Faith and AI: A Global Reckoning

Pastors are increasingly embracing AI for administrative tasks, but faith leaders worldwide are grappling with how to integrate the technology without eroding the sacred. It’s a global reckoning for how AI will reshape spiritual practice and human connection.

The voice on the other end of the line, even in the dead of night, sounds uncannily like the Rev. Justin Lester.

Yet, it isn’t him. It’s an artificial intelligence responder, meticulously trained on hundreds of his sermons, writings, and unique speaking cadence, designed to mimic the California pastor.

This digital doppelgänger handles a deluge of emails, schedules meetings, and manages the ceaseless administrative tide that threatens to drown modern ministry.

For Rev. Lester, who shepherds Friendship Baptist Church-Vallejo, this technological intervention has been nothing short of a liberation.

“It just automatically knows what I would say,” he explains, a touch of wonder in his actual voice.

The AI has gifted him back five precious hours a week, time he now dedicates to the core of his calling: preaching, visiting the ailing, comforting the elderly, and forging genuine human connections. Learn more about the role of AI in the church.

“I didn’t go to school for emailing, communication or financial balancing,” Rev. Lester asserts, receiving some 70 to 80 emails daily.

“I went to school to preach the gospel, to care for people and to lead God’s people.”

Without hesitation, he declares AI has made him a better pastor.

But here lies the profound paradox at the heart of AI’s burgeoning presence in faith communities: while it streamlines the mundane, its capacity to nourish the sacred remains deeply suspect.

Rev. Lester, for all his praise, draws a firm line.

He balks at using AI to craft sermons or to seek answers to complex moral dilemmas. Read about ethical considerations of AI in faith communities.

“I would not say by any stretch of the imagination that AI has made me deeper in the heart of God,” he cautions.

As artificial intelligence infiltrates nearly every facet of human existence, from commerce to creativity, its quiet seep into houses of worship presents a global reckoning. Recently, religious leaders from across the world converged at the Vatican, grappling with the very questions Rev. Lester wrestles with daily: where to delegate, what to keep human, and how these powerful tools might reshape spiritual practice and congregational well-being. Learn how churches are adapting to AI.

The challenge, it seems, is no longer whether churches embrace AI, but how they wield it with a discernment that enriches faith rather than hollowing it out.

The shift in attitude has been swift and dramatic.

Just a year ago, skepticism was rife, with a 2023 survey revealing 43% of church leaders were uncomfortable with AI and over half concerned about ethical implications.

Fast forward to 2025, and a new survey by Exponential and ChurchTechToday.com, polling over 600 pastors across 20 denominations, paints a strikingly different picture: nearly 90% now support AI in some form of ministry. Read about the church AI revolution.

Usage has soared, with 61% reporting daily or weekly engagement, up from 43% a year prior.

Even sermon preparation, once the exclusive domain of human insight and divine inspiration, now sees 64% of preachers leveraging AI – a nearly 20-point jump in a single year. Check out how AI is transforming church operations.

The “faith tech” industry is booming, with apps like Bible Chat and Hallow climbing app store charts.

“You’d think the churches are laggards in technology, but they’re embracing this,” observes Kenny Jahng, editor-in-chief of ChurchTechToday.com and founder of AiForChurchLeaders.com.

Yet, this embrace is not without its anxieties.

Across diverse faiths, leaders are sounding alarms about AI trespassing into the sacred. For instance, Pope Leo XIV famously refused an AI avatar of himself, labeling the technology an “empty, cold shell” and highlighting the risk of losing humanity.

Elder Gerrit W. Gong of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, speaking at the Rome Summit on Ethics and Artificial Intelligence, articulated a collective “deep commitment that AI’s moral compass not be dictated solely by technology or the small group developing the technology.”

He announced a multifaith task force dedicated to evaluating AI’s accuracy in portraying faith, emphasizing the need to embed “moral grounding and moral compass” within AI to promote human flourishing. Learn more about the moral implications of AI in religion.

Earlier, at Brigham Young University, Elder Gong delivered a stark warning: “AI cannot provide inspired divine truth or independent moral guidance… As a creation of God, man can create AI, but AI cannot create God.”

One significant concern, dubbed “theological misalignment” by Kenny Jahng, arises when congregants, armed with AI-generated interpretations of scripture, arrive at church with views that clash with their pastor’s teachings.

“If the pastor knows that their congregation is just Googling or YouTubing things — that might get interpretations or guidance or answers that are completely in conflict,” he notes.

Beyond doctrinal friction, a more existential dread permeates the discussions.

Neylan McBaine, an adviser at AI and Faith, views the “coming AI revolution” as an “assault on human dignity,” threatening independent thought and the very essence of agency.

She worries that AI, particularly chatbot companions, could strip away the friction inherent in real relationships—the uncertainty and discomfort crucial for character formation. Read more about AI in spiritual practices.

“Why are we here? What kind of person do we want to be? These are the questions that religion offers,” McBaine posits.

For many churches, clear policies remain elusive, but some are proactively charting a course.

The Southern Baptist Convention, in 2023, adopted a resolution urging “utmost care and discernment, upholding the unique nature of humanity as the crowning achievement of God’s creation” in AI’s use.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued “Guiding Principles” in March 2024, stating: “AI does not replace divinely appointed sources, but, if used correctly, it can be a powerful tool for helping earnest seekers of truth search and access such sources.”

Back in Vallejo, Rev. Lester’s initial foray into AI was born not of trend-chasing but sheer necessity.

Post-COVID, with a lean budget, he turned to AI for discussion guides and event planning, calling it “survival.”

The technology now handles the “heavy lift” of fundraising and volunteer follow-ups. It even enabled him to establish a Spanish online “campus” by translating his sermons, freeing resources to hire a counselor instead of another preacher.

He even has a robotic dog at church, a conversation starter for visitors.

His own AI avatar, trained on his sermons and writings, is accessible to his congregation, though he admits it recently grew a bit too “churchy,” over-referencing scripture when asked for budget details.

“It’s weird, but yet cool,” he muses.

Yet, the core of his spiritual life remains untouched by algorithms.

“I would not say by any stretch of the imagination that AI is helping me understand God,” he reiterates.

“It’s not helping me speak truth to power.”

For him, true spiritual transformation still unfolds through prayer and solitude, unmediated by technology. Read more about how AI is impacting spiritual guidance.

James Wigginton, a venture capital attorney and McBaine’s podcast co-host, believes faith communities are uniquely positioned to imbue AI with “the right intent,” steering it towards solving polarization, fostering peace dialogues, and growing faith.

“That is religion’s specialty and it has been for thousands of years,” he contends.

Companies like Tapos are already building AI on “trusted sources of wisdom,” allowing users to chat with AI trained on their specific church’s teachings, extending pastoral care beyond Sunday services. Explore how AI enhances pastoral care.

Sermon Shots helps churches amplify their messages by using AI to create bite-sized social media clips, working with 8,000 congregations.

Corey Alderin, Sermon Shots founder, sees AI enhancing human connection by offloading non-people tasks, allowing staff more time for direct engagement.

As individuals increasingly curate their spiritual seeking through AI, pastors’ roles are shifting.

Kenny Jahng predicts richer, yet potentially more fragmented, dialogues as congregants arrive with preformed opinions.

The pastor’s job, he suggests, moves from “knowledge-based and an answer-giver” to a “curator of wisdom” and a teacher of discernment.

Rev. Lester’s deepest fear is the “deification of AI,” where people treat it as an authority, even attributing grace to its functions.

“We’re trying to make AI human when AI needs to be AI,” he insists.

Preaching, sermon writing, grappling with theological questions – these things, he argues, must remain difficult.

If they aren’t, something essential is lost.

“These tools don’t shape us,” Rev. Lester concludes.

“We shape them.”

What is undeniably clear is that AI has arrived. The more pressing question now is how leaders will guide its use, ensuring it serves humanity’s deepest spiritual needs without eroding the very essence of what makes us human.