America's Largest Church Reported to Have Used Silencing NDAs

The Spiritual Abuse Institute (SAI) is committed to increasing transparency around the use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) in religious settings. As part of our ongoing efforts to promote healthy, accountable, and transparent church environments, we maintain a public, factual database of churches and ministries reported to have used NDAs that could limit transparency and open communication.

Today, we are adding Life.Church based Edmond, Oklahoma to the Church NDA Disclosure Database.

SAI received an anonymous submission of a document reported to be an NDA used by Life.Church. After careful review, including assessment against our published definition of a “silencing NDA,” we determined that the document meets our criteria for inclusion.

Being listed in this database does NOT mean Life.Church is abusive, unhealthy, or currently using an NDA — only that a document fitting our criteria was reported and reviewed in accordance with our process.

A silencing NDA is any agreement that could restrict a person’s ability to speak freely about their experiences at a church or ministry, beyond what is necessary to protect sensitive personal or member information.

Churches choose to use documents that fit this description for various reasons. Many of which are not malicious, such as obtaining documents recommended by an HR or law firm.

Regardless of a church’s intent or their understanding of these documents, however, the reality is that they carry the potential to be used to silence people about concerns like sin, spiritual abuse, and other questionable practices. And these documents can often strike fear into the hearts of staff and parishioners who sign them, often under a feeling of duress.

The inclusion of churches on this database is about public transparency, education, and preventing those potential negative and harmful impacts. However, we make no assertions, assumptions, or judgments regarding a church’s leadership, theology, or community health based on their inclusion on this list.

Life.Church is not just another church; instead, it is the largest church in the United States, according to Outreach.com’s 2025 top 100 list. And they aren’t a new kid on the block, either. They have been featured as the largest church in the U.S. for the last four years, and have been a pioneer of the multi-site and mega church movements for decades.

Needless to say, Life.Church has a lot of influence in American Christianity and church culture. But their massive size is only a small part of it.

Life.Church is also the creator and operator of the Bible App, which is nearing One Billion installs worldwide. And according to CBN, “it has become so prevalent that it's reshaping the future of Bible engagement.” On November, 17 of this year, the church will even be hosting the “Beyond A Billion: A Night Celebrating the Bible” at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City where the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder play their games. Tickets can even be purchased through Ticketmaster for what looks to be a nearly sold-out arena.

This makes Life.Church’s influence go well beyond the American Church institution, but it extends across global Christendom as well.

The church is also the pioneer of the Open Network, which offers over 100,000 free resources to churches, including sermons, kids curriculum, graphics, videos, and one of the most common church online platforms. This platform even includes operational and HR documents that churches can download and use.

Simply put, churches all over the United States and across the globe look to Life.Church as an example to learn from. And there is much good in that and in their generosity to share resources.

However given their massive worldwide reach, their reported use of silencing NDAs also raises a lot of questions.

How are these documents impacting the church’s countless staff, interns, and volunteers? Are people aware of these documents and both their legal impact and limitations before being presented with them, or do they learn about them for the first time in stressful situations like termination of employment? And perhaps the biggest question, if churches all over the world use Life.Church resources and follow their example, how does its reported use of these documents impact the prevalence of their use in churches globally?

These are important questions for the body of Christ, but they are questions this writer doesn’t have answers to. I hope to one day have the opportunity to discuss this in love with Life.Church representatives. And they always have an open invitation to share comment or join us on the Church Disrupted Podcast.

At the end of the day, this report is important. Not because of the size of Life.Church, but because of their mega influence on the global body of Christ. What they do, other churches tend to copy, so any use of NDAs by Life.Church would likely have an impact significantly greater than within its own multisite church locations.

All submissions are reviewed for consistency and the redaction of personal information, unless the article is based on another publicly available report. The church is then notified and given an opportunity to respond or provide clarification before publication.

Life.Church was contacted on September 16, 2025, and we followed up on September 30th. Here are the specific questions we asked; we also invited them to share any comments or clarifications they wanted SAI or the public to know.

1.Does your church use silencing NDAs currently?

2.Has the church used these documents in the past? If so, and you have ceased this practice, when did you stop and why?

3.What is the purpose of using these documents in your church setting?

4.Is the church’s staff aware of the use of these documents prior to signing them and of their potential legal implications?

5. Is the church congregation aware of the use of these documents and the potential legal implications for those who sign them?

At the time of publishing, the only response we received from Life.Church and its representatives was an automated response confirming their receipt of our comment request. If we receive a comment from them in the future, we will update this article to include it.

Our goal is not to accuse, shame, or blacklist any church, but to empower individuals and organizations to make informed decisions about their faith communities. By documenting the reported use of silencing NDAs, we aim to foster open dialogue and greater accountability throughout all spiritual spaces.

If you represent Life.Church and wish to provide additional context, request a correction, or pursue removal from the database, please see our Removal and Correction Policy or contact us here.

Learn more about the NDA Disclosure Database here:

-  See the Database

-  NDA Disclosure & Publishing Process

-  Data Protection Policy

Last updated: 10/16/2025