The following is a post by Dr. Charleton King. Charleton is a good friend of mine at Lancaster Bible College. He’s an expert in all things related to online teaching. He is currently leading LBC’s efforts to create policies for using AI. He graciously said “yes” to my request to help me and you wade through these waters. Enjoy his post (the first part might sound familiar as I wrote about that part last year):
In what ways could a pastor use artificial intelligence (AI) to help with their work? It may be beneficial to first consider what is unique about a pastor’s work that cannot be outsourced to AI:
- You know your congregation: You must know the sheep under your care well enough to shape your sermon for them. AI cannot preach from a heart filled with prayer and concern for how your congregation will receive God’s Word.
- You are an image-bearer: Do you remember learning in Sunday School how Jesus came down as a computer to sacrifice his operating system on behalf of all fallen machines? Neither do I. AI doesn’t care for your congregation or their need for God’s Word, but you do. You are the conscious, moral agent who will give an account to your Creator for every word uttered (Matthew 12:36), not AI.
- You are the teacher: One of your qualifications as a pastor is the ability to teach (1 Timothy 3:2). If you’re outsourcing that joy to a machine because of lack of time or ability, you will not be able to preach with the conviction that God’s Word demands.
A pastor might think, “but surely I can use AI to do some menial tasks like schedule my time, give me an initial outline, copyedit my sermon notes that I created myself, or create a funny AI visual to use as a sermon illustration, right?” It may be permissible, but is it truly beneficial? Might you gain something of greater value than efficiency by doing these tasks yourself?:
- Should AI create your schedule?: If you manually schedule your own time, meetings, and phone calls for the week, you will constantly think about those under your care and be reminded to pray for them as you’re planning your week.
- Should AI generate a starting outline?: Nothing can substitute for a pastor’s diligent time and prayerful consideration of the Word of God. Create the outline yourself as you wrestle with the structure of the text and seek to make it understandable for your congregation.
- Should AI copyedit your sermon?: Instead, you could have another pastor read your sermon notes to give you embodied feedback as you enjoy time and fellowship with fellow laborers.
- Should AI create a sermon visual?: After spending hours crafting your big idea to give your congregation something solid to hold onto, do you know what they’ll remember instead? Your funny AI-generated visual.
Rather than ask “is it okay if I use AI to do…?” you should ask, “is it wise and holy to use AI to do…?” So, let’s end with a helpful diagnostic list to help think through these differences. If you can answer “yes” to the following questions about using AI for your pastoral work, then you’re probably heading in a wise and holy direction:
- Do you understand the general principles about how AI works?
- Have you weighed the environmental and political issues associated with AI and its continued use?
- Are you doing something worthwhile with the time AI saves you?
- Are you willing to openly share with your congregation and church leadership the ways in which you use AI to help do your job?
- Is your desired use of AI maintaining your spiritual, mental, and academic growth as your church’s pastor?
- Are you or your congregation maturing in Christ because of your AI use?
Charleton King is passionate about education and rightly forming the minds of others toward God and His kingdom. He has been teaching science courses as adjunct faculty at Lancaster Bible College since 2016 and became a full-time instructional designer for the institution in 2021. He and his family are regular attenders at Millersville Bible Church where he enjoys playing drums on the worship team and co-teaching the pre-K Sunday School class with his wife.
