As a continuation of Rev. Bill Johnson’s previous blog post, “Answering Common Questions About Using AI in Ministry,” this article takes a deeper look at certain cautions to be taken when using AI for ministry-related tasks.
Jump to the following questions:
- Are there theological or ethical concerns?
- What risks or limitations should I know about before trusting AI?
- How do I make sure I’m not replacing thoughtful, Spirit-led work?
- How has AI already helped church workers?
- What’s a task you’ve seen AI handle surprisingly well—and one it really doesn’t?
- If I want to start using AI but don’t have time to learn a new tool, where should I begin?
- How do I stay informed without getting overwhelmed?
Caution & Discernment
Are there theological or ethical concerns I should be aware of when using AI tools in ministry?
You should certainly be aware of the privacy concerns we talked about earlier, but the more significant long-term concern is the danger of humanizing these AI agents. They respond in very humanlike ways, so it can be very easy to talk about them as though they are human or possess human thoughts and feelings. Remember that while these can be incredibly useful tools, they’re only computers in the end and cannot have a relationship or genuine human interaction.
Relatedly, be aware that just like every other technology mankind has ever created, the potential for abuse and misuse is incredibly high. As an example, because AI image generation was created, it was and is inevitable that this technology will be used inappropriately. Entire specialized models have been created to generate explicit material, and the resulting images (often based on real people) are violations of God’s Word, interpersonal trust, and, in some cases, civil laws.
While I find it distasteful to consider, schools should be aware that these tools exist and should have plans in place for handling students circulating AI-generated images of their classmates. As the tools become more accessible, they become easier to use and to abuse, so have plans in place now for how to handle what seems like an inevitable problem.
Finally, be aware that companies are already springing up, particularly in China, claiming to use AI to preserve loved ones who have died. Pastors should prepare to deal with members a decade from now who have problematic emotional connections to AI agents trained on the digital footprint of a lost loved one. The time to drill our theology of both anthropology—what makes something a human being—and death is now, in order to prepare God’s people for the moral and spiritual storms ahead.
What risks or limitations should I know about before trusting AI to help with sensitive or spiritual tasks?
To be honest, I’m not sure I would trust AI with a sensitive or spiritual task. Privacy is a major concern, but beyond that, AI doesn’t have the capacity to deal with a circumstance that involves spiritual care or even significant emotional reactions. There are some conversations that are best left for humans to have with humans.
How do I make sure I’m not replacing thoughtful, Spirit-led work with something artificial or hollow?
See the earlier discussion about having a human in the loop, but let’s be clear on this one: The Holy Spirit does what it does independent of us, and often in spite of us. Wherever the Word is proclaimed and the Sacraments rightly administered, you’ll find the Holy Spirit at the heart of that work. The Word of God present in the response of AI does not cease to be the Word of God simply because it’s quoted by AI, so we need to maintain some perspective here. We should never (and can’t) remove the human element from ministry, but neither should we avoid tools that could give us more time for caring for God’s people. Let the machines do the things machines excel at so the humans can be fully human with one another.
Real Examples from Ministry
How has AI already helped church workers, either here at the seminary or in congregations?
There are lots of examples out there of folks blazing this trail. One pastor I know has trained an entire AI agent on his own body of sermons from the last several decades and uses it to both search and index them and also to generate ideas and outlines in his written voice for new texts.
Another pastor I met uses AI to preview sermons from the perspective of his congregation. He’ll write his manuscript normally and then submit it to AI and get feedback based on his particular geographic and social context—super helpful for that outside opinion, and it doesn’t annoy your wife nearly as much as asking her every week!
Finally, there are tons of everyday tasks that AI can simplify. Whether formatting addresses, drafting emails, or picking hymns, AI can provide a solid starting point for humans to review and refine.
What’s a task you’ve seen AI handle surprisingly well—and one it really doesn’t?
To be honest, I’m quite surprised at how adept AI has become at handling the original text of the Scripture. It’s become a helpful research assistant, and I’m curious to see where it will go from here. There’s still a need to be appropriately skeptical to avoid hallucinations (when AI makes things up), but there’s some real value there.
As for what it doesn’t or shouldn’t do, I would say anything that should be a human-to-human interaction. Our society is already woefully depersonalized, and technology makes it easier and easier to avoid interacting with people directly, even on the most superficial level. As we create AI agents that feel human but lack humanity, there’s a real danger of exchanging the community we were created to exist and flourish in for an artificial, AI-generated one. No good comes down that road.
Next Steps
If I want to start using AI but don’t have time to learn a new tool, where should I begin?
Just experiment with the tools available. There’s not much of a learning curve for basic use, so feel free to dive in and ask it a question or three. Once you’re used to the flow of the current models, you might learn some more specific details about things like prompt generation best practices, but for someone completely new to the technology, don’t overcomplicate it.
How do I stay informed about AI developments without getting overwhelmed by all the tech news out there?
It’s definitely not easy. And with new versions coming at a faster and faster pace, it’s only going to get harder. I would suggest there’s great value in following several of the largest models (or their creators) on social media and catching the announcements directly from them. There are tons of people out there right now trying to make a living by posting the “Top Ten Things That Happened in AI Yesterday,” but most of that is just repetition or pure noise. The brands themselves have the biggest incentive to tell you what new abilities are out there, and that’s probably a good starting point for most folks.
I hope this mini blog series on AI has been insightful for you and your team. Just like everything in ministry, technology is something that ought to be prayerfully considered and utilized to benefit God’s kingdom.
Just like navigating AI, choosing church management software can be overwhelming. Find some clarity in this downloadable guide that walks you through Concordia Technology Solutions, our product offerings, and some free resources too!
