Privacy Policy

Who we are

Sermonary (“Sermonary”, “we”, “us”) runs sermonary.ai. Churches use Sermonary to record or upload their services, turn them into a written summary, and email that summary to members and visitors who signed up.

This policy covers the Sermonary website, the church app, the emails we send on a church’s behalf, and the public pages where a summary can be read or listened to.

Churches and us

There are two kinds of relationship, and the difference matters:

• Church teams (pastors, staff and ministry leaders who sign in) — we look after your account information ourselves, as described here.
• Members and visitors who receive summaries — the church decides what it records and who it emails, and we handle your information on the church’s behalf and on its instructions. The church is responsible for how it uses Sermonary, and you can contact the church or us about your information.

What we collect

Church accounts

• Name, email address and role of each team member; a password, which we store only in scrambled (hashed) form.
• If you choose Sign in with Google, Google shares your name, verified email address and an account ID with us — nothing else, and never your Google password.
• Church details: name, time zone, logo, brand colour, reply-to address, website and YouTube links, services and ministries.
• Plan and billing status. Card payments are taken on our payment provider’s secure pages — card numbers never reach Sermonary.

Members and visitors

• Your email address, your name if you give it, and which services you chose.
• When and how you signed up (for example by scanning a QR code), the wording you agreed to, and when you confirmed.
• Whether emails to you were delivered, bounced or marked as spam — so we stop sending to addresses that don’t work.
• If you unsubscribe, a record that you did, so we never email you again by mistake.
• A short code in the links of your emails, so your church can see when a message is passed on. If someone subscribes after you share or forward a message, we note that they came through you. Churches see totals — how often messages were shared and how many people joined through them.

Service content

• Audio of services the church records, uploads or captures from its livestream; the transcript; the written summary; and edits the church makes.
• Names of speakers the church adds, and, where a speaker has agreed, a voice profile (see Voice data).

Technical information

• Basic server logs and, briefly, IP addresses to stop abuse such as repeated sign-up attempts.
• A count of QR code scans, so a church can see its code is working.
• A count of how often each summary page is opened and shared. We use a one-way code that changes every day instead of your IP address, so a visit can be counted once without identifying you.

How we use it

• To run Sermonary: transcribe services, write summaries, let the church review them, and email them to the people who asked.
• To send the emails you expect: sign-up confirmations, summaries, and messages to church teams about their account.
• To keep the service safe and working: preventing abuse, fixing problems, and backing up data.
• To measure usage (minutes processed, emails sent) so we can run and price the service fairly.
• To handle billing for churches on a paid plan.

We do not sell personal information, show advertising, or use member data for marketing of our own. We only email members on behalf of the church they signed up with.

Transcripts & summaries

Service audio is turned into text by a speech-to-text service, and the summary is written by an AI model working from that transcript. Both are run by specialist providers acting for us, who receive only what they need to do that job.

Every summary is reviewed by the church before it is sent, and the church can edit it. Automatic sending, when a church turns it on, always leaves time to cancel first.

Summaries of prayer meetings are written to cover themes and scripture only — never names or personal prayer requests.

Voice data

Some churches use voice recognition so the transcript can show who was speaking. This is optional, and it only ever involves people who have agreed.

• A voice profile exists only when the speaker agrees on their own device (or, in person, at the church’s computer). Speakers aged under 18 need a parent or guardian’s agreement.
• We keep a voice profile — a list of numbers that describes how you sound — not the recording. Your reading is deleted as soon as the profile is made.
• A profile is used only to recognise you in that one church’s services. It is never shared, sold, or used by another church.
• You can delete it any time from the link we email you, and the church can delete it for you. Guest profiles are removed automatically 90 days after your last visit unless you choose to keep yours.
• We keep a record that you agreed (when, and which wording), without any audio.

Who we share with

We share information only with service providers who help us run Sermonary, and only what each needs:

• hosting and storage;
• email delivery;
• speech-to-text transcription and AI summarisation;
• payment processing for paid plans.

These providers may process information in other countries. We choose providers that protect it appropriately. We may also disclose information if the law requires it, or to protect people from harm.

Within a church, what each team member can see depends on their role: ministry leaders see only their own ministries, and see subscriber counts rather than lists. Sermonary staff access a church’s account only to support it, and that access is logged.

A summary’s public page can be opened by anyone who has its link — that’s what lets members share it. Churches can hide a summary’s page at any time.

How long we keep it

Backups follow on a short delay: deleted information leaves our backups as they are replaced.

Cookies

Sermonary uses only the cookies it needs to work: one that keeps church team members signed in, and one on the voice sign-up page so a single phone isn’t used to create profiles for several people. There are no advertising or analytics cookies, and we don’t follow you around the web.

Your choices & rights

• Members: every email has links to change which services you get or to unsubscribe, instantly.
• Speakers: the link in your voice email lets you delete your voice profile at any time.
• Everyone: you can ask us for a copy of your information, to correct it, or to delete it. Email hello@sermonary.ai. We may need to confirm it’s you, and we aim to respond within 30 days.
• Churches: the account owner can ask for a full export of the church’s data, or for the account and everything in it to be deleted.

Depending on where you live you may have further rights, including to complain to your data protection authority. We would appreciate the chance to put things right first.

Young people

Church team accounts are for adults. Youth ministry summaries are for young people aged 13 or over, or for a parent or guardian signing up on a child’s behalf — the sign-up form asks for that confirmation. Voice profiles for speakers under 18 need a parent or guardian’s agreement. If you believe a child has signed up without the right permission, email hello@sermonary.ai and we will remove their details.

Security

Connections to Sermonary are encrypted. Passwords are stored hashed, and keys and secrets are stored encrypted. Access inside a church follows its roles, and staff access is logged. No system is perfectly secure, but we work to protect your information and will tell affected churches promptly if something goes wrong.

Changes

If we change this policy in a way that matters, we’ll update the date at the top and tell church account owners by email before it takes effect.

Contact

Questions, requests or concerns: hello@sermonary.ai