Editor’s Warning: The rise of artificial intelligence is having obvious impacts on every aspect of American life. The perspectives range from complete adoption to apocalyptic theories and everywhere in between. This article delves into the middle ground, warning of how AI can yield both good and bad results. I am exceedingly concerned with what AI will become and how it will pervert the Gospel through manipulation and worldly compromise. This is a path to a lukewarm church, and while the benefits of AI are undeniable, the pitfalls are even worse. Go forward with discernment and prayer. With that said, here’s the article…
A new survey paints a picture that’s both efficient and unsettling: nearly two-thirds of pastors crafting weekly messages now lean on artificial intelligence for help. Released this week by AiForChurchLeaders.com and Exponential AI NEXT, the “2025 State of AI in the Church Survey Report” draws from 594 church leaders across denominations. It reveals ChatGPT topping the list at 26% usage, followed closely by Grammarly for polishing prose. “ChatGPT is the most visible generative AI tool that can engage in human-like conversations and assist with a wide range of tasks, from answering questions to generating content,” the researchers explain.
Daily or weekly AI engagement has climbed to 61% among pastors, a sharp jump from 43% just a year ago. Tools like these handle outlines, research, and even initial drafts, freeing up hours for hospital visits or family time. One pastor in the survey described it as a “research assistant,” pulling together biblical cross-references faster than flipping through a concordance. Another 8% tap Canva’s AI features for visuals—flyers, slides, social posts—that once took a graphic designer half a day.
Churches facing shrinking attendance aren’t waiting around. With 15,000 congregations at risk of closing this year, as Axios reported last month, megachurches and small parishes alike are experimenting. In Phoenix, Dream City Church’s Luke Barnett recently played an AI-generated voice message mimicking the late Charlie Kirk, assuring listeners his “soul is secure in Christ” amid grief. It’s a stark example of how AI can personalize comfort when human voices fall short.
Over at La Mott A.M.E. in Pennsylvania, Rev. Louis Attles built a chatbot called “Faith” to sift through scriptures for sermon ideas. “You can’t outsource your morality,” he told reporters. “It cannot keep a covenant for you.”
Yet as adoption surges—91% of leaders now back AI in ministry, per Exponential’s mid-year findings—the old guard sees shadows in the glow of screens. Back in 2023, Barna Group’s poll showed most Christians rejecting the idea that AI fits the sanctuary, with over half saying they’d be disappointed if their church plugged in. Fast-forward two years, and that resistance has softened, but not vanished.
A Christianity Today piece from earlier this year warned that leaning too hard on algorithms risks “habituating ourselves toward a certain kind of interaction,” one that skips the grit of real relationships for polished outputs. “God calls us to get into the mess,” author Gretchen Huizinga wrote, echoing the biblical push for flesh-and-blood community over tidy transactions.
Skeptics go further, spotting a deeper agenda. AI models like ChatGPT aren’t blank slates; they’re trained on vast troves of internet data, laced with biases from Silicon Valley’s elite. Remember when Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis tested it, prompting a fabricated “Bible verse” on Jesus’ views of transgender issues? The output twisted Scripture into modern politics, a glitch that fuels whispers of deliberate design.
What if these tools, slipped into pulpits, quietly steer sermons toward progressive tilts or dilute hard truths on sin and redemption? It’s not paranoia to ask—it’s prudence, especially when apps like “Text With Jesus” let users “chat” with a digital Savior, complete with options for Judas or even Satan. As one theologian put it in a recent Charisma Magazine interview, “Artificial intelligence is a machine… one thing to request outlines and ideas, but another to deliver messages written by a machine.”
Scripture doesn’t mince words on truth-tellers. In 2 Timothy 4:2, Paul charges preachers to “be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.”
Machines excel at speed, but patience? That’s forged in prayer closets, not prompt bars. The survey nods to this tension: leaders fret more now about “weighty ethical and practical considerations.” Pushpay’s earlier 2025 report, polling 8,000 church staff, found AI booming 80% for emails and graphics—but not sermons. “Leaders remain reluctant to rely on AI for pastoral content,” it concluded, holding firm that the Holy Spirit, not code, shapes the Word.
For families in the pews, the shift demands vigilance. Parents teaching kids Proverbs 22:6—”Train up a child in the way he should go”—might pause before letting AI apps handle bedtime Bible stories. It’s a tool, yes, like the printing press that spread the Reformation or radio that carried Billy Graham’s crusades. But tools serve masters. When 32% of Christians in a Barna-Gloo survey claim AI matches humans at Bible-based preaching, it’s a signal: discernment isn’t optional.
The path forward? Use AI to sharpen the arrow, not replace the archer. Let it dig up facts or brainstorm illustrations, then douse everything in prayer and personal study. Churches thriving amid decline will blend tech’s edge with timeless conviction—reaching the lost without losing the soul. As these digital helpers evolve, one question lingers: Will we wield them as stewards, or let them rewrite the gospel in binary? The flock deserves better than echoes from a server farm. They need shepherds who know the Shepherd’s voice firsthand.
