The Congregation You're Losing to Their Phone

In this episode of the Healthy Church Staff Podcast, Todd Rhoades discusses the increasing reliance of churchgoers on AI for spiritual advice, highlighting a study showing nearly half of practicing Christians trust AI for spiritual growth. He emphasizes the need for church leaders to adapt by acknowledging this trend and focusing on teaching discernment and offering personal support that AI cannot provide. • Churchgoers are increasingly using AI for prayer advice, Bible interpretation, and devotional content. • Barna research shows nearly half of practicing Christians trust AI for spiritual growth, despite concerns about AI misinterpretation. • AI offers accessibility and confidentiality that traditional church settings may lack. • Church leaders should acknowledge the gap that AI fills and create more spaces for real conversation. • Instead of avoiding technology, church leaders should teach discernment about AI use. • AI cannot replace personal presence, empathy, and the authority of lived spiritual experience. • Leaders should focus on being present and available, providing human connections that AI cannot replicate.

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Transcript

AI Shows Up In Church Life

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Someone in your church asked that to be taken prayer advice to school. Somebody else used AI to help them interpret a Bible verse that they didn't quite understand. And yet another person is getting daily devotional content from an algorithm that knows their schedule better than you do. I came across some Barna research recently that really caught my eye. Here's what it said: nearly half of practicing Christians say that they would trust AI to help with their spiritual growth. Not might consider it, but actually trust it. The same people are sitting in your services on Sunday and asking Siri about theology on Tuesday. And if this sounds familiar and if this is something that you've noticed, we're going to talk about it today, right here, on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. Hi there. My name is Todd Rhodes, one of the co-founders over at Chemistry Staffing.com. And I am glad that you've joined us on this week. Maybe it's your first time, maybe you're just a regular listener. Either way, welcome. I'm glad you're here. We're here every weekday on the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. Your people aren't rejecting the church. They're just really busy. And when they have a spiritual question at 10 p.m. on a Wednesday, you're not available. But their phone is, and AI doesn't have to check office hours, it doesn't make take Mondays off. It never says, Hey, let me get back to you. You don't have to text them and wait for a response. It gives an immediate answer with zero awkwardness and absolutely no judgment. And here's a kicker. It often sounds really good. But here's where it gets a little bit tricky. Going back to that Barna study, the same Barna study found that 80% of Christians worry about AI misinterpreting scripture. And they trust it and

Trusting AI While Fearing Errors

SPEAKER_00 1:55

fear at the same time. So get repeat that. They trust the AI enough to ask them spiritual questions, and yet they fear at the same time that the AI might not give them the right answer. So here's the reality. They know that AI is not a pastor, but guess what? It's available. And availability often wins. Think about what this means for you as a leader. Your people are forming spiritual habits, which is good, right? And but they're getting theological input from sources that you'll never see. They're not asking your permission and they're not telling you about it. It's just quietly becoming part of their spiritual routine. And most church leaders really haven't taken the time to think and know that this is even actually happening. But it is, I'm telling you, it is. So what do we do? Now, I'm not saying technology is evil. If you've listened here, you know that I love technology. And I'm not saying that AI is the enemy. Also, if you listened here, you know that I embrace a lot of what AI brings to the table. Your people aren't being rebellious either by using these tools. They're just being human and they're living in the culture. They're seeking help where it's available. So the question is not how do we stop this? The question is more this. And this really gets to the heart of the issue. How do we shepherd people who are being spiritually

Three Shifts For Church Leaders

SPEAKER_00 3:20

formed by more than just us or the church? So I think there are three shifts that we need to think about in our mind. And Monday is a great time to do this as you kind of plan out your week. Three shifts in this area that we need to make.

Acknowledge The Gap People Feel

SPEAKER_00 3:36

First of all, we just need to acknowledge that gap exists. If people are turning to AI for spiritual help, what gap are they trying to fill? Maybe it's accessibility, maybe it's the fear of looking dumb in front of a pastor. Maybe it's confidentiality. Maybe your church doesn't have easy ways for people to ask questions outside of a service or a class. But know this you can't compete with a phone on convenience, but you can create more on-ramps for real conversation. All right, so the first thing is just acknowledge the gap. Number two, teach discernment, not avoidance. Okay? Your people are already using this stuff. Pretending they're not doesn't help them. What if you actually talked about it from the stage, maybe in a Sunday sermon or in a staff meeting? What if you equip people to ask better questions like, who taught the AI? What worldview is embedded in this answer? Jesus didn't give people, didn't just give people answers. He taught them how to think. And we've got to do the same thing with the tools that we're using and that everybody in our church is using. So number two is teach discernment, not avoidance. And then number three, lean into

Teach Discernment Not Avoidance

SPEAKER_00 4:48

what AI cannot. We've talked about this here on the podcast before. AI is incredibly giving information, but it can't give presence. It can create a devotional, can create a sermon. We've talked about that here as well before, before as well. But it can't weep with you at 2 a.m. when your marriage is falling apart. It can quote you a void a verse, but it can't lay hands on you and pray with the authority of someone who's walked with Jesus for decades. So your job isn't to out-inform the algorithm, you're gonna lose that battle. Okay? AI can do that 24-7 without lifting anything, right? It's not a heavy lift for AI. But your job is to outlove it, outpresence, out, outpresence it, and out-shepherd it. Because that's the lane that AI will never be able to touch. Going back to point number one, you have to acknowledge that this exists. You need to start talking about this as a team, not in panic mode, but in a hey, we see what's happening and we're gonna lead into it mode. Okay? So ask, where are people getting stuck spiritually and turning to their phone instead of us? Ask,

Outpresence The Algorithm

SPEAKER_00 5:55

what would make it easier for someone to text a real human on our team, or to text you, or to text me instead of asking Chat GPT? Ask, are we creating a culture where questions are welcomed, or do people feel dumb just for not knowing the answer to a question? And this is not about being anti-tech, it's about being pro-people, and people need more than data. They need a shepherd. So here's your bottom line for today. You cannot compete with AI on speed, you cannot can uh compete with AI on convenience, but you can way out shepherd AI in ways that no algorithm ever will be able to do. Your people don't just need, don't they need you to be omnipresent. Only Jesus can do that, right? Only God can do that. But they do need you to be present, and that means being available

Bottom Line And Practical Next Steps

SPEAKER_00 6:52

for having those human conversations. Lead well this week, and hey, if this has helped you, share it with another brother or sister or leader that really needs to hear it. There's any way that you think that I can help you or your church or anybody on my team here at Chemistry

Share And Reach Out For Help

SPEAKER_00 7:08

can. Maybe it's hiring, maybe unfortunately it's firing, maybe it's compensation analysis, maybe it's just you just you guys are stuck and you just need somebody to talk to. Reach out to me, podcast at chemistry staffing.com. I'd love to hear from you. All right, that's it for today. We'll be right back here tomorrow on the Healthy Church Death Podcast.