A communication system and method include a server hosting an interactive voice response or self-help application in a Java virtual machine. In order to leverage the advantages and facilities of the Java servlet model, a Java XMPP (Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol) servlet container is provided for the server so that the communication application can be programmed with objects defined by an XMPP servlet API, as well as objects defined by the standards-based Java EE platform such as HTTP and SIP servlets, in order to service an XMPP client. In addition to the generic class objects of the Java servlet model, the API also provides a set of XMPP-specific class objects. The Java XMPP servlet container includes a network point at a transport level for handling network connections, an XMPP service layer for managing XMPP sessions and streams, and an application layer for managing XMPP stanzas.