diff --git a/src/config.js b/src/config.js
index e38e048..a2e3beb 100644
--- a/src/config.js
+++ b/src/config.js
@@ -241,13 +241,6 @@ if (finalConfig.greetingMessage || finalConfig.greetingAttachment) {
   }
 }
 
-// Convert arrays of lines to multiline strings in greetings
-for (const obj of Object.values(finalConfig.guildGreetings)) {
-  if (Array.isArray(obj.message)) {
-    obj.message = obj.message.join('\n');
-  }
-}
-
 // newThreadCategoryId is syntactic sugar for categoryAutomation.newThread
 if (finalConfig.newThreadCategoryId) {
   finalConfig.categoryAutomation.newThread = finalConfig.newThreadCategoryId;
diff --git a/src/data/threads.js b/src/data/threads.js
index 4353703..da61715 100644
--- a/src/data/threads.js
+++ b/src/data/threads.js
@@ -68,8 +68,9 @@ async function createNewThreadForUser(user, quiet = false, ignoreRequirements =
   if (config.requiredAccountAge && ! ignoreRequirements) {
     if (user.createdAt > moment() - config.requiredAccountAge * HOURS){
       if (config.accountAgeDeniedMessage) {
+        const accountAgeDeniedMessage = utils.readMultilineConfigValue(config.accountAgeDeniedMessage);
         const privateChannel = await user.getDMChannel();
-        await privateChannel.createMessage(config.accountAgeDeniedMessage);
+        await privateChannel.createMessage(accountAgeDeniedMessage);
       }
       return;
     }
@@ -106,8 +107,9 @@ async function createNewThreadForUser(user, quiet = false, ignoreRequirements =
 
     if (! isAllowed) {
       if (config.timeOnServerDeniedMessage) {
+        const timeOnServerDeniedMessage = utils.readMultilineConfigValue(config.timeOnServerDeniedMessage);
         const privateChannel = await user.getDMChannel();
-        await privateChannel.createMessage(config.timeOnServerDeniedMessage);
+        await privateChannel.createMessage(timeOnServerDeniedMessage);
       }
       return;
     }
@@ -173,8 +175,10 @@ async function createNewThreadForUser(user, quiet = false, ignoreRequirements =
 
     // Send auto-reply to the user
     if (config.responseMessage) {
+      const responseMessage = utils.readMultilineConfigValue(config.responseMessage);
+
       try {
-        await newThread.postToUser(config.responseMessage);
+        await newThread._sendDMToUser(responseMessage);
       } catch (err) {
         responseMessageError = err;
       }
diff --git a/src/main.js b/src/main.js
index 5a29e70..140cb5b 100644
--- a/src/main.js
+++ b/src/main.js
@@ -223,7 +223,8 @@ function initBaseMessageHandlers() {
 
     // Send an auto-response to the mention, if enabled
     if (config.botMentionResponse) {
-      bot.createMessage(msg.channel.id, config.botMentionResponse.replace(/{userMention}/g, `<@${msg.author.id}>`));
+      const botMentionResponse = utils.readMultilineConfigValue(config.botMentionResponse);
+      bot.createMessage(msg.channel.id, botMentionResponse.replace(/{userMention}/g, `<@${msg.author.id}>`));
     }
   });
 }
diff --git a/src/modules/close.js b/src/modules/close.js
index 60feb54..9b3463d 100644
--- a/src/modules/close.js
+++ b/src/modules/close.js
@@ -12,7 +12,8 @@ module.exports = ({ bot, knex, config, commands }) => {
     const threadsToBeClosed = await threads.getThreadsThatShouldBeClosed();
     for (const thread of threadsToBeClosed) {
       if (config.closeMessage && ! thread.scheduled_close_silent) {
-        await thread.postToUser(config.closeMessage).catch(() => {});
+        const closeMessage = utils.readMultilineConfigValue(config.closeMessage);
+        await thread.postToUser(closeMessage).catch(() => {});
       }
 
       await thread.close(false, thread.scheduled_close_silent);
@@ -116,7 +117,8 @@ module.exports = ({ bot, knex, config, commands }) => {
 
     // Send close message (unless suppressed with a silent close)
     if (hasCloseMessage && ! silentClose) {
-      await thread.postToUser(config.closeMessage).catch(() => {});
+      const closeMessage = utils.readMultilineConfigValue(config.closeMessage);
+      await thread._sendDMToUser(closeMessage).catch(() => {});
     }
 
     const logUrl = await thread.getLogUrl();
@@ -135,7 +137,11 @@ module.exports = ({ bot, knex, config, commands }) => {
     if (! thread) return;
 
     console.log(`[INFO] Auto-closing thread with ${thread.user_name} because the channel was deleted`);
-    if (config.closeMessage) await thread.postToUser(config.closeMessage).catch(() => {});
+    if (config.closeMessage) {
+      const closeMessage = utils.readMultilineConfigValue(config.closeMessage);
+      await thread._sendDMToUser(closeMessage).catch(() => {});
+    }
+
     await thread.close(true);
 
     const logUrl = await thread.getLogUrl();
diff --git a/src/modules/greeting.js b/src/modules/greeting.js
index 540d9ac..f85bde9 100644
--- a/src/modules/greeting.js
+++ b/src/modules/greeting.js
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 const path = require('path');
 const fs = require('fs');
 const config = require('../config');
+const utils = require('../utils');
 
 module.exports = ({ bot }) => {
   if (! config.enableGreeting) return;
@@ -21,14 +22,16 @@ module.exports = ({ bot }) => {
       });
     }
 
+    const greetingMessage = utils.readMultilineConfigValue(guildGreeting.message);
+
     if (guildGreeting.attachment) {
       const filename = path.basename(guildGreeting.attachment);
       fs.readFile(guildGreeting.attachment, (err, data) => {
         const file = {file: data, name: filename};
-        sendGreeting(guildGreeting.message, file);
+        sendGreeting(greetingMessage, file);
       });
     } else {
-      sendGreeting(guildGreeting.message);
+      sendGreeting(greetingMessage);
     }
   });
 };
diff --git a/src/utils.js b/src/utils.js
index fbea327..3e475ab 100644
--- a/src/utils.js
+++ b/src/utils.js
@@ -309,6 +309,13 @@ function disableCodeBlocks(str) {
   return str.replace(/`/g, "`\u200b");
 }
 
+/**
+ *
+ */
+function readMultilineConfigValue(str) {
+  return Array.isArray(str) ? str.join('\n') : str;
+}
+
 module.exports = {
   BotError,
 
@@ -345,4 +352,6 @@ module.exports = {
 
   escapeMarkdown,
   disableCodeBlocks,
+
+  readMultilineConfigValue,
 };