Ask a chatbot for a sermon illustration about grace and you’ll get one in seconds. A father at the airport. A janitor who forgave. A little girl and a starfish. Ask it to write it in first person and it will happily do that too: “Last week I was standing in line at the grocery store when…”
That’s the danger. Not that AI writes illustrations. That it writes them as yours.
The old temptation in a new form
Preachers have borrowed stories forever. Some of the most famous sermon illustrations have been told by hundreds of pastors, each one a little more personal than the last. “A friend of mine once…” slowly becomes “I once…”
AI makes that temptation frictionless. It will invent a vivid, emotionally perfect story that never happened to anyone, and it will put it in your voice.
God spoke through Jeremiah against prophets “who steal my words from one another” (Jeremiah 23:30). And the ninth commandment still stands: “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Exodus 20:16). Telling a congregation that something happened to you when it didn’t is false witness, even if the point it makes is true.
Why it matters more from a pulpit
When a preacher says “this happened to me,” he’s spending trust. He’s saying: I’m not just telling you an idea. I’m telling you what I’ve seen God do. People lean in because it’s testimony.
Our church’s AI policy prohibits presenting AI-generated content as personal testimony, lived experience, or a firsthand account. Every story told as personal experience must actually have happened to the speaker or be clearly attributed.
That’s not legalism. It’s protecting the thing that makes preaching different from a podcast script.
Honest ways to use AI for illustrations
You don’t have to give up illustrations or even AI help with them. Just tell the truth about where they come from.
- Label hypotheticals. “Picture a father at an airport…” is honest. Your congregation knows it’s a scenario.
- Use AI to find, not invent. Ask for historical examples, then verify them in a real source before you use them. AI is known to invent quotes and events that sound real.
- Mine your own life. Ask AI to help you remember: “Give me ten questions that might surface a story from my own life about forgiveness.” Then use your story.
- Attribute. “I read about a man who…” or “There’s an old story told about…” keeps you honest.
- Check quotes. If AI gives you a quote from C.S. Lewis or Spurgeon, find it in the original before you say it. Many popular quotes are misattributed, and AI repeats them.
A better illustration anyway
Here’s the thing: your real stories are almost always better. They’re less polished, but they’re true, and your people know you. Something that happened at your church this month. The conversation you didn’t want to have. The way you were wrong.
“Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another” (Ephesians 4:25). Speak the truth. Even in the illustrations.
I help pastors and church teams use AI honestly and well. I’m a pastor with more than twenty years in business and technology. If that would help your church, here’s how I work.
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