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The Healthy Church Staff Podcast
Churches Are Quietly Using AI—and It Might Just Save Ministry
Churches nationwide are experimenting with AI tools like ChatGPT to enhance ministry operations while preserving theological integrity. Far from replacing pastoral roles, AI is helping churches streamline routine tasks so staff can focus more on meaningful ministry with their congregations.
• Churches currently use AI for writing devotionals, newsletters, sermon brainstorming, and answering basic faith questions
• AI benefits include creating more margin for ministering to people, enhancing creativity, and improving engagement
• Clear boundaries must be established—AI is a tool, not a truth-teller, and Scripture always takes precedence
• When considering AI implementation, ask when you're burning out on repetitive tasks that could be streamlined
• Start small by using ChatGPT for drafting sermon outlines, summarizing meetings, or generating templates
• Always guide and test AI tools rather than turning them loose, especially in theological contexts
• AI won't save the church or cost pastors their jobs, but it might save staff sanity and valuable time
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Churches across the country are beginning to experiment with AI, but not in the way that you might think.
Speaker 1:From writing devotionals to answering common faith questions, pastors and staff are discovering that AI can actually enhance ministry, not replace it. Today, we're going to talk about how real churches are using AI tools like ChatGPT, the surprising benefits that they're seeing, and how your church staff might even begin to start leveraging AI today, both ethically and wisely, and even effectively. Hi there, my name is Todd Rhodes and I'm one of the co-founders over at chemistrystaffingcom and your host right here on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast every weekday. Would you ever trust ChatGPT to write your next sermon, or maybe to answer a theological question from someone in your congregation? Or maybe to answer a theological question from someone in your congregation, believe it or not? Pastors across the country already are, and they're not losing their jobs over it. They're finding new ways to do ministry better, and we're going to talk about that today, about how churches are quietly embracing AI. Now, don't what I just said. Don't take that out of context. We're going to unpack that a little bit about sermon writing and theological truths and all of that kind of thing. Okay, so stick with me here today. Hopefully you listen to the podcast. We've earned a little bit of relational trust here, so listen to me as I kind of share some of the things on my heart today about AI.
Speaker 1:If you're leading in the church today, no doubt that you started to feel the pressure because everybody's talking about it. Ai right, you need to do more with less, you need to do it faster, you need to do it fewer people on staff. Everybody's really lean these days, and that's why more churches are starting to lean into tools that were once maybe unthinkable in ministry, like artificial intelligence. If you would have said three years ago that we want to use artificial intelligence anywhere within the four walls of our church, everybody probably including myself would have said absolutely not, don't even go there. But today we're going to dive into some real ways that AI is starting to be used in churches and how to do it without losing your soul or your job. Okay, so I've got.
Speaker 1:Let's see how many points do I have here today. I think four points I want to share with you today on artificial intelligence, and the first is just how are churches currently using it? So churches are already starting to use AI for things like writing devotionals, generating newsletters, brainstorming some sermon illustrations and answering some faith questions in real time with chatbots, and they're even starting to use it to transcribe and summarize some of their staff meetings. This comes to an article, I believe it was in the Christian Post. I'll try and put a link to it in the comments. Some churches are using chat GPT to automate routine writing. Others are training their own tools to match their theology and tone. So it's not about replacing people at all. Okay, it's about enhancing what we're already doing.
Speaker 1:We've already talked about AI a few times here on the podcast. I would encourage you to go back. If this is a topic that interests you, go back and listen or watch some of the previous AI topics that we've discussed. But when used correctly, ai is a way that you can save time on things that don't require a seminary degree. So that's how churches are starting to use it.
Speaker 1:Okay, there are benefits and there are boundaries, so let's talk about what some churches are starting to discover. Some of the benefits it leaves more margin for meaningful ministry, less time writing announcements, more time with one-on-one discipleship. It increases creativity because AI can offer some fresh sermon prompts. Not writing the whole sermon. Ai can write your whole sermon. Don't do that, don't be that guy or gal. But it can offer some fresh sermon ideas and some illustrations and it can give you some new language for old truths. Okay, and it can give you some better engagement.
Speaker 1:Imagine an AI trained chatbot answering some of your visitor questions 24 seven. This is maybe a little bit more controversial and the technology is not quite there yet, but it's getting, oh, it's getting so close. You do need to have some tech expertise to know how to do this, but you can actually train an AI model specifically on your church's theology and beliefs and it will stay within that model. Okay, so you can answer a lot of different things with a high degree of certainty, because you are the one that's controlling what's going in to those answers that it is spitting out, okay. So those are some of the good things, but there's a big but here, as they say, there do need to be some clear boundaries.
Speaker 1:Okay, first of all, ai is a truth, is a tool. It's not a truth teller. Scripture and AI are not on the same level. Nobody is saying that. Maybe some people are, but I'm not saying that truth, that scripture truth and AI is on the same level. Scripture still trumps syntax. Okay, Theology must still be checked. You don't assume that the bod is biblically sound, particularly if you just go straight to chat GPT and type in tell me what I should believe about atonement. Don't do that, right. Ai is going to be most useful when you control the subset of information it's looking at. So if you have a theological atonement or you have a book that is theologically sound that you import the text and then ask questions about atonement, then you can rely much more on what it gives you because it's using that subset of information. Okay, but here and we talked about this before on another episode, I remember I think I did an episode specifically about this Don't worry about AI taking your job, because in ministry, ai is not going to replace the humanity of ministry.
Speaker 1:Ai cannot be present, it cannot be empathetic, it cannot be spirit-led and give you good discernment, as only one-on-one or small group discipleship can. Okay. So don't worry, it's not going to take your job. It's going to change the way you work. That's what we're talking about today, but it's not going to take your job, at least most jobs that are pastoral in nature.
Speaker 1:Okay, let's talk about what you should be asking. If you're a pastor. You're a church leader. What should you be asking? Here are some questions you can ask that might lead you to how AI will be able to help you. Here's the first question when am I burning out doing repetitive tasks? Could AI help streamline something so that I can spend more time with people? Okay, don't use ai so that you can spend more time doing more stuff. That doesn't make a difference. Use ai to streamline something that's mundane or repetitive so that you can use your time the way that god really wants you to use your time. You can take a lot of the administrative tasks and do those for you.
Speaker 1:How can we ensure that our use of AI is spirit-led, not shortcut-driven? You've got to remember that. This isn't about jumping on a new tech trend. This is about stewarding tools to serve people better, so you just need to go in with that mindset.
Speaker 1:Here's another thing I think is really important how do you start without getting creeped out? So maybe you've got your feet wet, but maybe you don't. Maybe you've not ever gone to ChatGPT or never used any kind of well. I guarantee you've used AI. You might not recognize it, but maybe you're new to this whole ChatGPT AI genitive. I can't even say it. You know what I'm trying to say? Genitive, I can't even say it. You know what I'm trying to say? Genitur, I can't say it. That is so embarrassing. Now, normally a really good podcaster would take that and edit that out. I don't do that because I'm not perfect. Okay, maybe you're new to this whole AI thing and it just feels weird. That's okay. Here are some ways you can get started without feeling like really creepy.
Speaker 1:Okay, try using ChatGPT to draft a sermon outline. Okay, then refine it with your own voice and technology. It's really easy to do. I think you can just go. I think you can go to chatcom and it'll pull up ChatGPT you can even do this without an account and put in your sermon topic and a verse and have it help you with your outline. You don't have to use it, but it might give you something that you can take and put in your own voice. Okay, use AI to summarize a meeting or generate agenda templates. There are apps out there that can do this for you. Or you can use ChatGPT to do this Again, a non-threatening way to actually get your feet wet and see what this could do to help you in your own ministry.
Speaker 1:And then, just if you have an hour of extra time sometime, or put it on your calendar just to explore some different AI-driven tools that stay within your theological tradition. There are a bunch of church-centric I would say church-centric and even theological tools that use AI that you can try these days. Okay, so don't just turn it out, don't just turn it loose. Right, you've got to guide it, you've got to train it, you've got to test it and use AI like it's a seasoned leader, not a lazy one. Okay, so will AI save the church? No, is it going to cost you your job? No, not if your job is pastoral or working with people, but it might just save you or your staff some sanity. It's going to save you definitely some time. It's going to help you stay more focused and it's going to free you up to do the part of your job of ministry that only you can do. And for those reasons, I would encourage you check it out, go slow and make sure that you're using it in a way that enhances your ministry, not drives your ministry. It can do as much as you want it to do and it's only going to get better.
Speaker 1:The temptation, once you get adrift of this is to use it as a shortcut for ministry areas that you shouldn't use, and we'll probably do another podcast in the near future on pitfalls of AI in particular. We mentioned a few of them here, but the tendency for many of us is going to be using this in areas that we shouldn't. But there are definitely some ways. I can tell you right now that you should be at least experimenting or tipping your toe in the water here, dipping your toe in the water a little bit. All right, have any questions? I would love to hear from you.
Speaker 1:Podcast at chemistrystaffingcom. I'm here on the podcast every day, monday through Friday, and I'd love to hear your feedback. Every day, monday through Friday, and I'd love to hear your feedback and even how you're using AI, how you're not using AI, maybe how you've been stung by AI or the pressures that you're feeling. Would love to hear your story. Just send me an email anytime. Podcast at chemistrystaffingcom. All right, that's it for today. Hope you've enjoyed today's Healthy Church Staff Podcast. We'll be right back, right back here. Have a great day.
