Planning Center

Query a church's people, services, groups, giving and calendar data.

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What the Planning Center connector does

The Planning Center MCP server connects a church's Planning Center account to Claude, ChatGPT and other MCP clients. An agent can look up people, worship service plans, small groups, event registrations, check-in attendance, donations, calendars and podcast episodes in plain language. The surface is read-only apart from two People tools, and each product is approved separately at sign-in.

Verified connector

Listed by Anthropic as a partner connector in its Connectors Directory.

Connection checked by Agentman on .

Anthropic states this reflects the level of review a connector received, not a security audit.

Planning Center tools (37)

  • groups_event_attendances
  • groups_events
  • groups_group_types
  • groups_memberships
  • groups_search
  • people_background_checks
  • people_church_campuses
  • people_current_organization
  • people_field_data
  • people_field_definitions
  • people_form_fields
  • people_form_submissions
  • people_form_submissions_create
  • people_forms
  • people_households
  • people_list_results
  • people_lists
  • people_note_categories
  • people_notes
  • people_notes_create
  • people_search
  • people_tabs
  • people_workflow_cards
  • people_workflow_categories
  • people_workflows
  • registrations_attendees
  • registrations_registrations
  • registrations_signups
  • services_blockouts
  • services_plan_items
  • services_plan_people
  • services_plans
  • services_schedules
  • services_service_types
  • services_songs
  • services_team_positions
  • services_teams

Tool names from Anthropic's directory listing. This server requires sign-in, so we could not read tool descriptions or parameter schemas.

Limits

  • Read-only by default, and mostly read-only even when you opt in. Two of 37 listed tools write, and both need mcp:people:write. There is no delete, no refund, no bulk email tool.
  • The connector cannot exceed your own permissions, which also means it cannot work around them. If a product returns permission errors, the fix is your Planning Center permission level, not the connector.
  • Reconnection is required after every product launch. Planning Center states existing connections do not pick up new products; you must disconnect and add the connector again.
  • Anthropic's listing is three products behind Planning Center's documentation. The 2026-08-16 snapshot lists 37 tools across four products; Planning Center documents 64 across eight as of 2026-08-20. Treat the listing as a floor.
  • Your AI provider may train on the conversation. Planning Center warns that unless your church is on a commercial plan with Anthropic or OpenAI, conversations can be used for model training by default, and may carry personal information from Planning Center. Both vendors publish an opt-out.
  • Answers can be wrong. Planning Center's own troubleshooting says AI tools can misinterpret data, and advises verifying anything important directly in Planning Center.
  • We could not read tool schemas or safety annotations. The endpoint returns 401 to an anonymous request, so no inputSchema and no readOnlyHint or destructiveHint were available. Tool names come from Anthropic's directory; behaviour comes from Planning Center's own documentation. The read/write split above is therefore Planning Center's classification, corroborated by the scope document, not an annotation we read off the wire.

Frequently asked questions

Can the Planning Center MCP server see children's data?

Yes, in the sense that minors are ordinary people records. The Person resource Planning Center documents carries child, birthdate, grade, graduation_year and school_type, and the Check-Ins tools read attendance for children's events. Planning Center states that security codes, medical notes and emergency contacts are never included in AI responses, so the most sensitive children's fields are excluded at the server.

Can an AI agent read our church's giving records through this connector?

Yes, if you approve Giving at the consent screen. Planning Center added ten read-only Giving tools on 20 August 2026 covering donations, donor lifetime totals, batches, funds, pledges, recurring gifts and refunds. Giving is one of eight products in the scope picker, so declining it withholds the whole product. Nothing in the Giving surface writes, refunds or moves money.

Does the Planning Center MCP server write anything to my account?

Only two tools, and only if you tick Write access for People. Those two add a profile note and record a form submission. Everything else across all eight products is read-only. Planning Center describes the write option as a separate checkbox at authorisation, so the default connection changes nothing in your account.

Why does the connector listing show fewer products than Planning Center advertises?

Because the listing predates three product launches. Anthropic's 16 August 2026 snapshot names 37 tools across People, Services, Groups and Registrations. Planning Center's changelog adds Check-Ins on 4 August and Giving, Publishing and Calendar on 20 August, taking the documented surface to 64 tools across all eight products. Reconnecting is required to pick up the newer ones.

Does connecting an AI tool give someone more access than they already had?

No. Planning Center states the connection grants no new level of access, because the agent queries your account with your own login and sees only what your Planning Center permissions already allow. A People Viewer stays a Viewer through the connector. Organization administrators can also see who connected, when, and disconnect any user from Account settings.

Can our organization admin stop staff connecting AI tools to Planning Center?

Yes, since 19 August 2026. Planning Center added per-app access modes at Account settings: All users, Admins only, or a named list of specific users. Admins also get an email the first time any app connects, naming the app, who connected it, and which scopes were granted. Switching to a stricter mode warns which existing users would lose access.

Will our congregation's data be used to train an AI model?

Planning Center does not store or train on it, but your AI provider might. Planning Center warns that unless your church is on a commercial plan with Anthropic or OpenAI, those companies can use conversations for model training by default, and that this may include personal information pulled from Planning Center. Both vendors publish a setting to turn it off.

Sources

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