Why We're Building AI Differently
The principles behind ministry-centered artificial intelligence.
We started with a question most AI companies don't ask: what should AI never do in a church?
Our CTO, Jamshed Patel, put it plainly: "AI should never make decisions. AI should never take action on behalf of the church. AI can provide insight. AI can help in many different ways. AI can automate a lot of tasks. But AI should never be put in a position where it can actually act or decide on behalf of pastors, on behalf of other church leaders, on behalf of church volunteers."
That belief shapes everything we build.
Why this boundary matters
If AI acts in a way that contradicts the values of the church, then you lose trust with your congregation. And that's probably the worst thing that you could do.
Trust is the foundation of ministry. When someone walks into a church, they bring a deeply personal and powerful story. They share things with their pastor they don't share anywhere else. AI that acts autonomously puts that trust at risk.
So we've drawn a clear line: AI provides insight. Humans provide care. All of the AI that we develop acts under the control and under the leadership and the guidance of the church. We do not make AI that can act on its own.
What AI can do well
AI excels at detecting patterns. Shifts that happen over time. Behavioral changes that are subtle, that aren't obvious.
When there is a large, obvious event that impacts a congregant, let's say there is a personal tragedy, a loss in the family, our current systems of monitoring are able to detect that and react to that. What our current systems don't do well is detect those subtle shifts in behavioral patterns.
Is someone feeling asked to do a lot but not being recognized? Is someone needing a certain type of care but not visible to the church or their peers? AI can help surface these signals so pastors can respond before someone drifts away.
Why we're positioned to get this right
Ministry Brands serves more churches than anyone. We operate across every major denomination. That scale creates something no generic AI company has.
Because we have so many churches across denominations, we are finely attuned to pastoral sensitivities or to denominational sensitivities as it relates to the teachings of the gospel in each of those different denominations. We have very deep insight into how the different denominations deliver the message and cater to their communities.
Generic AI doesn't understand ministry. We understand our churches at a much deeper level than any general AI engine out there. Because of our deeper understanding of their operations, of their congregations, we are able to tailor our AI. We are able to put guardrails around it so that when we deliver services, we deliver them in a way that's denominationally sensitive, that's true to their mission.
What we want to be known for
If we are only known for one thing in five years, as it relates to our AI solutions, it’s that our solutions meaningfully increase the quality of engagement between a pastor and their congregation, between a church and the members of that church. Everything else is supporting that core principle.