Why AI ethics matter in ministry (and why I take It personally)

AI may be the defining tech headline of the past few years, but in reality, AI’s been shaping our relationship with technology for a long time. Every time Netflix suggests your next binge-worthy series, when Alexa answers your left-field questions, or when Instagram serves up that almost too-perfect ad—that’s AI at work.

The difference now? AI has become more sophisticated, yes, but the major shift is how widely accessible it’s become for the general public. What was once a behind-the-scenes tool to improve digital experiences is now in the hands of consumers, being used as a creative partner in our daily lives. 

Being Pushpay’s Chief Product Officer, I’m obviously excited about what’s possible with AI. But this unique moment in technological advancement also demands transparency.

I have six kids. When I think about the sheer amount of data about them floating around online—images, videos, account logins, where they go to summer camp with our chuch—it keeps me up at night. I worry about what can be done with their information; voice replication technology, deepfakes, and identity theft aren’t abstract concerns. The online data surrounding my children—and all of us—is part of who we are, and that data demands protection.

This is why I, and our entire team, take Pushpay’s approach to AI ethics so personally. It’s not just about compliance or checking boxes. It’s about building technology I’d trust with my own family’s information, and in my own church.

Our commitment to your ministry 

Churches are stewards of sensitive information. Pastoral care conversations. Financial giving patterns. Family struggles. Prayer requests. When we talk about integrating AI into church technology, we’re not just talking about making software more efficient—we’re talking about tools that capture the most vulnerable, intimate parts of people’s lives.

That’s why we are committed to developing and integrating AI in our products with the highest standards of safety, accuracy, and respect for your community’s values. Our AI is designed to enhance—never replace—the human connections and pastoral care at the heart of your ministry, and is purposely built to serve churches and faith-based organizations.

We also want to be transparent about how we incorporate AI. That’s why we’ve developed a comprehensive AI ethics framework that outlines our organization’s standards and guides our team’s decision making.

• Ethical, human-centric AI for faith communities: Pushpay’s AI is built on a comprehensive ethics framework, designed to enhance ministry operations while strictly respecting community values, ensuring human oversight (“Human-in-the-Loop”), and operating with full transparency.
• Robust data security & privacy: Pushpay maintains strict security standards, ensuring church data and PII remains within our secure partnership ecosystem. Data is shared only with secure and appropriate data protections applied, and is strictly never utilized to train external (foundation) models.
• Accuracy requires validation: Pushpay prioritizes accurate results validated through a multi-step check system. However, because AI responses are probabilistic, we strongly advise users to apply their professional judgment to validate AI-generated outputs or suggestions.
• Permissions: Our AI can work with your data to provide insights and assistance, but it operates within strict privacy boundaries. Personal member information is never exposed inappropriately, and all data access follows your established permission structures. The AI enhances your ability to serve your community while maintaining complete confidentiality.

Human-in-the-loop approach 

We invest a lot of development time into our AI tools to ensure outputs are relevant to you and your team, with a ministry context in mind. We want our solutions to deliver accurate, precise, and reliable results so that administrators and leaders can trust the results in order to make swift decisions within their ministry. We strive for outputs that are contextually meaningful, actionable for ministry purposes, support stewardship, outreach, and your organization’s core mission.

However, it’s important to understand that AI responses are probabilistic—meaning they represent the most likely correct answer based on available data. We always recommend validating AI suggestions using your professional and spiritual judgment and knowledge of your specific context. Our philosophy is that critical decisions should always involve human validation, which we call “Human-in-the-Loop.” 

Because there is always a possibility that AI can make a mistake, we’ve built safeguards into our tools. Every AI response undergoes sequential validation which includes a safety check (ensuring no sensitive data is exposed), an accuracy check (verifying information within expertise) and a transparency check (documenting reasoning). If any of these checks fail, the response is blocked and flagged for human review. 

If you would like to learn more about how we are incorporating AI within our product, be sure to check out the Pushpay Knowledge Center for a more in-depth breakdown from our product team.

Human-centered approach to AI 

Our heart always remains focused on the Church. These AI tools are built to support ministry leaders, not to replace the valuable connections and relationships you have built with your people. 

For example, our AI Search for People feature lets you type natural language queries like “families who gave on Easter but haven’t returned” or “people who attended a baptism class,” and the AI helps you find these individuals faster. But what you do with that information—the personal outreach, the compassionate follow-up, the ministry connection—remains entirely human.

The goal is to give you more time for pastoral care by handling the administrative heavy lifting. As an elder at my local church, I know how much more impactful a moment of ministry becomes if you’ve had time to approach it with intention. Pushpay’s AI solutions can give you that time.

Join the conversation 

Whether you’re excited about AI’s potential or cautious about its implications—or both, as I am—I want you to know that your voice matters in the conversation. The technology we build at Pushpay succeeds because we develop it alongside our customers and ministry leaders who use it.

We’re navigating new territory together, and believe we can do so in a way that honors both innovation and integrity of the Church, in an ethical and safe way for those that trust us with their most vulnerable information.

If you have questions about how we’re implementing AI, concerns about data privacy, or ideas about ways you think technology or insights could help you serve your ministry better—we want to hear from you. Because ultimately, this isn’t about building the flashiest technology. It’s about creating technology that sparks ministry action and deepens connection in your community.