Artificial Intelligence has grown more and more capable over the past few years. That fact cannot be denied. And I do believe that it’s going to help us to do a lot of things in the future. But I am a pastor, and as such, I have certain misgivings about AI and its role in pastoral ministry.
The Good
I am very open to the many ways that it could make me a more productive human being. I found that artificial intelligence, even free versions, have the capability of helping me get more things done. If it’s rolling around in my brain, I can explain it, and AI can create it.
I have created charts and illustrations that I thought would be helpful in teaching. And all of a sudden, I had an image that that would not have been possible just a year ago. That is incredible. And I did it in two minutes.
I’ve had big questions as to the first time a certain doctrine was taught in church history. And I was able to ask Grok the first time this was taught. It scoured the web, found articles, and gave me answers. It literally saved me hours of work. And because I understand that AI can make mistakes, I did look through the resources that were provided. All I had to do was tell it to show me the links.
I’ve used it for all sorts of things that improve my personal life as well. And this, in turn, has the capability of further improving my ability to get things done.
So I am not a doom and gloom sort of a person with regard to AI. I see it as being a personal assistant with tremendous capabilities. In fact, I used AI to create the image for this blogpost. But there is a major downside, especially in the pastorate.
The Bad
The ability of artificial intelligence to do some of the tasks within ministry are quite good. Scheduling and creative tasks are very helpful, as well as advertising and other things. That is not a problem.
Here is the problem, I have no doubt that pastors around the country are using artificial intelligence to write their sermons, skipping large amounts of time in study. That will be a major problem.
Preparing a sermon is a lot of work. Anyone that’s done it well knows that it takes a lot of time and effort. For years, the people that take shortcuts in study and preparation have been obvious to everyone. They go to the pulpit with little to say. With AI that can change and probably has changed for some people. They can now have a lot to say with the little effort. But that shortcut is going to affect the people in the congregation because the study time is not changing the preacher.
Sermon preparation is not just about having something to say. The process itself forms the man who is going to say the things.
I’ll use myself as an example here. Since I’m best equipped to talk about myself and not someone else.
I’m not exactly a people person. I love people, but I’m also drained by being around a lot of people for long periods of time, so Sunday is both good and exhausting. And on Monday I am secluded for a large chunk of the day.
Here is what an ideal Monday study looks like.
- Pray
- Read Sunday’s text and think on it.
- Write down thoughts in a disordered fashion.
- Look at interesting Greek or Hebrew .
- Write down thoughts in a disordered fashion.
- Read commentaries from different time periods, underlining and making notes as I go.
- Ideally the day ends with a very rough outline of the sermon.
I don’t spend a lot of concentrated time on the sermon again until Friday. I go back to it in short bursts, an hour or two here, or an hour or two there throughout the week. And I finish it on Saturday.
The rest of the week is spent working on other things. I prepare for a counseling session and other messages I must give. But the text is rolling around in my head as I do everything else.
And throughout the week, God the Holy Spirit uses that time to convict me of sin in my own life. He uses that time to show me where I am falling short and what I need to do with myself before I stand in front of a congregation and deliver that message to them.
But today, a person can take a lot of shortcuts to write the sermon. They can even have AI write it in 20 minutes. The brain was worked little and the heart was worked less.
They could also use AI tools in Logos software to cut down the time of study and preparation. In an hour they could write what I wrote in a whole day’s time. The brain and heart were worked a little more, but the same problem persists.
Ed Litton, JD Grear, and a lot More People Today
I was appalled a few years ago when both Ed Litton and JD Greer were found to be getting their sermons from a company that was writing it for them. My problem with that was mostly the same as my concerns with AI. They are not putting in the work. So, they are not being formed by the text they are preaching. Not only are they passing this work off as their own, but they are not spending the time in the text to be formed by their study. And I was not the only person that said this at the time. Pastors are formed by this work and they were not doing the work.
Why did they do it? They did it because they were at a massive church that could afford it. They did it because they could shortcut this area and have time for other things.
It’s the same reason people are doing it with AI. With AI, these tools are dispersed to everyone.
Everyone has access to shortcuts like that. And the more pastors jump upon that the less churches are going to have pastors who have been formed by their study and the work of the Holy Spirit in that.
Be Formed, Be A Leader
Pastors are to be examples for their entire congregation. Because of your job, especially if you are full-time, you have more time to study God’s Word than anyone else in your congregation. Spend the time in the text and let it change you.
Be molded into a man of God that is a model of good works for the entire congregation. That is what you are called to do.
“Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us.”
Titus 2:7-8 ESV
And how are we to be an example in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity if we are not molded by God’s Word more than those people around us?
“Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.”
1 Timothy 4:12 ESV
Partitions
I have recently read a few articles that discuss partitioning off certain areas of our lives from technology and AI. I certainly agree with this. I don’t want tech and AI to replace my interactions with my family and friends. But I also think a partition needs to be placed around the study of God’s Word. And my reason is simple. I do not believe that it is possible for us to take a lot of shortcuts in study and be formed by the Word we will proclaim when we stand behind the pulpit.
So, use AI tools to enhance some areas of ministry and streamline others. But don’t take the wrong shortcuts. The people you pastor need you to be formed by God’s Word. They need the example of righteousness that comes from years of time with the Lord in His Word.
Don’t neglect that!
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