Your staff is already using AI, whether there's a policy or not. A one-page policy protects your people's privacy and your team's integrity. Here's a starter you can adapt.
1. Protect people's data. Never paste prayer requests, counseling notes, giving records or kids' information into a public AI tool. If you connect a tool like Planning Center to ChatGPT or Claude, Planning Center itself recommends turning off model training in those tools first.
2. Use built-in tools where you can. Planning Center's Ask AI only sees what each user already has permission to see, and Planning Center says it doesn't train AI on your data. That's a safer default than copy-pasting.
3. A person always checks the result. Anything AI drafts (emails, posts, sermon research) gets reviewed by a staff member before it goes out.
4. Be honest about where content comes from. Decide as a team when you'll say something was AI-assisted. Never pass off AI-written pastoral care as personal.
5. Review it every quarter. These tools change monthly. Put a 15-minute AI check-in on the staff meeting agenda.