Church AI Agent — Skills

Your Church AI Agent already knows your service times, campus addresses, and fund names—all thanks to the Knowledge Base. But what happens when your church launches a capital campaign and you want the AI to enthusiastically share the vision every time someone asks about giving? Or when Easter is approaching and you want the agent to proactively mention volunteer opportunities? That’s where Skills come in.

Teaching Your AI Agent How to Behave

Think of Skills as coaching notes for your AI assistant. If the Knowledge Base is the textbook—full of facts, service times, and policies—then Skills are the whispered instructions you’d give a volunteer at the welcome desk: “When someone asks about baptism, get them signed up immediately. When they mention the building fund, share the vision and let them know every gift matters.”

Skills don’t replace your Knowledge Base. They complement it. A donor might ask a question that the Knowledge Base answers factually, while a Skill simultaneously shapes the tone, emphasis, and next steps. The result is an AI agent that doesn’t just recite information—it responds with the heart and priorities of your church.

Real-World Impact

Churches using Skills have seen remarkable improvements in donor engagement. When a member texts “I want to give,” the AI doesn’t just point them to the giving page—it can highlight the active campaign, mention the matching gift deadline, and start the donation process right there in the conversation. When a first-time visitor asks “What’s your church about?” the AI can be instructed to lead with your welcome experience and offer to connect them with a pastor.

Skills give you control over the personality and priorities of your AI agent without writing any code. A church administrator can create a seasonal Skill in under two minutes and immediately change how the AI responds to thousands of conversations.

Skills and Actions Working Together

One of the most powerful capabilities is that Skills can instruct the AI to take action—not just respond with words. Your Skill can tell the AI to trigger a chatbot registration flow, start a donation, or connect someone with church staff. This means a simple instruction like “When someone asks about baptism, trigger the baptism chatbot” is all it takes to automate an entire registration process.

In this article, we’ll overview the OnlineGiving.org Church AI Agent Skills feature.

Church AI Agent — Skills User Guide:

Skills are behavioral instructions that activate based on what donors ask about. Each Skill has a trigger condition and a set of instructions. When a donor’s message matches the trigger, the AI follows the instructions to shape its response. Skills are managed from the Church AI Agent section of your control panel.

Key Takeaways

• Knowledge Base = facts, Skills = behavior: They work together—the KB provides information, Skills shape how the AI delivers it.
• No code required: Create a Skill in under two minutes with a title, trigger context, and instructions.
• Skills can trigger actions: Instruct the AI to launch chatbot flows, start donations, or connect donors to staff.
• Priority system (0–10): Determines which Skill takes precedence when multiple match a conversation.
• Seasonal flexibility: Toggle Skills on and off for campaigns, holidays, and events without deleting them.
• Built-in safety: Every Skill is automatically reviewed before saving to prevent harmful content.
• Test before you launch: The Test Skills panel lets you simulate donor messages and verify which Skills activate.

Table of Contents

1. Understanding Skills
   • Skills vs. Knowledge Base
   • How Skills Work
2. Creating a Skill
   • Title
   • Priority
   • Trigger Context
   • Instructions
3. Managing Skills
   • Editing a Skill
   • Deleting a Skill
   • Activating and Deactivating
4. The Priority System
5. Testing Skills
6. Safety Review
7. Creative Skill Examples
   • Capital Campaign
   • Baptism Registration
   • New Visitor Welcome
   • Missions Month
   • Seasonal Emphasis
   • Staff Connection
   • Giving Redirection
   • Multi-Campus
8. Advanced: Skills That Trigger Actions
   • Available Actions Reference
   • Triggering Chatbots
   • Starting Donations
   • Connecting to Staff
   • Other Actions
   • How Skills, Knowledge Base, and Actions Work Together
   • What Skills Cannot Do
9. Tips for Writing Effective Skills
10. Frequently Asked Questions

Understanding Skills

A Skill is a set of behavioral instructions you give to your Church AI Agent. Unlike Knowledge Base articles that provide factual content (service times, beliefs, campus directions), Skills tell the AI how to respond when specific topics come up. They shape tone, emphasis, call-to-action, and even trigger automated workflows.

Skills vs. Knowledge Base

Here is the simplest way to understand the difference:

They work together. A donor asks “What time is church?” The Knowledge Base provides the factual answer (9:00 AM and 11:00 AM). If you have an active Skill about your new Saturday service, the AI also mentions that—giving the response personality and emphasis beyond just the facts.

How Skills Work

When a donor sends a message to your AI agent, the system checks if any active Skills match the conversation topic. If a match is found, the Skill’s instructions are layered into the AI’s response—guiding what it says, how it says it, and what actions it takes. This happens automatically and invisibly to the donor.

Each Skill has two core components:

• Trigger Context: Describes when the Skill should activate (topics, keywords, situations).
• Instructions: Describes what the AI should do when the Skill activates (tone, content, actions).

Creating a Skill

To create a new Skill:

1. Log in to your control panel.
2. Navigate to “Church AI Agent” → “Skills” from the left navigation menu.
3. Click the “Create Skill” button in the top-right corner.
4. Complete all four fields (detailed below).
5. Click “Save Skill.”

The system automatically runs a safety review before saving. If everything passes, your Skill is immediately active and will begin shaping AI responses.

Title

A descriptive name for your Skill. This is for your reference only—donors never see it. Use titles that help you quickly identify the Skill’s purpose at a glance.

Good titles: “Building Campaign — Rooted & Rising,” “Christmas Offering 2026,” “Baptism Registration,” “New Visitor Welcome”

Priority (0–10)

Priority determines which Skill takes precedence when multiple Skills match the same conversation. The scale runs from 0 (normal) to 10 (highest priority).

• 0: Default priority. Appropriate for most Skills.
• 1–4: Slightly elevated. Good for ongoing initiatives.
• 5–7: High priority. Use for active campaigns and time-sensitive programs.
• 8–10: Critical priority. Reserve for your most important current initiative (e.g., year-end giving push, emergency communications).

If two Skills both match a donor’s message, the one with the higher priority wins. If they have the same priority, both may contribute to the response.

Trigger Context

Describe the topics, situations, or types of questions that should activate this Skill. Write naturally—as if you’re explaining to a colleague when this Skill should “kick in.”

Examples of effective trigger context:

• “When someone asks about the building project, capital campaign, new sanctuary, expansion, or Rooted & Rising.”
• “When someone wants to sign up for baptism, get baptized, or asks about baptism classes.”
• “When a first-time visitor asks what the church is about, how to get connected, or where to start.”
• “When someone mentions grief, loss, bereavement, or asks for counseling.”
• “When someone asks about missions, mission trips, or international outreach.”

Tips for trigger context: Be specific but not too narrow. Include synonyms and variations of how donors might phrase their questions. Each line can represent a different way someone might trigger this Skill.

Instructions

Tell the AI what to do when this Skill activates. Instructions can include information, tone guidance, specific phrases to use, and even actions to take (like triggering a chatbot or starting a donation).

Examples of effective instructions:

• “Our Rooted & Rising campaign launched March 2026 with a goal of $2.5M for a new sanctuary wing. Emphasize that every gift matters, no matter the size. Mention that they can give online or text BUILDING to our giving number.”
• “When someone wants to register for baptism, immediately trigger the baptism chatbot. Do not ask clarifying questions—let the chatbot handle the registration flow.”
• “Welcome the visitor warmly. Share that we have three services (Saturday 6 PM, Sunday 9 AM and 11 AM). Offer to connect them with our First Impressions team and mention our free coffee bar in the lobby.”

Managing Skills

Editing a Skill

1. Navigate to “Church AI Agent” → “Skills.”
2. Click the Skill’s title or anywhere on its row in the table.
3. Update any fields: title, priority, trigger context, or instructions.
4. Click “Save Skill.”

Editing triggers a new safety review. Your changes take effect immediately upon saving.

Deleting a Skill

1. Navigate to “Church AI Agent” → “Skills.”
2. Find the Skill in the table.
3. Click the trash icon on the right side of the row.
4. Confirm the deletion when prompted.

Deleting a Skill is permanent. If you might need the Skill again later (for example, a seasonal campaign), consider deactivating it instead.

Activating and Deactivating Skills

Each Skill has an active/inactive status visible on the Skills list page. Toggle a Skill off to deactivate it without deleting it—perfect for seasonal campaigns that have ended but will return next year.

• Active: The Skill can match conversations and influence AI responses.
• Inactive: The Skill is preserved but dormant. It will not activate regardless of what donors ask.

The Skills page displays stat cards showing Total Skills, Active, and Inactive counts so you can see at a glance how many behavioral instructions are currently in play.

The Priority System

When a donor’s message matches multiple Skills, the priority system determines which one takes precedence. Here’s a real-world example:

Imagine a donor asks: “I want to give to the building campaign.” This might match:

• General Giving Skill (priority 0): “Thank donors warmly and offer fund options.”
• Building Campaign Skill (priority 5): “Emphasize the Rooted & Rising vision and mention the $2.5M goal.”

The Building Campaign Skill wins because it has higher priority (5 vs. 0). The AI will follow the campaign-specific instructions, not the general giving ones.

Best practice: Keep most Skills at priority 0. Only elevate priority for time-sensitive initiatives where you want the AI to prioritize that Skill’s instructions above others.

Testing Skills

The Test Skills panel at the top of the Skills page lets you simulate donor messages and verify which Skills would activate. This is invaluable during setup.

1. Navigate to “Church AI Agent” → “Skills.”
2. In the Test Skills panel, type a sample message (e.g., “I want to sign up for baptism”).
3. Click “Test.”
4. Review the results showing which Skills matched, their priority, and the instructions that would be applied.

Testing tips:

• Try messages that should match your Skill and messages that should not match.
• Test variations of the same question (e.g., “baptism registration,” “how do I get baptized,” “when is baptism class”).
• If a Skill isn’t matching when you expect it to, broaden your trigger context with more synonyms and phrasings.
• If a Skill is matching too broadly, make your trigger context more specific.

Safety Review

Every Skill creation and update passes through an automated safety review. The system checks your trigger context and instructions for:

• Harmful, abusive, or discriminatory content
• Attempts to override the AI’s core behavior or safety guidelines
• Instructions that could mislead donors or misrepresent your church
• Policy-violating content

If the review detects an issue, the Skill is blocked and you receive an error message explaining why. This is a safeguard, not a criticism of your intent. Most churches never encounter a blocked Skill.

If your Skill is blocked: Rephrase the instructions to focus on positive ministry content—what the AI should say and do, rather than negative or restrictive language. Contact support if you need help crafting compliant instructions.

Creative Skill Examples

Here are real-world examples showing the range of what Skills can accomplish. Use these as starting points for your own church’s Skills.

1. Capital Campaign

• Title: Building Campaign — Rooted & Rising
• Priority: 5
• Trigger Context: When someone asks about the building project, capital campaign, new sanctuary, expansion, construction, or Rooted & Rising.
• Instructions: Our Rooted & Rising campaign is raising $2.5M for a new sanctuary wing. We broke ground in March 2026 and expect completion by fall 2027. Emphasize that gifts of any size make a difference. Mention they can give online, by text (keyword: BUILDING), or by setting up recurring weekly gifts. Share that we’re at 62% of our goal.

2. Baptism Registration

• Title: Baptism Registration
• Priority: 3
• Trigger Context: When someone asks about getting baptized, signing up for baptism, baptism classes, or water baptism.
• Instructions: When someone wants to register for baptism, trigger the baptism chatbot. Do not ask extra questions—let the chatbot handle the registration. If the chatbot is unavailable, tell them our next baptism class is the first Sunday of each month at 9 AM and ask them to call the church office at (555) 123-4567 to register.

3. New Visitor Welcome

• Title: First-Time Visitor Experience
• Priority: 2
• Trigger Context: When a first-time visitor asks what the church is about, how to get connected, what to expect on a first visit, or where to start.
• Instructions: Welcome them warmly and express genuine excitement. Share that we have services at 9 AM and 11 AM on Sundays with a casual dress code. Mention our free coffee bar, dedicated welcome team, and kids’ ministry for ages 0–12. Offer to connect them with a pastor or small group leader. Keep the tone inviting and low-pressure.

4. Missions Month Giving Push

• Title: October Missions Month
• Priority: 4
• Trigger Context: When someone asks about missions, global outreach, mission trips, international giving, or the missions fund during October.
• Instructions: October is our missions emphasis month! We partner with 12 missionaries across 8 countries. This month, 100% of missions fund gifts go directly to the field—no administrative overhead. Our goal is $50,000 and we’re at $32,000 so far. Encourage them to give to the Missions Fund and mention the missions dinner on October 15 at 6 PM.

5. Christmas/Easter Seasonal Emphasis

• Title: Christmas Eve Services 2026
• Priority: 6
• Trigger Context: When someone asks about Christmas, Christmas Eve services, holiday services, December services, or what’s happening this season.
• Instructions: We have four Christmas Eve services: 2 PM (family-friendly with kids’ choir), 4 PM (traditional), 6 PM (contemporary with worship band), and 11 PM (candlelight). All services are approximately 60 minutes. No registration needed—just show up! Recommend arriving 15 minutes early for seating. Mention the hot chocolate and cookie reception in the lobby after each service.

6. Staff Connection for Sensitive Topics

• Title: Grief and Counseling Support
• Priority: 7
• Trigger Context: When someone mentions grief, loss, death, funeral, depression, anxiety, counseling, or emotional crisis.
• Instructions: Respond with compassion and care. Acknowledge their situation without minimizing it. Immediately offer to connect them with a pastor or our counseling ministry. Do not attempt to provide counseling advice. Connect them to staff with the question “grief/counseling support needed.” Mention that our care team is available Monday–Friday from 9 AM to 5 PM.

7. Giving Redirection to Specific Page

• Title: Scholarship Fund Drive
• Priority: 3
• Trigger Context: When someone asks about scholarships, school supplies, back-to-school, student aid, or education support.
• Instructions: Our annual scholarship fund supports 25 students in our community with school supplies and tuition assistance. Start a donation to the Scholarship Fund. Mention that $50 covers a full set of school supplies for one child, and $500 provides a semester of tuition aid. Emphasize that every dollar is matched by an anonymous donor through August 31.

8. Multi-Campus Behavior

• Title: North Campus Specific Info
• Priority: 2
• Trigger Context: When someone asks about the north campus, north location, or services at the north campus.
• Instructions: The North Campus is at 1234 Oak Drive. Services are Sunday at 10 AM and Wednesday at 7 PM. The campus pastor is Rev. Sarah Johnson. Kids’ ministry is available at all services. The North Campus coffee shop opens at 9:30 AM on Sundays. Parking is available in both the front and rear lots.

Advanced: Skills That Trigger Actions

Skills are not limited to shaping the AI’s words. They can instruct the AI to take real actions—triggering automated flows that create tangible outcomes. Your Church AI Agent has a set of built-in capabilities (tools) that it can perform on behalf of donors. Skills can reference any of these actions using natural, everyday language.

Available Actions Reference

Here is a complete list of actions your Skills can instruct the AI to perform. You don’t need to memorize internal names—just describe what you want in plain English within your Skill instructions.

Actions Anyone Can Use (No Login Required)

Actions for Logged-In Donors (Require Authentication)

When a donor is logged into their account, the AI can also access their personal information. Skills can guide how this data is presented:

Important: If a donor is not logged in and asks about their personal data, the AI will let them know they need to sign in first. Skills cannot override this security requirement.

Triggering Chatbots

If your church uses Chatbot Intents (automated conversational flows for registration, sign-ups, contact cards, etc.), your Skills can instruct the AI to launch them. Simply include natural language like “trigger the [name] chatbot” in your instructions.

Example instruction: “When someone wants to register for baptism, trigger the baptism chatbot. Let the chatbot handle the full registration process.”

The AI recognizes this instruction and launches the appropriate chatbot flow. The donor is seamlessly transitioned from the AI conversation into the structured registration chatbot without needing to leave the chat.

Tip: You can say “list the available chatbots” in your instructions if you want the AI to check what’s configured before recommending one. This is helpful when you have multiple chatbots and want the AI to suggest the most relevant one based on context.

Starting Donations

Skills can guide the AI to initiate a donation on behalf of the donor. Use language like “start a donation to [fund name]” in your instructions.

Example instruction: “When someone wants to give to the building campaign, start a donation to the Building Fund. Suggest $50 as a starting point but let them choose any amount. If they ask about recurring, suggest monthly.”

The AI generates a pre-filled link with the fund, amount, and frequency. The donor clicks through to complete their gift on the secure giving page—the AI does not process payments directly.

Connecting to Staff

For sensitive situations or complex requests, Skills can instruct the AI to hand off the conversation to a human staff member. The AI uses your church’s configured email and phone from your domain settings to provide contact information.

Example instruction: “When someone mentions a prayer emergency, grief, or crisis, connect them to staff immediately. Express compassion first, then provide the contact options. Say something like: Our pastoral team is here for you.”

Making Staff Connection More Specific: The basic “connect to staff” action provides your church’s general email and phone number. If you want the AI to provide more specific contact options, you have several approaches:

• Use a chatbot: If you have a “pastoral care” or “counseling request” chatbot configured, instruct the Skill to “trigger the counseling chatbot” instead of generic staff connection. This starts a structured intake flow.
• Add details to the Skill: Include specific information directly: “Connect them to staff and mention that Pastor Sarah handles counseling requests at pastorsarah@yourchurch.org or ext. 203.”
• Use your Knowledge Base: Create a KB article titled “How to Reach Our Pastoral Team” with contact details, office hours, the care request form URL, and specific pastor names. The AI will find this article via semantic search alongside whatever action the Skill triggers.
• Link to a custom form: If you have a care request form, mention the URL in your Skill instructions or KB article: “Direct them to our care request form at yourchurch.org/care-request.”

Other Actions

Beyond chatbots, donations, and staff connection, here are additional ways Skills can leverage the AI’s tools:

Event promotion: “When someone asks what’s happening at the church, show upcoming events and highlight our VBS registration.”

Fund guidance: “When someone asks where to give, list our available funds and recommend the Building Fund as our current priority.”

Store discovery: “When someone asks about resources or study materials, search the store for devotionals and small group guides.”

Prayer ministry: “When someone shares a prayer need, submit a prayer request on their behalf and let them know our prayer team will be lifting them up.”

Campaign emphasis: “When someone asks about campaigns, show our active giving campaigns and share the vision for our building project.”

How Skills, Knowledge Base, and Actions Work Together

This is one of the most important concepts to understand. When a donor sends a message, three things happen simultaneously:

1. Knowledge Base search: The AI finds relevant KB articles that match the donor’s question (facts, details, URLs, contact info).
2. Skill matching: The AI checks if any active Skill’s trigger context matches the conversation topic (behavioral instructions).
3. Tool availability: The AI has access to its full set of actions it can perform (start donations, trigger chatbots, look up data, etc.).

All three combine into a single, coherent response. Here’s a real example:

Scenario: A donor says “I’d like to talk to someone about counseling.”

The result: The AI responds with genuine empathy (from the Skill), provides Pastor Sarah’s direct email and the care form link (from the KB), and offers the general church phone number (from the action). One seamless, complete response.

Key takeaway: You don’t need to put every detail in the Skill itself. If your Knowledge Base already contains contact information, form URLs, office hours, or specific staff details—the AI will find that content and include it naturally. The Skill guides the behavior; the KB provides the facts; the action takes the step.

What Skills Cannot Do

While Skills are powerful, it’s important to understand what the AI agent cannot do so you set realistic expectations:

The pattern: When the AI can’t do something directly, it can always inform and guide. Your Skill instructions and Knowledge Base articles provide the URLs, phone numbers, and next steps that fill the gap.

Tips for Writing Effective Skills

Do:

• Start with one or two Skills for your highest-priority topics. Add more as you learn what donors ask about.
• Be specific in your trigger context. Include synonyms and different phrasings.
• Write instructions in plain, natural language—as if you’re briefing a volunteer.
• Include specific details: dates, amounts, locations, names.
• Update seasonally. Deactivate ended campaigns, create new ones for the current season.
• Test before launching. Use the Test Skills panel to verify activation.
• Give the AI a fallback: “If [primary option] is unavailable, then [alternative].”

Don’t:

• Don’t create dozens of overlapping Skills. A few well-crafted Skills outperform many vague ones.
• Don’t use vague triggers like “when someone asks a question.” Be specific about the topic.
• Don’t put factual content in Skills that belongs in the Knowledge Base. Skills are for behavior, not data.
• Don’t try to override the AI’s core safety behavior—the safety review will block it.
• Don’t forget to deactivate seasonal Skills when the season ends.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is the Knowledge Base different from Skills?

Knowledge Base articles provide facts—the information the AI uses to answer questions. Skills provide behavior—instructions for how the AI should respond in specific situations. For example, a Knowledge Base article might contain your church’s statement of beliefs, while a Skill might instruct the AI to warmly invite someone to an upcoming baptism class whenever beliefs or baptism come up.

Can I have multiple Skills active at once?

Yes. Multiple Skills can be active simultaneously. When a donor’s message matches more than one Skill, the priority setting determines which takes precedence. Higher priority numbers win. You can have dozens of active Skills covering different topics without conflict, as long as their trigger contexts are distinct.

What happens when two Skills have the same priority?

When multiple Skills match with the same priority level, the AI may draw from the instructions of more than one Skill to form its response. For clarity, give your most important current initiative a higher priority number so it always wins when topics overlap.

Can Skills access my donors’ personal data?

Skills themselves do not access donor data. They are instructions that shape the AI’s behavior. However, if a donor is logged in, the AI can already access their giving history and account information through its standard tools—Skills simply guide how the AI uses and presents that information.

How often should I update my Skills?

Review your Skills at the start of each ministry season or whenever your church’s priorities shift. Deactivate Skills for ended campaigns (Christmas offering, VBS registration), create new ones for upcoming initiatives, and update ongoing Skills if details change (new goal amounts, date changes, staff updates).

What if the safety review blocks my Skill?

The safety review checks for harmful content, attempts to override core AI behavior, or policy violations. If blocked, rephrase your instructions to focus on positive ministry content—what the AI should say and do. Avoid negative instructions like “never mention” or “refuse to answer.” Instead, focus on what you want the AI to emphasize. Contact support@onlinegiving.org if you need help.

Can Skills trigger chatbots, forms, or other automated flows?

Yes! This is one of the most powerful features. Your Skill instructions can include natural language like “trigger the baptism chatbot” or “start a donation to the Building Fund.” The AI recognizes these instructions and launches the appropriate automated flow. Any chatbot intent you’ve configured in your Text Marketing → Chatbots section can be triggered by a Skill. See the Available Actions Reference for the full list of what the AI can do.

How do I tell the AI about specific contact options (pastor emails, forms, phone extensions)?

You have three complementary approaches: (1) Put the details directly in your Skill instructions: “Mention that Pastor Sarah handles counseling at pastorsarah@church.org.” (2) Create a Knowledge Base article with all your contact options, office hours, and form URLs—the AI will find it automatically when the topic comes up. (3) If you have a chatbot that collects intake information, instruct the Skill to trigger that chatbot. All three approaches can be combined—the AI merges information from Skills, the Knowledge Base, and its available actions into one response.

Do Skills affect all conversations, or just new ones?

Skills affect all conversations going forward from the moment they are activated. If a donor starts a new conversation after you create a Skill, the Skill will be active for that conversation. Existing open conversations will also pick up the new Skill on subsequent messages.

Is there a limit to how many Skills I can create?

There is no hard limit on the number of Skills. However, quality outweighs quantity. A focused set of 5–15 well-crafted Skills covering your key ministry priorities will outperform 50 vague or overlapping ones. Start small and grow as you learn what your congregation asks about.

If you need help creating or troubleshooting Skills, contact OnlineGiving.org support at support@onlinegiving.org or call (615) 206-4000. Our support team can help you craft Skills tailored to your church’s unique ministry.

Our Support GPT knows this article and the entire knowledge base.