The weekly staff update goes out tomorrow morning.

You open Claude and type the same directions you typed last week. Start with the wins, then list the calendar. Keep it short and warm.

Claude writes a good update. A week later, you type all of it again.

You already have a process. You just haven’t written it down in a place Claude can use.

WHAT A SKILL IS

A skill is a folder of instructions for one kind of task. It can also hold scripts and files Claude needs to do that task well.

You write down your process one time. When you ask for that kind of work, Claude checks which skills fit the request. It loads only what it needs and follows your steps.

Anthropic builds some skills for you. These help Claude make Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and PDF files, and Claude uses them on its own when they fit.

You can also build custom skills for the way your church does things. Anthropic’s own examples include following your brand style in documents and slides, writing emails from a company template, and formatting meeting notes.

HOW TO GET STARTED

Here is how to find skills in Claude, based on Anthropic’s help center.

1. Make sure code execution is turned on. Skills need it to work.
2. Click “Customize” in your account, then go to “Skills.”
3. Click “+” and then “Browse skills” to open the directory.
4. To write your own, follow the help center guide called “How to create custom skills.” You can attach scripts to a custom skill when a task needs more than written steps.
5. Ask for the task like you normally would. Claude uses the skill when the request calls for it.

For a staff update skill, write it the way you would train a new assistant. Say who reads the update and list the sections in order.

Describe your tone in plain words. Then add one past update you liked as an example.

Next week, you ask for the staff update, and Claude follows the steps you wrote.

3 WAYS TO USE SKILLS AT CHURCH

Start with the weekly staff update. Put your sections and your sign-off in the skill.

Each week, paste in your notes, and Claude puts them in your format. Then you read it over and add the things only you know before it goes out.

Next, try staff and board meeting notes. Decide one time how your notes should look. Maybe you want decisions at the top, then action items with a name and a due date for each one.

Put that format in a skill. After every meeting, hand Claude the raw notes and get them back in the same shape.

Then use a skill for event promotion. Write down your brand rules: your colors, your fonts, how you write the church name, and what you call first-time guests.

Now ask for a fall kickoff flyer or a set of announcement slides. Claude uses the same rules no matter who on staff asks.

GUARDRAILS FOR CHURCHES

A skill should hold your process. Keep people’s private details out of it.

Write the steps and the format. Leave out member names, prayer requests, pastoral care notes, and giving records. Claude reads the skill every time it uses it.

Skills can include scripts that run. Only add skills that you wrote or that come from someone you trust. On the Enterprise plan, organizations can turn on skill scanning, which checks uploaded skills and plugins for harmful content.

On Team and Enterprise plans, Owners can provision skills for every user. Those skills appear in each person’s skills list, and the Owner can set them to be on or off by default.

Pick one person to own your shared skills. That might be your executive pastor or your operations lead. When the format for the staff update changes, that person updates the skill.

WHICH PLANS HAVE SKILLS

Skills are available on Free, Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise plans. Code execution has to be turned on.

Start with one task you explain to Claude every week. Write it down one time as a skill, and let Claude follow it from now on.

If you want to work through tools like this with peers, join The Builder Collective. It’s a community of executive leaders learning how to put AI to work. You can find it at thebuildercollective.ai.