25 AI Prompts for Ministry

Three guardrails first

1. Study first, prompt second. For anything touching the Word, do your own work before you open a chatbot. Write your main point in one sentence first.
2. Anonymize everything. No names, prayer requests, counseling details, or anything about minors.
3. Verify what comes back. Check every reference, quote, and fact against your Bible and a real commentary.

Swap in your own details wherever you see brackets. Context makes every prompt better: who you are, who it’s for, how long, what format.

Sermon prep: let it question you

1. Ask me hard questions. “Act as a seminary professor. I’m preaching on [passage]. Ask me ten probing questions about this text, one at a time, to find the gaps in my understanding. Don’t give me answers. Wait for my reply before asking the next one.”
2. Test my main point. “I’m preaching on [passage]. My main point in one sentence is: [your point]. What are the strongest objections a careful reader would raise to this reading? Don’t rewrite my point.”
3. Background brief. “Give me the historical and cultural background a first-century reader of [passage] would have known. Flag anything scholars dispute, and tell me what I should verify in a commentary.”
4. Cross-references I’m missing. “Here’s my outline for a sermon on [passage]. List cross-references that support or complicate each point, with one sentence on why each one matters. Use the ESV.”
5. Read it through other eyes. “How would a [Reformed / Wesleyan / Catholic / Pentecostal] interpreter read [passage] differently from this? Give the strongest version of their view, not a caricature.”
6. Sit in the pew. “Read this sermon manuscript as [a skeptic in his thirties who grew up in church / an exhausted single mom / a retired farmer]. Where would you tune out? What question would you walk out with that I never answered?”
7. The editor. “Here’s my manuscript. Point out where I’m wordy, too heady, or repeating myself. Don’t rewrite it in your voice. Just show me where, and why.”

Planning and teaching

8. Find the gaps in my preaching. “Here are the titles and texts of everything I’ve preached in the last 18 months. What books, genres, or themes have I neglected? Suggest an 8-week series that would fill one of those gaps, with a passage for each week.”
9. Small group guide. “Turn this sermon into a 45-minute small group guide. Start with an opening question anyone can answer. Then five observation questions on the text and three application questions. Keep the application Christ-centered, not moralizing. Don’t include answers.”
10. Explain it to a ten-year-old. “Explain [justification by faith / the Trinity / why Jesus died] to a ten-year-old in under 150 words, without losing accuracy.”
11. A plan for a new believer. “Build a 30-day Bible reading plan for an adult who just came to faith and has never read the Bible. Keep each day under 10 minutes. Add one simple question for each day that we could talk about over coffee.”

Leadership and care

12. Map a messy situation. “Here’s an anonymized situation on a ministry team: [no names or identifying details]. List the tensions you see, the likely blind spots on each side, and the questions I should ask before I decide anything.”
13. Rehearse a hard conversation. “I need to talk with a volunteer leader about [issue, no names]. Play the volunteer and push back the way a real person would. After a few rounds, tell me where I got defensive or unclear.”
14. A care plan after a loss. “A family in our church just lost [a parent / a child / a spouse]. List practical ways a small church can care for them over the next 90 days, week by week, including the things people usually forget after the funeral.”
15. The pre-mortem. “We’re about to launch [new ministry]. Imagine it’s one year from now and it failed. List the ten most likely reasons, and for each one, what we could do now to prevent it.”

The busywork

16. From messy notes to an agenda. “Turn these rough notes into a meeting agenda. Separate decisions we need to make from updates. Suggest a time for each item and who should own it.”
17. Announcements in 90 seconds. “Rewrite these announcements so our emcee can read all of them aloud in 90 seconds. Warm, plain, no exclamation points. Put the action step last in each one.”
18. A volunteer role description. “Write a one-page role description for a [greeter / sound tech / small group leader]: what the role is, why it matters, the time commitment, what doing it well looks like, and who they can call with questions.”
19. The break-even math. “Last year’s [retreat / camp] had [number] people. Here are this year’s quotes: [costs]. Build a fee structure that breaks even, with a lower rate for families and a scholarship fund line.”

Helping a sermon live past Sunday

These need an AI that can reach your files and apps, like Claude connected to Canva or to your manuscripts folder.

20. Quotes worth sharing. “Pull out five quotes from this sermon manuscript that stand on their own, each under 20 words. Then create social media graphics for them in Canva using our brand kit.” Check each against what you actually said.
21. One sermon, three articles. “Format this sermon into three blog articles styled like my other articles. Use my words. Don’t add ideas or stories I didn’t preach.”
22. What have I said before? “Look through my sermon manuscripts from the past 20 years and tell me what I’ve said about [verse or topic]. Quote the passages and give the date of each sermon. If I’ve said a lot, suggest potential blog posts.”
23. A calendar for the week after. “Make a social media production and publication calendar for this sermon so it lives beyond the room it was preached in. Plan the next two weeks: what goes out each day, on which platform, and what needs to be made first.”
24. Don’t miss the people. “Show me every comment and question on my social media posts from the past week, with a link to each one, so I can engage the people personally. Don’t reply for me.”

For you

25. Review my week. “Here’s my calendar from last week: [names removed]. My priorities are [your priorities]. Where did my time actually go? What’s one thing I should protect next week and one thing I should hand off?”

Not on this list: a prompt to write your prayers, your sermon, or a personal story to tell from the pulpit. Let AI be efficient in the work that just needs to get done. Stay inefficient in the work that forms you.