diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index c01b9443a..9fae8d45c 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -83,12 +83,13 @@ The preview of the configured messages, as well as the creation of a channel wel
 * `/welcomebot help` - Displays usage information.
 * `/welcomebot list` - Lists the teams for which greetings were defined.
 * `/welcomebot preview [team-name]` - Sends ephemeral messages to the user calling the command, with the preview of the welcome message[s] for the given team name and the user that requested the preview.
-* `/welcomebot set_channel_welcome [welcome-message]` - Sets the given text as current's channel welcome message. You can also include `{{.UserDisplayName}}` and `{{.Channel.DisplayName}}` in the command to print the user joined and the channel display name in the message, respectively. You can insert any variable from the `MessageTemplate` struct, which has the following fields:
+* `/welcomebot set_channel_welcome [welcome-message]` - Sets the given text as current's channel welcome message. You can also include `{{.UserDisplayName}}` and `{{.Channel.DisplayName}}` in the `welcome-message` to print the user joined and the channel display name in the message, respectively. You can insert any variable from the `MessageTemplate` struct, which has the following fields:
     ```go
     type MessageTemplate struct {
         WelcomeBot      *model.User
         User            *model.User
         DirectMessage   *model.Channel
+        Channel         *model.Channel
         UserDisplayName string
     }
     ```
diff --git a/server/welcomebot.go b/server/welcomebot.go
index 655165381..c8a7dbe49 100644
--- a/server/welcomebot.go
+++ b/server/welcomebot.go
@@ -47,26 +47,26 @@ func (p *Plugin) constructMessageTemplate(userID, teamID string) *MessageTemplat
 
 func (p *Plugin) constructChannelMessageTemplate(userID, channelID string) *ChannelMessageTemplate {
 	data := &ChannelMessageTemplate{}
-	var err *model.AppError
+	var err error
 
 	if len(userID) > 0 {
-		if data.User, err = p.API.GetUser(userID); err != nil {
-			p.API.LogError("failed to query user", "UserID", userID)
+		if data.User, err = p.client.User.Get(userID); err != nil {
+			p.client.Log.Error("failed to query user", "UserID", userID)
 			return nil
 		}
 	}
 
 	if data.User != nil {
-		if data.DirectMessage, err = p.API.GetDirectChannel(userID, p.botUserID); err != nil {
-			p.API.LogError("failed to query direct message channel", "UserID", userID)
+		if data.DirectMessage, err = p.client.Channel.GetDirect(userID, p.botUserID); err != nil {
+			p.client.Log.Error("failed to query direct message channel", "UserID", userID)
 			return nil
 		}
 	}
 
 	if len(channelID) > 0 {
-		data.Channel, err = p.API.GetChannel(channelID)
+		data.Channel, err = p.client.Channel.Get(channelID)
 		if err != nil {
-			p.API.LogError("failed to query channel", "ChannelID", channelID)
+			p.client.Log.Error("failed to query channel", "ChannelID", channelID)
 			return nil
 		}
 	}
@@ -203,8 +203,8 @@ func (p *Plugin) renderWelcomeMessage(messageTemplate MessageTemplate, configMes
 func (p *Plugin) getTemplateMessage(data []string, messageTemplate interface{}) string {
 	tmpMsg, _ := template.New("Response").Parse(strings.Join(data, "\n"))
 	var message bytes.Buffer
-	if appErr := tmpMsg.Execute(&message, messageTemplate); appErr != nil {
-		p.API.LogError("Failed to execute channel message template", "Error", appErr.Error())
+	if err := tmpMsg.Execute(&message, messageTemplate); err != nil {
+		p.client.Log.Error("Failed to execute channel message template", "Error", err.Error())
 		return ""
 	}