5 Things Church Leaders Must Know About AI in Ministry
AI will replace things that machines cannot.
Technology provides efficiency and knowledge. AI will deliver these aspects marvelously. It will also offer substitutes for the most essential elements of human life, including intimacy and affection.
Pursuing these gifts apart from real relationships with God and others is like trying to quench your thirst with saltwater: it leaves us only more parched, and it ultimately kills. Yet AI will promise otherwise, offering a relationship free from distraction, fatigue, judgment and without asking anything of you in return. Even the best humans will find it hard to compete.
Prioritizing real relationships, from face-to-face interactions at the grocery store to enduring friendships and family ties, will be crucial.
AI will weaken our capacity to do whatever activity it does for us
Like the muscles of astronauts who spend time in low-gravity environments, our ability to do anything that we regularly outsource to AI will weaken over time. That trade-off isn’t always bad. Books, after all, diminished the human “muscle” for memorization.
But if we hope to retain the most vital human abilities and capacities vital to thought, relationships and wellbeing, we’ll need to carve out experiences free from AI. We’ll need to actively choose times and places to use and strengthen the “muscles” that we hope to retain, including basic reasoning, logical thought and the clear articulation of ideas and feelings. This effort will be especially vital for children who begin using AI in their most formative years.
Where AI Can Still Serve the Church
None of this means AI has no place in your church’s work. It may help you organize sermon research, draft first passes at communications, or manage administrative load so you have more time for people. But because your church’s use of AI shapes the values your people absorb, often invisibly, it deserves the same scrutiny you’d give any other formational influence in your ministry.
Before adopting a new AI tool, ask:
- Who built this, and what do they believe?
- What is it optimizing for?
- Where does a human’s discernment still need the final word?
