Pastoral care prep — Claude Project

Setup guide.

Step-by-step from “fresh install” to “first run.” Skim it once, then keep this page open while you go.

Before you start

This bundle helps you prepare for a pastoral-care conversation — it doesn't run the conversation for you. Think of it as a thoughtful colleague you can think out loud with before you sit down with the person you're caring for.

Step 1 — Create a new Claude Project

Sign in to claude.ai or open Claude Desktop. Click 'Projects' in the sidebar → 'New project'. Name it something like 'Pastoral care prep'. The Projects feature requires a Pro or Team account on Claude.ai.

Step 2 — Paste the system prompt

Unzip the bundle. Open system-prompt.md, copy its full contents, and paste into the Project's Custom Instructions field. The system prompt encodes the listening posture, the crisis-referral guardrail, and the eternal-state neutrality posture — keep all three intact.

Step 3 — Upload the knowledge files

In the Project, click 'Add knowledge'. Upload counseling-frameworks.md and crisis-referral-checklist.md. Both stay attached to every conversation in the project, so you don't have to re-upload.

Step 4 — Try it on a real upcoming conversation

Open a new chat in the project. Tell Claude what you know about the upcoming conversation. Claude will reflect back what it heard, ask 4-5 clarifying questions, then propose an Open / Explore / Pray / Next-step outline you can adapt. The first time you use it, walk through the crisis-referral checklist together — it's a habit worth forming.

Troubleshooting.

Hit one of these? Here's the fix.

Claude jumps to advice instead of listening

The system prompt explicitly instructs reflection before suggestion. If Claude isn't listening, the Custom Instructions field probably wasn't pasted in full — check that the entire system-prompt.md content is present, including the 'Posture' section.

Claude makes claims about a deceased person's eternal state

The eternal-state neutrality guardrail in the system prompt should prevent this. If it slips, either the prompt didn't load fully, or you've pushed past it explicitly. Reset the conversation, re-affirm the prompt, and re-ask. Always defer the specific claim to the user's pastoral tradition.