An AI policy your church can adapt

Adopted by [elders, board or session] on [date] · Next review by [date] · AI steward: [name and role]

1. What we believe

Every person bears the image of God (Genesis 1:27), and God entrusts the care of his people to shepherds who will answer for them (1 Peter 5:2; Hebrews 13:17). Artificial intelligence (AI) can help with the work around ministry: drafting, summarizing, organizing and translating. It cannot love anyone, pray for anyone, discern what the Spirit is doing in a person's life, or give an account to God for a decision.

Scripture's commands apply to the tools we choose. We test everything and keep what is good (1 Thessalonians 5:21). We speak truthfully (Ephesians 4:25). We keep what is told to us in confidence (Proverbs 11:13). This policy applies those commands to AI.

Decide: Add a sentence connecting this policy to [your statement of faith, mission statement or core values].

2. Who and what this covers

This policy applies to pastors, staff, elders, deacons, volunteers and contractors whenever they do the church's work, on any device or account, including personal ones.

"AI" means software that generates text, images, audio or video, or that makes predictions or recommendations from data. That includes chat assistants and the AI features inside church software, email, transcription, translation and design tools. Ordinary spell-check and web search are not covered.

3. Human judgment is the gate

Human judgment is always superior to the output of AI. AI may suggest. A person decides.

1. Nothing passes without a person. No AI output reaches a member, a guest, the public, a church record or a decision until a named person has reviewed it and chosen to use it.
2. The person who approves it owns it. They answer for it as if they had written it themselves.
3. People prevail. When AI and a person's judgment disagree, the person's judgment stands. No one has to justify setting an AI output aside.
4. "The AI said so" is never a reason for any decision at this church.
5. Review must be real. The reviewer reads all of it, has the time and knowledge to judge it, and can check it against its sources. Approving something unread is a violation of this policy.
6. AI does not act alone. No AI tool may send, publish, pay, delete or change a record unless a person approves that specific action. A draft that is clearly marked as AI's, and changes nothing until a person uses it, is not a change to a record.

Decisions only people make

AI output is never the basis for these decisions, and no AI tool may score or rank people for them:

• pastoral care and counseling
• church discipline and restoration
• membership, baptism, ordination and leadership appointments
• hiring, pay, evaluation and ending anyone's employment or volunteer service
• benevolence and financial help
• the safety of children and vulnerable adults, including any report of abuse
• what the church believes and teaches
• how to respond to a medical, legal, mental-health or other crisis

Leaders make these decisions in prayer, in conversation with the people involved, and under the church's authority.

4. Ethical standards

Truth. AI states errors with confidence. Check every fact, quotation, statistic, source and Scripture reference against the original before using it.

Honesty about what is real. Never present AI as a person. Any chat assistant the church offers says plainly that it is AI. Never create AI images, audio, video or testimonies that could be mistaken for a real person or event, and never imitate anyone's voice, face or writing without their written permission.

The dignity of each person. Never use AI to score, rank or monitor anyone's spiritual health, worth, faithfulness or giving capacity.

Fairness. AI learns from data that carries human prejudice. Reviewers look for bias about race, ethnicity, sex, age, disability, language, income and immigration status in anything that describes or affects people.

Presence. Prayer, counsel, comfort and correction come from a person. AI does not counsel anyone on the church's behalf. A pastor or leader writes messages of care and condolence in their own words.

Other people's work. Respect copyright and license terms. Before giving AI a purchased curriculum, book or song, confirm that its terms allow it. Don't publish AI output that copies someone else's work.

Stewardship. Spend the church's money and people's attention on AI only where it clearly serves the ministry.

5. Keeping AI aligned with who we are

Before the church starts any new use of AI, the person proposing it answers these questions for the AI steward. A "no" or an unclear answer stops the proposal until it is resolved.

Preaching and teaching. The person who teaches is responsible for every word and prepares in prayer and study of Scripture. AI may help with research and organization.

Decide: Choose one. [No sermon drafted by AI is preached at this church.] or [A sermon may use AI-drafted material only when the preacher has rewritten it in their own words and the person who oversees preaching knows AI was used.]

6. Privacy and confidentiality

People tell the church things in trust. They have not agreed to share those things with a software company.

Restricted information means prayer requests; anything about a child; health information; giving records; contact details; and anything about a person's family, immigration, employment, legal or financial situation, or church discipline.

1. Restricted information never goes into a public AI tool or a personal AI account.
2. It may go only into a tool on the church's approved list, and only as much as the task needs. Remove names wherever the task works without them.
3. Counseling notes, confessions and reports of abuse never go into any AI tool.
4. A child's name, image or details go into an AI tool only when the tool is approved for that purpose and [a parent or guardian has given permission].
5. Tell everyone present before recording or transcribing, and get their agreement. Never record or transcribe counseling, confession or prayer ministry.
6. Anyone who puts information in the wrong place tells the AI steward the same day. The AI steward works with [legal counsel or role] to contain it and decide who must be told. Reporting a mistake promptly is never punished.

The church follows the privacy, children's privacy and data-breach laws that apply to it.

A tool may be approved only if all of these are true:

• Its written terms cover how our information is used.
• It does not train AI models on our information, or that use is switched off.
• We know how long it keeps information, and we can delete it.
• It encrypts information, limits who can reach it, and supports two-step sign-in.
• It says which other companies handle our information.
• It commits to telling us about a breach.
• We can turn its AI features off.

7. Openness with the congregation

The church publishes this policy and tells members which approved tools handle their information. Anyone may ask how AI was used in something they received, and they will get a straight answer.

Decide: [We label anything published that AI substantially drafted.] or [We do not label reviewed drafts, because the person who approved them stands behind them.] [Members may ask to have their information left out of AI features, where the tool allows it.] Before choosing this, check that your tools can do it. Some can only be switched on or off for the whole church.

8. Responsibility

The AI steward keeps the approved tools list, reviews proposals, handles reports, and reports to [governing body] at least once a year. The steward cannot approve a tool alone when it will handle restricted information: [second person or body] must agree.

Everyone covered by this policy reads it and completes [training] before using AI for church work.

Anyone may raise a concern with [AI steward or alternate] without fear of retaliation. Violations are first a matter for correction and teaching. Serious or repeated violations are handled under [personnel and volunteer policies].

[Governing body] reviews this policy every year, and sooner if the law or the church's use of AI changes.

Adoption

Adopted by [governing body] of [Church Name] on [date].

Signed: ______________________ [name and role]

Appendix A: Before you use AI

Keep this list where people will see it.

1. Does this involve a decision only people make? Stop.
2. Am I entering restricted information? Use an approved tool only, and only what the task needs.
3. Have I read every word it produced?
4. Have I checked the facts, quotations and Scripture references?
5. Does this sound like us, and does it fit what we believe?
6. Am I willing to put my name on it?

Appendix B: Approved AI tools