When AI Meets Ministry

Practical Thoughts for Ministry Leaders

“AI is probably the most important thing humanity has ever worked on. More profound than electricity or fire.”

Sundar Pichai
CEO, Google (2018 World Economic Forum)

Sundar Pichai
“The development of AI is as fundamental as the creation of the microprocessor, the personal computer, the Internet, and the mobile phone… Entire industries will reorient around it. Businesses will distinguish themselves by how well they use it.”

Bill Gates
Philanthropist, Founder and former CEO of Microsoft

Bill Gates
“AI is revolutionizing our world, including Christian ministry, at such a rapid pace that many feel overwhelmed and fearful… the church must think deeply about what these tools are doing for us and to us as humans.”

The Brentwood Statement
on Artificial Intelligence and Christian Ministry

Lifeway logo
“At this time in history, which risks becoming rich in technology and poor in humanity, our reflections must begin with the human heart.”

Pope Francis
58th World Communications Day Message

Pope Francis
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”

Jeremiah 17:9, ESV

The prophet Jeremiah

What is AI, and why now?

Artificial Intelligence is software that learns from examples instead of following hand-written rules.

Until recently, all AI was “narrow”: great at one thing, useless at everything else. Then, something changed.

This wave of automation is hitting knowledge work in broader waves than we’ve seen with traditional computing, and it’s moving incredibly fast.

How do Large Language Models like ChatGPT actually work?

Step 1: Tokenization

Tokenization
I love pizza

Text is broken into chunks called tokens

Step 1: Tokenization

Tokenization
“I” “love” “piz” “za”

Step 1: Tokenization

Tokenization
198 3021 79689 1077

Tokens become numbers, the only thing computers actually understand

Step 2: Embeddings

Tokenization
198 3021 79689 1077
↓
Embeddings
Numbers mapped to points in high-dimensional space
King ↔ Queen  ·  Cat ↔ Dog  ·  Happy ↔ Joyful

Similar meanings end up near each other in that space, learned from billions of sentences

Step 3: Attention

Tokenization
198 → 3021 → 79689 → 1077
↓
Embeddings
High-dimensional meaning space
↓
Attention
Each token “looks at” every other token and scores relevance
“The trophy wouldn’t fit in the suitcase because it was too big.” What does “it” refer to?

Computed across hundreds of layers → deep contextual understanding

Step 4: Next-token prediction

Tokenization
198 → 3021 → 79689 → 1077
↓
Embeddings
High-dimensional meaning space
↓
Attention
Deep contextual understanding
↓
Next-token prediction
Predict the most likely next token. Add it. Repeat.

Your entire ChatGPT conversation = this one operation, extremely fast. It’s the world’s most sophisticated autocomplete

Understanding AI: Implications

AI is generative and non-deterministic

Ask it the same question twice, get two different answers, and it always sounds confident.

Context is king

The model only knows what you’ve told it in this conversation. Ambiguity gets filled in for you.

Anthropomorphization is fraught

It sounds human and even says “I think,” but it doesn’t think, feel, or empathize.

AI sycophancy is real

It’s trained to tell you what you want to hear, not necessarily what’s true or helpful.

Agentic AI is taking the world by storm

It’s moving from chatbot to co-worker, taking real action on our behalf.

AI will change how we interact with technology

Voice and intent will increasingly replace pointing, clicking, and typing.

Principles for Applying AI

1

AI is most powerful when it amplifies experience and expertise you already have.

2

Use AI to brainstorm and review, but own the ideas, the decisions, and discernment.

3

Assume what you give an AI tool trains it, unless you have specific guarantees otherwise.

4

Use organization-issued tools for church or school work; they’re protected and configured for you.

5

AI has real biases, shaped by its training data and the choices of its creators.

Personal Communication Tool

Do

  • Write it yourself; let AI catch grammar and blind spots before you hit send
  • Ask it to check for empathy: what might I be missing?
  • Let it summarize your inbox and transcribe meetings

Don’t

  • Have AI write your personal communications for you
  • People can increasingly spot AI-written text
  • A message someone knows is AI-written rarely still feels personal

Study Tool

Do

  • Use AI as a research and editing aid
  • Make connections, find illustrations, and brainstorm angles
  • Clean up grammar and phrasing before you share it

Don’t

  • Offload listening to the Spirit and discerning the message
  • Ask: could anyone else have gotten this by prompting AI the same way?
  • Use it as a springboard to the sources, not an authority to cite

Analysis Tool

Do

  • Use AI for data analysis, with proper grounding and direction
  • Understand your input data and how it arrived at its answer
  • Own the results and the actions you take because of them

Don’t

  • Accept AI’s analysis at face value
  • Forget that even simple questions carry hidden assumptions AI doesn’t share
  • Feed congregant or internal data to tools the church hasn’t approved

Content Creation Tool

Do

  • Use AI to help with design, layout, and content
  • It can accelerate design work when properly directed
  • Give it your brand standards once, then let it iterate

Don’t

  • Ignore brand guidelines or quality standards
  • Use it to skip approval processes
  • Publish raw, unedited AI text; people can tell, and mistakes are still yours

Automation and Efficiency Tool

Do

  • Lean into agentic AI where prudent and practical
  • Target low-relational, high-toil administrative work
  • Example: an agent that summarizes and publishes weekly class content

Don’t

  • Automate away relational value
  • Be cautious automating personal ministry communication
  • Prioritize automation that makes room to be more relationally present, not less

Impact on Society

Identity & Dignity

If AI can now do the “thinking” work only humans could do, what happens to our sense of self-worth?

Relationships & Loneliness

AI offers the appearance of relationship without its substance. Will it crowd out real human connection?

Truth & Trust

AI puts us one more step removed from the source. Who decides how it answers questions of faith?

Technological Dependence

Easy answers can mean less wrestling, less synthesis, and lazier thinking.

Bearing on Ministry

Emphasize Relationship

Let AI reduce administrative toil so we have more room for relational, personal ministry.

Emphasize Timeless Truth

In a rapidly changing world, we’re anchored in a Gospel and a Christ who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Emphasize Open, Honest Conversation

Don’t force a false choice between “all in” and “never.” Wrestle with it together as a community.

Conclusion

1

Lean into AI as a tool to expand your impact, reduce administrative toil, and play to your strengths.

2

Distinguish work that requires automation from work that requires formation; lean fully into AI for the former, be cautious with the latter.

3

Don’t allow AI to replace the things that only you can truly do.

Q + A

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Further Reading