Pastoral Care & OutreachPurpose
1.2. Ensure pastoral teams receive, review, and respond to requests in a timely manner, respecting privacy, updating parishioners, and enabling reporting for outreach effectiveness.
1.3. Integrate seamlessly with church management software, communications tools, and CRM systems for traceability and accountability.
1.4. Maintain audit trails, notify stakeholders, and support escalation or handoff for urgent/intercessory prayer needs.
Trigger Conditions
2.2. Incoming SMS containing specific prayer request keywords/phrases.
2.3. Received email to designated pastoral care inbox.
2.4. Direct message or mention on social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram).
2.5. Database entry or update in faith community management platform.
Platform Variants
3.1. Twilio SMS
• Feature/Setting: Incoming webhook + SMS/MMS receive — configure "Message Received" webhook to ingest SMS, auto-respond, and pass content to routing workflow.
3.2. SendGrid
• Feature/Setting: Inbound Parse API — configure domain catch-all to parse prayer request emails and forward JSON objects for categorization.
3.3. Microsoft Power Automate
• Feature/Setting: Trigger "When a new email arrives" for Microsoft 365 or "When a form is submitted" to start request workflow.
3.4. Google Forms
• Feature/Setting: On form response submission — auto-trigger via Apps Script webhook to collect and route requests.
3.5. Slack
• Feature/Setting: Slack Events API — listen for channel messages or direct prayer request messages, trigger bot workflow, and acknowledge receipt.
3.6. Facebook Messenger
• Feature/Setting: Messenger Webhook — trigger on prayer intent, extract message, and initiate categorization flow for team assignment.
3.7. Zapier
• Feature/Setting: Multi-step Zap — use trigger “New Email”/“New SMS”/“New Form Submission”; set up filters and routing actions.
3.8. HubSpot
• Feature/Setting: Web Form API — capture public prayer requests, assign contact owner, and update CRM timeline.
3.9. Salesforce
• Feature/Setting: Email-to-Case/Custom Object — auto-create “Prayer Request” record, assign to pastoral care queue, and trigger follow-up.
3.10. Airtable
• Feature/Setting: New Record Trigger in “Prayer Requests” table — initiate parsing, acceptance, and escalation via webhook.
3.11. Freshdesk
• Feature/Setting: Create Ticket API — convert prayer emails/SMS into support tickets, set tags (e.g., urgent), assign team.
3.12. WhatsApp Business API
• Feature/Setting: Incoming Message Webhook — capture chats containing prayer requests, auto-reply, and add to workflow.
3.13. Google Sheets
• Feature/Setting: New Row Added — detected via Apps Script or webhook, start notification and triage routine.
3.14. Trello
• Feature/Setting: Create Card API — auto-create new card in “Prayer Requests” list, assign member, set due date.
3.15. Notion
• Feature/Setting: Database Item Created Trigger — add new prayer request, assign tag, and launch communication sequence.
3.16. Mailgun
• Feature/Setting: Routes + Webhooks — parse and extract prayer request email body, send to processing workflow.
3.17. Intercom
• Feature/Setting: Web Inbox Message Hook — on incoming prayer-related message, auto-tag, segment, and notify assigned pastor.
3.18. Zendesk
• Feature/Setting: Create Ticket API — transform incoming emails/SMS into support tickets, add “Prayer” tag, route to care team.
3.19. Discord
• Feature/Setting: Message Create Event — monitor for prayer request messages, trigger bot to acknowledge and pass to workflow.
3.20. Monday.com
• Feature/Setting: Create Item Mutation via API — submit new prayer requests, categorize, set owner or due date, notify team.
3.21. Google Calendar
• Feature/Setting: Insert Event API — auto-create event for team follow-up with parishioner based on prayer request urgency.
3.22. Pipedrive
• Feature/Setting: New Activity or Deal — add request as activity, assign to user, set follow-up reminder.
3.23. ActiveCampaign
• Feature/Setting: Automation Trigger — on new request via form/email, set up automation for communication and tracking.
3.24. Smartsheet
• Feature/Setting: Web Form Submission — capture prayer requests as rows, and use automations for assignment.
3.25. Asana
• Feature/Setting: Tasks API — create new “Prayer Request” task with due date, assignee, and follow-up reminders.
Benefits
4.2. Centralizes requests for easier tracking, reporting, and team collaboration.
4.3. Reduces manual admin time, letting clergy focus on actual pastoral care.
4.4. Enhances privacy by standardizing intake and limiting unnecessary data access.
4.5. Enables consistent follow-up, escalation, and resolution tracking for all prayer requests.