Your finance lead asks how the youth ministry is tracking against budget. You know the answer is in a spreadsheet. You don’t know which folder.

So you dig. You open several files with almost the same name before you find the right one.

Then you open Slack and see a long list of unread messages in the events channel. You were out for two days.

Maybe you’ve started copying files and messages into Claude by hand. Connectors let Claude go get them itself.

WHAT CONNECTORS DO

Connectors let Claude work with the apps your team already uses. Claude can pull information from those apps, and it can take some actions in them.

Claude’s help center gives a few examples. Claude can search your files in Google Drive.

It can send messages in Slack. It can create issues in a project tool called Linear. There’s a directory with many more.

Claude only sees what you can see. It uses your own permissions from each app. If you can’t open a folder in Drive, Claude can’t open it either.

HOW TO SET THEM UP

On a Team plan, an owner turns on a connector for the team first. Owners follow these steps.

1. In your organization’s connector settings, click “Browse connectors.”
2. Pick the connector you want and click “Add to your team.”

That makes the connector available to your team. Each person still signs in with their own login before Claude can use it.

Then each person connects their own account.

1. In a chat, click the “+” button in the lower left, or type “/”.
2. Hover over “Connectors” and select “Manage connectors.”
3. Pick the app you want and click “Connect” or “Install.”
4. Follow the sign-in steps to give Claude access to your account.

To use a connector in a chat, click “+” again and hover over “Connectors.” Then turn on the apps you want Claude to use for that chat.

3 WAYS TO USE IT AT CHURCH

Start with the budget. Connect Google Drive and ask, “Find last month’s budget report and sum up where each ministry stands.” Claude finds the file and gives you the answer right in the chat.

Slack helps when you’ve been away. The Slack connector lets Claude search your channels, direct messages, and files. Ask Claude what you missed in the events channel while you were out, then ask which questions are still waiting on you.

You can also prep for a staff meeting. Ask Claude to find last week’s staff meeting notes in Drive and pull out the action items. Now you walk in knowing who owes what.

A good habit is to turn on only the apps a chat needs. You can switch them on and off for each chat from the “+” menu.

GUARDRAILS FOR CHURCHES

Connectors give Claude access to a lot of church information. Plan a little before you turn them on.

Start with your own folders. Pastoral care notes, counseling records, member data, and donor details should be in folders with tight access.

Remember, Claude sees what you can see. If too many staff can open your giving records today, fix that before you connect anything.

Owners have extra control on Team plans. For each connector, an owner can set actions to “Always allow,” “Needs approval,” or “Blocked.”

So you could let Claude read from Slack and block it from posting. Your team members can’t change those settings.

There are two more Team plan rules to know. Connectors only work in private projects. And chats that include content from a connector can’t be shared.

You can also add custom connectors. Anthropic doesn’t check these. Only connect to ones from groups you trust.

Last, clean up. If your team stops using an app, disconnect it.

WHO CAN USE IT

Connectors are available to all users. They work on the web, in the desktop app, and on mobile. Adding connectors on mobile is still in beta, so the web and desktop app are the easiest places to set them up.

The Slack connector is on Team and Enterprise plans. Your workspace needs the Claude app installed in Slack first.

Connect the apps you use most, and let Claude do the digging.

If you want help figuring out which apps to connect first, come join us in The Builder Collective. It’s a community of executive leaders learning how to put AI to work. You can find us at thebuildercollective.ai.