AI: The Next Culture Shift

Series Overview

Welcome to the next Printing Press, Internet, iPhone, Social Media and COVID, also known as Artificial Intelligence (AI). The next seismic cultural and technological shift is upon us, and you and your church are already using it. You might not have known you have already embraced it, but you have. As you type on your phone a comment in reply to this blog, you’ll likely use AI in the form of autocomplete. We are in the present of what will be reflected upon as the next landmark shift for the world. Our world will certainly look much different in the near future thanks to agentic AI.

You might be thinking to yourself that this is just like Artificial Reality or 3D televisions – all hype that will fizzle out. If you believe that, you don’t need to read further. If you have any differing thoughts, join us on this blog series as I attempt to draw attention to AI-related issues for pastors and churches – issues that I have personally explored in my position at the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions. There will be some generic conversations applicable to all readers, but I hope to shift the approach of many church leaders. We need to go from quiet users or skeptics to a full embrace of a technology that will quickly leave us behind otherwise. That embrace, at the very least, means understanding it so that you can shepherd your church through this next phase of cultural shift. AI demands a response and preparation at your church, whether you are the one using it or not.

1. Printing Press Moment

When Johannes Gutenberg’s movable-type press arrived in the 1450s, it unleashed the Reformation and global missions. AI feels just as transformational. Chatbots draft sermons in seconds, image models design graphics for Sunday slides and translation engines let a 50-member church launch a Spanish-language

prayer gathering overnight. Yet headlines also warn of deep-fake pastors, automated liturgies and AI-written sermons. The current moment demands Spirit-led discernment and reorganization.

2. Adoption Exploration

Various studies show differing levels of adoption among church leaders and attendees. What doesn’t differ is exponential adoption increases for both groups. Leaders remain cautious about letting AI draft sermons, but they are eager for help with administration, language translation and media production.

Real-world experiments are already shaping the narrative: A Finnish Lutheran congregation ran an almost entirely AI-driven mid-week service, and attendance spiked. Still, many felt the experience was “distant and impersonal.” Houston’s Lighthouse Church openly admitted to using ChatGPT to brainstorm outlines, yet their pastor insists every fact passes the Scripture-and-community test before it reaches the pulpit.

We are amid the global church’s real-time exploration of what AI means for the local church. The above were some of the attention-grabbing headlines of late, but the day-to-day use of church leaders and their congregations, at rates far above what is likely expected, will shape the church in the near future.

3. Opportunities (Dove)

Benefits are being seen quickly with the introduction of AI into church life. Here are just a few examples:

1. Reach – Auto-captioning, real-time translation, and data-guided outreach put multilingual evangelism within reach of tiny congregations.

2. Creativity – Art, slide backgrounds and small-group questions in minutes, freeing up small staff to design less and shepherd more.

3. Efficiency – Chatbots handle routine Q&A (service times, giving links) at any time of day, volunteer-screening forms auto-summarize résumés and resources and activities can be created in minutes.

4. Risks (Serpent)

At the same time, these opportunities also carry risks that the congregation and leadership should acknowledge. Some risks to consider:

1. Misinformation & Deepfakes – AI can fabricate quotes or videos that erode trust in spiritual leadership or cause church members to be attacked/defamed.

2. Bias & Injustice – Training data that under-represents minority voices can reinforce cultural blind spots, contradicting our call to every tribe and tongue (Rev 7:9).

3. Data Privacy – Congregants share sensitive prayer requests; careless uploads to a public model could expose them. Sensitive financials or other church related data could be revealed.

4. Spiritual Shortcutting – Over-reliance on auto-exegesis may tempt pastors to outsource the wrestling that makes preaching authentic (cf. 2 Tim 2:15).

5. Human Substitution* – The tools are being used by people in place of spouses and friends, and to guide themselves through times that are best met with pastoral care.

   
   

   *The Vatican’s January 2025 paper warns against “creating a substitute for God,” urging believers to keep human dignity at the center of tech discernment.

5. Theological Undercurrents

These are some of the theological frameworks that will lead out in the articles to follow:

1. Imago Dei: Humans, not algorithms, bear God’s image (Gen 1:26-28). Therefore, AI is a tool, not the sole author, and never a peer to the user or to the audience of the work it creates. AI cannot substitute a Spirit-led leader in any situation.

2. Stewardship: Like talents entrusted to servants (Matt. 25), emerging tech must be cultivated for kingdom growth, not buried in fear or for complete substitution of God’s appointed laborer.

3. Love of Neighbor: Matthew 22:36-40 guides us never to stop short of human interaction or service, which is always the ultimate goal of technological or digital integration in ministry. Micah 6:8’s call to justice requires us to interrogate algorithmic bias and protect the vulnerable.

4. Sabbath: The God who rests signals that endless optimization is not ultimate; rhythms of disengagement remind us of who is Lord.

6. Questions for Leadership Teams

1. Mission: Does this use of AI advance our disciple-making?

2. Trust and Transparency: Will congregants know when content was AI-assisted?

3. Guardrails: What human review process prevents theological error or privacy breaches?

4. Equity: Could the model’s outputs marginalize certain cultures, languages or abilities in our congregation?

5. Formation: Does this application form us into more Christ-like servants or merely more efficient managers?

Schedule a staff and/or lay leader retreat to pray and discuss these components, and write an AI use policy for the use of AI tools. (If adding legal components with guidance, consult a lawyer.)

7. Quick-Start Practices (so you don’t have to wait for a later series entry)

1. Sandbox First: Never upload real member data until policies are written.

2. Two-Person Rule: Require a second set of eyes before AI-generated text or images go public.

3. Source Check: Drop AI-produced Scripture references into a trusted source to confirm accuracy.

4. Labeling: Add a paragraph to the website briefly summarizing staff AI use. Alternatively, add a similar line in bulletins or online posts—“Drafted with AI assistance, refined by our pastoral team.” Do not open the door to losing the congregation’s trust. Be transparent with AI use.

Tool Recommendations: For all-around use, try Gemini, CoPilot or ChatGPT, and ask the tool for suggestions. Start experimenting with prompts and specific directions. Alternatively, use the built-in AI tools in some of your commonly used software.

8. AI Near Future

AI will soon mimic live video in real time, generate fully voiced virtual choirs and personalize discipleship plans from cradle to hospice. The question is not whether the Church will use AI but how faithfully we will wield it and influence it in terms of damage mitigated and of Kingdom expansion. The next entry in the series will dig deeper into the Biblical and ethical framework that pastors should consider and actively engage society with — “Imago Dei V Algorithm.”

9. Reflection & Call-to-Action

Reflection Prompt: Where is your ministry currently placing trust — in tradition, in experimentation or somewhere in the middle?

Action Step: Draft a one-page “AI Purpose Statement” this week. Sculpt where your church will explore AI and where it won’t, with anticipation to revisit as things continue to change. AI’s risks need to be considered, and guidelines must be in place to support your ministry.

Subscribe to our ALSBOM blog updates or share this article with a friend who is wrestling with the same questions. Future entries will walk the spectrum from theology to practical considerations.

Sources and Resources:

Donbarger.com

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Workun, Z. (2025, February 21). Enhancing ministry with ChatGPT. Lifeway Research. https://research.lifeway.com/2025/02/21/enhancing-ministry-with-chatgpt/

Thacker, J. (2020). The age of AI: Artificial intelligence and the future of humanity. Zondervan Reflective

Exponential. (2025, May). State of AI in the Church 2025 – Webinar [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9VpTZgL4dU

Foust, M. (2025, April 30). Survey shows AI usage is rising in churches, but sermons still off-limits for most. Crosswalk. https://www.crosswalk.com/headlines/contributors/michael-foust/survey-shows-ai-usage-is-rising-in-churches-but-sermons-still-off-limits-for-most.html

Litvinova, D. and Manenkov, K. (2025, March 4). What a church in Finland learned from creating a service with AI. Associated Press. https://apnews.com/article/64135cc5e58578a89dcbaf0c227d9e3e

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Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. (2025, January 28). Note on the relationship between artificial intelligence and human intelligence (Antiqua et nova). Vatican.va. https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_ddf_doc_20250128_antiqua-et-nova_en.html

McElwee, J. (2025, January 28). Vatican says AI has “shadow of evil,” calls for close oversight. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/vatican-says-ai-has-shadow-evil-calls-close-oversight-2025-01-28/6

Zao-Sanders, M. (2025, April 9). How people are really using Gen AI in 2025. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2025/04/how-people-are-really-using-gen-ai-in-2025

Reinke, T. (2025, May 21). Authentic preaching in the age of AI. Desiring God. https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/authentic-preaching-in-the-age-of-ai

Fleming, S. (n.d.). AI and the church: Possibilities and concerns. Breeze ChMS. Retrieved June 30, 2025, from https://www.breezechms.com/blog/ai-and-the-church-possibilities-and-concerns

Kristian, B. (2025, May 28). Should we bring AI into the church? Christianity Today. https://www.christianitytoday.com/2025/05/gloo-ai-artificial-intelligence-church-worship-tech-ethics/

Sermon Shots. (2024, July 1). Using AI for churches to create small group discussion guides. https://sermonshots.com/blog/ai-sermon-disscussion-guide/

State Missionary Mitchell Bruce serves as associate for media production for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions. AI assisted the author in the research and drafting of this blog article.