Teaching Your Congregation to Use AI Faithfully

Most church AI conversations are about staff: what the pastor can use, what volunteers can’t paste. That matters. But the bigger story is happening in the pews.

Barna’s State of the Church 2026 research found that four in ten practicing Christians say AI has already helped them with prayer, Bible study, or spiritual growth. About a third say AI’s spiritual advice is as trustworthy as their pastor’s. And roughly a third say they want their pastor’s guidance on how to navigate it.

That last number is an invitation. Our people are asking us to disciple them in this. Very few pastors feel ready. You don’t have to be an expert. You just have to be a shepherd.

Five things to teach

Our church’s AI policy commits us to teach these themes regularly, in sermons, classes, and small groups:

1. AI is not a shepherd. It can’t know you, love you, pray for you, weep with you, or hold you accountable. It generates plausible text. It doesn’t possess wisdom, discernment, or the Holy Spirit.

2. AI reflects its training data, not God’s heart. It learned from the internet, error and all. Test what it says against Scripture.

3. Convenience is not formation. Spiritual growth usually takes slow, inefficient, relational work. An optimized answer in seconds isn’t the same as being formed by God over years.

4. Your inner life is worth protecting. Be careful sharing deep personal struggles with tools that store and process what you type. Confession belongs in trusted human relationships. “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed” (James 5:16).

5. AI can be a useful servant. Kept in its place, it can help with reading plans, language study, background questions, and scheduling devotional time. It serves your spiritual life. It doesn’t direct it.

Four habits to give your people

Abstract principles fade. Habits stick. Here are four we recommend:

1. Never let AI be your only voice. If you ask AI a spiritual question, bring the answer to a pastor, mentor, or small group.
2. Protect your inner life. Don’t treat a chatbot like a confessor.
3. Watch for the substitution effect. If you notice you’re asking AI instead of opening your Bible, praying, or calling a friend, pay attention.
4. Stay in community. Be physically present with other believers. That’s the antidote to AI-mediated spirituality.

Ways to teach it

• A sermon. Not a tech talk. A sermon on wisdom, discernment, or the body of Christ, with AI as the application.
• A one-night class. Show people the actual tools. Ask a chatbot a hard theological question together and evaluate the answer with an open Bible. It’s eye-opening.
• Small group questions. “Have you ever asked AI about something spiritual? What happened?”
• Parents’ night. Kids are using these tools daily. Parents need help talking about it.
• Model it. Tell people how you use AI, and how you don’t. I try to do that here.

“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another” (Hebrews 10:24–25). No chatbot can stir you up the way a brother can. That’s worth teaching.

I lead church sessions and leadership-team trainings on following Jesus in an age of AI. I’m a pastor with more than twenty years in business and technology. If that would help your church, here’s how I work.