receive full treatment.

Agentic, Not Just Conversational

The chatbot does not just ANSWER -- it ACTS. Unlike passive Q&A bots, ChurchWiseAI can take real actions on behalf of the visitor:

Action Category	Examples
Submit	Prayer requests, benevolence requests, safety flags
Schedule	Pastoral appointments (Cal.com), counseling sessions, pastoral visits
Register	Event registration, child pre-check-in, volunteer sign-up
Capture	Visitor contacts, newsletter subscriptions, connection cards
Generate	Devotionals, lesson plans, theological analysis, sermon illustrations
Lookup	Bible verses, small groups, past sermons, local resources, directions

This agentic capability is what differentiates ChurchWiseAI from chatbot competitors. A visitor can go from "I just lost my mother" to having a prayer request submitted, a pastoral visit scheduled, and grief support resources shared -- all in a single conversation, without leaving the chat.

Three UX Surfaces

The chatbot is accessible through three interfaces, all calling the same POST /api/chatbot/stream endpoint:

1. Care Hub (/care/[slug])

The Care Hub is a dedicated page that shows agent hub cards. The visitor sees all available agents (Care, Coordinator, Stewardship, Discipleship) and picks which one to talk to. Each card displays the agent's name, tagline, capabilities, and demo prompts.

• URL pattern: churchwiseai.com/care/[church-slug]
• Layout: Grid of agent cards with gradient headers, capability lists, and suggested starter questions
• Agent selection: Clicking a card routes to /care/[slug]/[agent] where the conversation begins with that specialist
• Availability: Cards are filtered by the church's plan tier (Starter sees 2 agents, Pro sees 4)
• Best for: Visitors who know what they need (prayer, Bible study, volunteering) and want to go directly to the right specialist

2. Hosted Chat Page (/chat/[slug])

A standalone full-page chat interface. No agent selection -- the visitor simply starts chatting and the system routes to the appropriate agent based on context.

• URL pattern: churchwiseai.com/chat/[church-slug]
• Access control: Requires premium_churches record with chatbot_enabled=true and status active or preview (with valid preview expiry)
• Pro Website detection: If the church's plan is pro_website, the interface applies Pro Website tier restrictions (basic Q&A + prayer only)
• Suggested questions: Configurable per church via persona templates, with fallback defaults ("What time are services?", "Can I submit a prayer request?", etc.)
• Best for: Churches that want a simple shareable link for their chatbot

3. Embed Widget

A JavaScript snippet that churches add to their own website. Creates a floating chat bubble in a corner of the page that expands into a chat window on click.

• Script location: churchwiseai.com/embed/churchwiseai-widget.js
• Configuration: Via data-* attributes on the script tag or window.__CWAI_CONFIG global object
• Behavior: Lazy-loads an iframe on first click (no performance impact until opened), full-screen on mobile
• CORS: Widget on the church's domain calls churchwiseai.com/api/chatbot/stream cross-origin
• Plan requirement: Pro tier or higher (embed widget is not available on Starter)
• Best for: Churches with a webmaster who wants the chatbot integrated directly into their existing site

See Widget Config for full embed documentation.

Conversation Design

Response Length Rules

Scenario	Length	Example
Simple factual question	1-2 sentences	"Sunday services are at 9:00 AM and 11:00 AM. Would you like directions to the church?"
Multi-part question	2-3 short paragraphs	Service times + parking + childcare info
Pastoral care	2-4 paragraphs	Grief support with empathy, resources, and next steps
Content generation	Structured format	Devotionals have title, scripture, content, reflection questions, prayer, action step

The system prompt enforces a hard maximum of 2 short paragraphs for standard responses. Longer responses are allowed only for explicitly pastoral care conversations and content generation tools (devotionals, lesson plans, theological deep dives).

Suggested Questions

Each agent persona defines default suggested questions in persona-templates.ts. These appear as clickable chips at the start of a conversation. Churches can override these via organization_settings configuration.

Examples by persona:

• Welcome: "What time are services?" / "Where do I park?" / "What should I expect on my first visit?"
• Pastoral Care: "Please pray for my friend Maria who has cancer" / "I need to talk to someone"
• Bible Study: "What does Ephesians 2:8-9 mean?" / "Can you write a devotional about hope?"
• Giving: "How do I set up online giving?" / "Where can I find my giving statement?"

Theological Awareness

The chatbot adapts its vocabulary to the church's denomination. This is not just terminology swapping -- it reflects genuine theological understanding:

Concept	Catholic/Orthodox	Protestant	Non-denominational
Sunday gathering	Mass	Service/Worship	Service/Gathering
Communion	Eucharist	Lord's Supper / Communion	Communion
Leader	Father / Priest	Pastor / Reverend	Pastor
Building	Parish	Church	Campus
Membership process	RCIA	Membership class	Connection class

This vocabulary is driven by the theological lens system (17 traditions + universal default). The lens is resolved from the church's denomination or explicit configuration, and injected into the system prompt as preferred/avoided terminology via the lens_knowledge table.

Agent Persona Selection

On the Care Hub, visitors select which agent to talk to. Each agent has a distinct identity:

Agent	Icon	Tagline	When to Use
Care Agent	Heart	Pastoral care, spiritual growth, and discipleship	Prayer, grief, crisis, counseling, Bible study
Coordinator Agent	Calendar	Reception, events, giving, and connections	Service times, directions, events, volunteering, first visits
Stewardship Agent	HandCoins	Giving, benevolence	Tithing, donations, financial assistance
Discipleship Agent	BookOpen	Devotionals, lesson plans, theological deep dives	Bible study, sermon prep, small group resources

Agent availability is gated by plan tier: Starter gets Coordinator + Care, Pro gets all 4, Suite gets all 4 plus custom agents (future).

"Powered by ChurchWiseAI" Badge

All chatbot interfaces display a "Powered by ChurchWiseAI" badge by default. This badge serves as brand attribution and a lead generation mechanism.

• Starter and Pro tiers: Badge is always displayed and cannot be removed
• Suite tier: Badge can be removed via the showBranding configuration option, enabling white-label deployment
• Widget: Badge appears at the bottom of the chat window
• Hosted chat / Care Hub: Badge appears in the chat footer

See Also

• Overview -- product summary, pricing, current state
• Agents -- agent specialization, persona templates, domain rulesets
• Tier Restrictions -- tool gating, plan feature matrix
• Widget Config -- embed snippet, configuration options