Prayer Requests

One of the most meaningful features of ChurchWiseAI is its ability to receive and organize prayer requests from your congregation and community. Whether someone calls your voice agent or types a request in the chatbot, every prayer need is captured and available in your dashboard.

Where Prayer Requests Come From

Prayer requests can be submitted through three channels:

• Voice Agent — A caller says something like "I would like to submit a prayer request" and the agent gently collects the details
• Chatbot — A visitor types a prayer request in the chat widget on your website or PewSearch page
• Website form — If you have a prayer request form on your site that connects to ChurchWiseAI

All requests end up in the same place in your dashboard, regardless of how they were submitted.

Viewing Prayer Requests

1. Open your admin dashboard
2. Click the Requests tab
3. Browse the list of prayer requests, shown with the most recent first

Each request shows:

• Date and time it was submitted
• Source — whether it came from the voice agent, chatbot, or website
• The request — the actual prayer need in the person's own words
• Contact info — name and phone number or email, if provided
• Status — new, in progress, or addressed

Managing Prayer Requests

Marking Status

Update the status of each request as your team works through them:

• New — Just received, not yet reviewed
• In Progress — Someone on your team is following up
• Addressed — Follow-up is complete

Adding Notes

You can add internal notes to any prayer request. This is useful for recording:

• Who is following up
• What actions have been taken
• Updates on the situation

These notes are only visible to your team — they are never shared with the person who submitted the request.

Routing to Pastoral Staff

For churches with multiple staff members, you can route prayer requests to the right person:

• General prayers — Route to the prayer team or administrative staff
• Urgent or crisis needs — Route to the senior pastor or on-call pastor
• Youth and family — Route to the youth pastor or family ministry leader
• Hospital and care visits — Route to your visitation team

To route a request, open it and select the team member who should handle it. They will see it in their dashboard view.

Privacy Considerations

Prayer requests often contain deeply personal information. Handle them with care:

• Restrict access — Admin, Office Admin, Prayer Team, and Care Team roles can view prayer requests. Treasurer, Volunteer Coordinator, and Worship Leader roles cannot. Requests marked confidential are only visible to Admin and Office Admin.
• Do not share details publicly — Never read specific prayer requests from the pulpit without explicit permission from the person
• Secure your dashboard — Remind team members to keep their access links private
• Follow up sensitively — When reaching out about a prayer request, be gentle and respectful. The person shared something vulnerable.

For a full explanation of which roles can see which data, see Data Privacy and Confidentiality.

Responding to Requests

When you follow up on a prayer request, some approaches that work well:

• Call or text if a phone number was provided: "We received your prayer request and our team is praying for you."
• Send a note if you have a mailing address
• Pray specifically — Reference the actual need rather than giving a generic response
• Offer next steps — If appropriate, connect them with a support group, counseling resource, or ministry team

The goal is to make people feel heard and cared for, whether they called at 2 AM or typed a quick message on your website.