How to Write a Church AI Policy Before You Need One

Fewer than 5% of churches have an AI policy. Meanwhile, everyone on your staff is already using AI. That gap is where the messes happen: private member data pasted into chatbots, pastoral messages that read like form letters, and a free-for-all with no guardrails. In this episode, Doug Parks and Bart Rendel (co-founders of Intentional Churches) walk through a practical one-page AI policy outline you can draft before the episode is even over. You'll learn what should never go into a prompt (and the simple "postcard test" to teach your staff), when to disclose that AI was involved in a communication, and how to build green light, red light, and caution lists that free your team to use AI instead of freezing them. Plus: why the AI companies themselves are racing to put policies in place, and what recent stories of models "breaking out" mean for how carefully churches should handle their data. TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Cold open: even the AI companies are racing to write policies 00:33 What percentage of churches actually have an AI policy? 01:30 The risk: executive pastors will be cleaning up AI messes for years 02:12 Bart's icebreaker: everyone on your team is already using it 03:23 The goal: a one-page AI policy you can draft today 03:33 Policy item #1: what to NEVER paste into a prompt 04:15 What GPT actually stands for, and why your data trains the model 04:56 The postcard test: if you wouldn't mail it, don't prompt it 05:43 When AI "breaks out": recent stories and why caution matters 06:43 Policy item #2: disclosure, when to tell people AI was involved 07:45 The embarrassment test: if admitting it would embarrass you, don't use it 07:54 Policy item #3: green light, red light, and caution lists 09:20 "Ones and zeros": once it's digitized, it's out there 10:24 Recap + your challenge: write your AI policy this week 10:58 Resources at executivepastor.io Executive Pastor resources: https://executivepastor.io Intentional Churches: https://intentionalchurches.com #AI #ExecutivePastor #ChurchLeadership #AIPolicy #IntentionalChurches