By Michael Lattis, MMBB’s Director of Data & Analytics
What’s in This Article
- Why Privacy Matters in Churches
- Understanding How AI Uses Data
- Myth #1: "If I delete a chat, the information disappears."
- Myth #2: "Free AI tools are just as secure as business platforms, which charge subscription fees."
- Myth #3: "AI-generated content is always private."
Church leaders and staff are called to wisely administer the resources God has given them. Stewardship, however, extends beyond managing finances. It also includes protecting information. Caring for congregants' personal and sensitive data is a sacred responsibility that reflects the trust members place in their church. Discretion helps safeguard not only the church but also the individuals, families, and information entrusted to its care.
As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes increasingly integrated into church operations, protecting that trust is more important than ever. Churches may use AI to assist with administration, communications, donor engagement, research, content creation, and ministry support. Whether motivated by limited staff capacity, budget constraints, or the growing visibility of AI tools, many churches are exploring how technology can help them work more efficiently. As churches embrace these tools, leaders must balance innovation with their responsibility to protect confidential information and preserve the trust of congregants, donors, employees, and ministry partners. The first part of a two-part article will explore why privacy is important for churches, how AI uses data and common myths about digital privacy.
Why Privacy Matters in Churches
Churches often collect the same types of information as other organizations, including names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, or payment information. However, some congregants speak to pastors and deacons about deeply personal and sensitive information that may not be shared elsewhere.
Members may discuss personal prayer requests, which can cover marital struggles, health concerns, financial hardships, counseling issues, or other confidential matters as part of their spiritual lives in face-to-face or phone discussions with their pastors or deacons. This information is shared with an expectation of compassion and confidentiality and is not meant to be digitally recorded and input into AI for any reason. If a pastor or deacon is not a licensed counselor, counseling should be done on a short-term basis and then referred to a professional clinician.
Understanding How AI Uses Data
AI systems rely on data to generate responses. When users enter information into an AI platform, that information may be processed, stored, retained or used to train public AI models, depending on the provider's policies.
Because many misconceptions exist about AI and privacy, church leaders should understand several common myths.
Myth #1: "If I delete a chat, the information disappears."
Reality: According to Church & Tax Law, deleting a conversation typically removes it from your view, but it may not be immediately erased from the provider's systems. Depending on the platform, information may remain in backup systems, security logs, or retention environments for a period before permanent deletion occurs.
Some business and enterprise platforms also maintain records for compliance, security, or auditing purposes. In certain cases, data may be retained after personal identifiers have been removed. Understanding a provider's retention and deletion policies is essential before sharing sensitive information.
Myth #2: "Free AI tools are just as secure as business platforms, which charge subscription fees."
Reality: Security and privacy protections vary between vendors and service tiers, but free AI platforms are usually much less secure than paid platforms or service tiers. Many enterprise and business AI tools provide stronger privacy controls, administrative oversight and safeguards that help prevent customer data from being used to train free, publicly available AI models. Church and Tax Law suggests business AI platforms may also offer access controls, dedicated security features and data processing agreements (contractual assurances regarding how church data is stored, accessed, protected, and deleted). When evaluating AI solutions, church leaders should carefully review privacy practices and security controls rather than assuming all platforms offer the same protections.
