Privacy Policy

Effective 24 August 2026

Church Assistant is operated by Verble B.V., a company registered in the Netherlands ("we", "us"). This policy explains what data we handle, why, and the choices you have. We have tried to write it the way we would explain it to a pastor across the table.

Two kinds of people use this service

Churches and their staff (usually a pastor) create an account and use the app. Volunteers don't create accounts: their contact details are added by their church, and they receive availability emails with one-click reply links.

For volunteer and congregation data, your church decides what to add and whom to contact — the church acts as the data controller, and we process that data only to provide the service to the church. If you are a volunteer with questions about your data, your first stop is your church; you can also contact us directly.

What we collect

• Account details — your name, email address, and church name when you sign up (directly or via Google sign-in).
• Volunteer contact details — names, email addresses, and phone numbers your church adds by hand, by CSV import, or from Google Contacts.
• Messages — availability requests, reminders, and replies sent and received through the service, so you have a record and the assistant can track who responded.
• Text message consent — if a volunteer opts in to texts, we record when and how they opted in (for example the time they ticked the box on their volunteer page, or their YES reply) and the mobile number it applies to.
• Scheduling data — events, availability answers, time off, and notes you or your volunteers provide.
• Usage data — how the product is used (pages viewed, features used), collected via Google Analytics to improve the product.
• Technical logs — standard server logs (IP address, browser type, timestamps) kept for security and debugging.

Your Google account connections

You can connect Google services to Church Assistant. Each connection is optional, used only at your direction, and can be disconnected at any time in Settings or at myaccount.google.com/permissions:

• Gmail — to send availability requests and reminders from your own address, and to read replies from your volunteers so the assistant can record their answers. We do not read unrelated mail content for any other purpose.
• Google Calendar — to create and manage the church events you schedule.
• Google Contacts — to import volunteers you choose during import.

Church Assistant's use and transfer of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. We never sell Google user data, never use it for advertising, and never let humans read it except with your permission, for security, or where the law requires.

AI processing

The assistant is powered by large language models from AI providers (currently Anthropic). To provide the service — drafting an email, triaging a reply, answering your request — relevant content is processed by those providers. Under our agreements, they do not use your data to train their models. Outgoing messages that the assistant drafts are sent only after you approve them.

Where your data lives, and who helps us run the service

Data is stored on Google Cloud (Firebase) infrastructure, currently in the United States. Where data leaves the EU, we rely on recognised safeguards such as the EU Standard Contractual Clauses.

We share data only with the service providers needed to run the product — cloud hosting (Google Cloud), AI providers (Anthropic), email delivery (Google, Resend), text message delivery (Twilio), and analytics (Google Analytics) — and where the law requires. We do not sell personal data. Ever.

Text messages (SMS)

If a volunteer opts in, their church can send them volunteer scheduling texts — availability requests, reminders, and confirmations — through Church Assistant. Texts are sent from a Church Assistant number and always name the church they are for. Full program details are on our text messaging page.

• Consent. We only text people who have opted in: by ticking the text-message box on their personal volunteer page, or by replying YES to a one-time opt-in request. We keep a record of when and how consent was given.
• Opting out. Reply STOP to any text to stop receiving texts. Reply HELP for help, or email hello@churchassistant.app.
• No sharing. Mobile phone numbers and text-message opt-in consent are not sold, rented, shared, or disclosed to third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes. We share numbers only with our text delivery provider (Twilio) for the sole purpose of delivering the messages.
• Frequency and cost. Message frequency varies with your church's schedule — typically 2 to 6 messages per month. Message and data rates may apply.

Cookies and analytics

We use essential cookies to keep you signed in, and Google Analytics to understand product usage in aggregate. The one-click links volunteers receive contain a private token; by design those tokens are never sent to analytics.

Retention and deletion

We keep your data while your account is active. Ask us to delete your account and we will remove your church's data within 30 days, except where the law requires us to keep it longer. Volunteers can ask their church to remove them, or contact us directly.

Your rights

Under the GDPR you can ask for access to your data, correction, deletion, a portable copy, or restriction of processing, and you can object to processing. Write to hello@churchassistant.app and we will respond within 30 days. You can also lodge a complaint with your data protection authority — in the Netherlands, the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens.

Changes to this policy

If we make material changes, we will notify you by email or in the app before they take effect.

Contact

Verble B.V. · hello@churchassistant.app