Product Doc · Shaping

Pathways

Finite, AI-guided faith journeys. A pastor or the Barnabas team authors one; any congregant walks it.

Shaping 2026-05-29 Tyler
01

Problem

A pastor's reach ends on Sunday.

He preaches on anxiety from Philippians 4, then offers a bulletin insert nobody reads, or nothing. There's no way to help a congregation live the message during the week. And the people with the pastoral intent aren't curriculum designers; today's only tool is an intimidating form.

Separately, Barnabas wants deep guided journeys on the hard topics (marriage, money, grief, addiction) for every user.

The bet

Pathways is one primitive for both: a finite, AI-guided journey anyone can author and any congregant can walk.

02

Who it's for

  • Ministry leader. Pastor or discipleship director. Non-technical. Authors in the org portal, at a desk.
  • Barnabas team. Builds the flagship pathways (marriage, money, grief, addiction).
  • Congregant. Walks pathways on mobile. Wants to be led, not handed a worksheet.
03

Pathway vs Practice

two primitives

Conflating them is the trap.

Pathway new

Finite journey. It ends.

Marriage, grief, a sermon series. A guided conversation with progress ("Chapter 3 of 7"). You complete it.

Practice exists

Open-ended habit. Never ends.

"Pray each morning." A habit tracker: cadence, reminders, streaks. You sustain it.

A Pathway chapter can carry a Practice forward onto the habit tracker, so it outlives the journey.

Two tiers, one primitive

Flagship (Barnabas) and Org (pastor) pathways share one model; org pathways just scope to an orgId. Express a flagship marriage pathway and org pathways come free.

04

Anatomy

Pathway  (theme, voice, cadence, tier)
├── Resources         Steering | Knowledge · Pathway- or Chapter-scoped
└── Chapters (ordered)  one session each, ~daily, self-paced
    └── Objectives (ordered)  the Guide's lesson plan
        teaching · scripture · reflection · practice · media · checkpoint

Objective kinds

KindAuthor specifiesGuide does
teachingthe idea for this beatpresents it; teaching card
scripturea passage, with framingscripture card (getBibleVerses)
reflectionthe question to draw outasks, responds to the answer, journal input
practiceembedded or carry-forward Practiceoffers it (practiceOffer)
mediaYouTube URL, with start/endembeds the clip; transcript feeds Knowledge
checkpointa gatewon't advance until engaged

Resources, two axes

Role

Steering. Always in context: voice, doctrine, guardrails.

Knowledge. Retrieved when relevant, cited.

Scope

Pathway. Grounds the whole journey.

Chapter. Present only during that chapter.

Resources also shape authoring: the Builder reads them to propose the Chapters, so a methodology's steps become the arc.

05

Walking

congregant · mobile
  • The surface is chat. One thread per chapter; scripture, journal, and practice cards render inline. No stepper-plus-chat split.
  • The Guide is an adaptive director, not a script reader. It must hit each Chapter's objectives and obey the spiritual-director guardrails, but adapts how: dwelling, comforting, surfacing Knowledge. It can't skip objectives, leave guardrails, or invent doctrine. checkpoints gate.
  • Chapters are ordered; within a chapter, responsive.
  • Progress, not streaks: "Chapter 3 of 7," self-paced.
  • Finishing completes the Pathway; carried-forward Practices live on.
06

Authoring

pastor · desktop

One surface: chat plus a live, editable Pathway canvas.

  • Chat left, canvas right. The Builder drafts; the canvas is the Chapters → Objectives outline, draggable and editable.
  • The agent edits the draft directly (changes highlighted). Pastor talks or types into the same draft. No version history in v1.
  • Publish is the only thing congregants ever see.
  • Practices are authored inside a pathway. No standalone practice authoring.

What it can research

SourceReusesExample
ScripturegetBibleVersesfills scripture objectives
Org librarysearchOrgKnowledge, youtubeKnowledge"build from my James series"
Uploaded docsdocumentProcessingmanuscript → objectives, plus Knowledge
Web searchNot in v1.
The symmetry

Two agents, one primitive. The Builder writes the lesson plan; the Guide runs it. Same Objectives, same Resources.

07

Distribution

On Publish, an Org Pathway shows in the congregant Pathways browse for that org and fires one announcement. Enrolling drops them in at Chapter 1. Individual enrollment only in v1.

08

Example

flagship "Marriage"
  • Pathway Steering. Never take sides, orient to reconciliation, escalate on abuse.
  • Pathway Knowledge. The counseling corpus and scripture.
  • Chapter Knowledge. Conflict-resolution material, "Handling Conflict" chapter only.

Authoring: the Builder reads the methodology, then proposes Chapters (Recommitting → Communication → Handling Conflict → …).

Walking: the Guide counsels the couple through the arc, grounded and guardrailed.

Driving the goal

Steering drives behavior, Knowledge grounds what it says, Objectives drive the steps.

09

v1 scope

In

  • Org pathways: sermon extension, topical study, discipleship
  • All six objective kinds
  • Resources: Role × Scope, from org library and uploads
  • Builder: chat plus canvas, direct edits, Publish gate
  • Guide: adaptive director plus guardrails
  • Walking: chat plus cards, progress, self-paced
  • Browse plus one announcement; individual enrollment
  • Carry-forward Practices

Deferred

  • Group or cohort experience
  • Calendar-locked cadence (Advent, Lent)
  • Web search in the Builder
  • Native or uploaded video
  • Versioning and history
  • Standalone practice authoring
10

Decisions

  1. Edits are live, no snapshotting. They apply immediately, in-progress walkers included. State lives on the Pathway.
  2. Two-layer Guide prompt. A base agent runs any pathway; each Pathway layers in instructions (where Steering lands). No per-pathway persona editor.
  3. Web first, native deferrable. Chat and gen-ui infra live in apps/web; native later.
  4. No tradition modes. Out of scope.
11

Reuse map

@convex-dev/agent@convex-dev/raggen-ui / clarifyQuestiongetBibleVersespracticeOfferdocumentProcessingspiritual-director guardrailspracticeTemplateuserPracticesnotificationsClerk org-scopingshadcn