“What if the greatest danger of artificial intelligence is not that machines become more human, but that humans become more machine like?”
That question is not meant to scare us. It is meant to sober us.
If you want to know how fast the world is moving, ask the pastor who prayed into his phone and watched the auto captions change “Helen” to “Hell.” Somewhere, a very confused viewer is still wondering why the prayer meeting became so aggressive.
We can laugh. We should. But underneath the glitch is a much bigger reality.
Artificial intelligence is already here. It shapes what people read, watch, search, purchase, create, and increasingly, how they work. In The New Roman Road, I describe AI as one of the new roads the Church must learn to travel wisely. It is not a monster under the bed. It is certainly not a messiah on the shelf. It is a tool.¹
Powerful tools require wise hands.
The Church does not need to fear this moment. Neither should we blindly embrace everything technology promises. Our assignment is more difficult, and far more biblical: use the tool, guard the heart.
1. AI Is a Tool, Not a Soul
Artificial intelligence can perform remarkable tasks. It can process language, recognize patterns, summarize enormous amounts of information, translate content, organize data, generate images, draft communications, and help leaders think through complex problems.
But there are some things it cannot do.
AI can summarize Scripture. It cannot surrender to Jesus.
AI can help construct a sermon outline. It cannot carry a burden for your city.
AI can draft a condolence note. It cannot sit quietly beside a grieving widow.
AI can imitate empathy. It cannot love.
AI can predict the next word. It cannot keep a promise.
The soul is not a dataset, and the Holy Spirit is not a feature.
That distinction may become one of the most important theological conversations of our generation. Fear says, “Stay away from it.” Fascination says, “Trust everything it can do.” Wisdom says, “Understand it, steward it, test it, and keep it in its proper place.”
Machines can make us efficient. Only the Spirit can make us holy.
2. The Church Cannot Ignore the Road
This is not a distant technological experiment. AI is becoming part of everyday life.
McKinsey estimated that generative AI could eventually contribute between $2.6 trillion and $4.4 trillion in annual economic value across the 63 use cases it analyzed. Its research also points to significant implications for knowledge work, communication, research, customer interaction, and productivity.²
The Church is already entering this world. Exponential NEXT’s State of AI in the Church Survey found that 87 percent of respondents supported some degree of AI use in ministry, while 66 percent were already using AI tools at least occasionally. Yet 41 percent identified lack of expertise as their biggest obstacle, and 26 percent pointed to ethical concerns.³
Pastors are not simply resisting AI. Many are asking to be discipled through it.
Our people are encountering AI at work, in classrooms, in entertainment, in search, and on social platforms. Shepherding people now includes helping them understand the technologies shaping their lives.
The Church does not need to be first to every innovation. But we cannot afford to be last to understand the culture we are called to reach.
This is discipleship on the digital frontier.
3. Let Algorithms Carry the Load
There is tremendous promise here when AI remains in its proper place. It can help draft communications, translate resources, create captions, summarize meetings, organize action items, help prepare training materials, gather research, and remove repetitive administrative work. In The New Roman Road, I make the case this way: let the tool carry the load so the shepherd can carry the people.⁴
Those are not insignificant benefits. Think about what happens when a pastor gets two hours back. Two hours for prayer. Two hours for a hospital visit. Two hours around a table with a struggling couple. Two hours mentoring a young leader.
Let algorithms carry the load. Let pastors carry the people.
But efficiency must never become our definition of effectiveness. AI can make a church faster without making it healthier. It can produce more content without producing more disciples. It can give us polished language without giving us spiritual authority.
Romans 12:2 still calls us to resist being conformed to the pattern of this world and to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.⁵
The goal is not to become anti technology. The goal is to become deeply formed people who can use technology without allowing technology to form us.
Speed without wisdom is simply a quicker way to make a bigger mess.
4. Put Guardrails Around the Gift
Every church should begin developing a simple approach to AI now.
• Start with a one-page policy. Define where AI can assist and where it cannot. Keep a human involved in every significant ministry decision. Never outsource pastoral counseling, theological discernment, crisis care, discipline, or spiritual direction to a machine. I have developed one in my new book that is worth viewing.
• Protect private information. Counseling notes, prayer requests, giving information, children’s data, benevolence records, and sensitive pastoral conversations should never be casually placed into public AI systems.
• Verify everything. AI can communicate false information with remarkable confidence. Check quotations. Check sources. Check theology. AI output is research, not revelation.
• Train your team. Ignorance is not innocence. Teach staff and volunteers what AI is, what it is not, and how your church will use it responsibly.
• Measure fruit, not flash. Is this helping us love people better? Are we reaching those far from Christ? Are we freeing people for prayer, evangelism, discipleship, and pastoral care? If not, the newest tool may simply be the newest distraction.
Exponential NEXT found that only 2 percent of responding ministries had an AI policy in place, while 55 percent reported having no policy and no current discussion about one.6
Treat data like people are attached to it, because they are.
The future will bring extraordinary technologies. Some will help us. Some will challenge us. Some will disappear before the next church budget meeting.
Jesus will still be Lord. The gospel will still be powerful. People will still need shepherds. And no algorithm will ever replace the beautiful, Spirit filled, deeply human ministry of looking someone in the eyes and saying, “I am here. God loves you. Let us walk this road together.”
Use the tool.
Guard the heart.
Keep the shepherd human.
Keep Jesus at the center of every road we travel.
Endnotes
1. Marc Estes, The New Roman Road, chap. 6, “The Rise of AI and the Soul,” especially the chapter framework “Use the tool. Guard the heart” and the counsel that artificial intelligence should support ministry without replacing discernment, integrity, or human relationships.
2. Michael Chui, Eric Hazan, Roger Roberts, Alex Singla, Kate Smaje, Alex Sukharevsky, Lareina Yee, and Rodney Zemmel, The Economic Potential of Generative AI: The Next Productivity Frontier (McKinsey & Company, June 2023), 3, 8, 24. The report estimates $2.6 trillion to $4.4 trillion in annual economic value across 63 analyzed use cases.
3. Exponential NEXT, State of AI in the Church Survey 2024, 6–7, 37–38. The survey reports that 87 percent of respondents were for some degree of AI use in ministry, 66 percent used AI at least occasionally, 41 percent identified lack of expertise as the most significant adoption challenge, and 26 percent identified ethical concerns.
4. Marc Estes, The New Roman Road, chap. 6, “Practical Ministry with AI: What Good Use Looks Like,” including examples involving communication, translation and accessibility, research and synthesis, and operations, with the repeated principle, “Let algorithms carry the load; let pastors carry the people.”
5. Romans 12:2. Scripture reference follows the biblical framework used throughout The New Roman Road.
6. Exponential NEXT, State of AI in the Church Survey 2024, 51. In the survey, 2 percent reported having an AI policy, while 55 percent reported no policy and no current discussion about one.
SOURCE NOTE
Statistics in this article are presented with the year of the underlying research. The church adoption figures are from Exponential NEXT’s 2024 survey, and the economic estimate is from McKinsey & Company’s June 2023 report. The ministry framework is adapted from Chapter 6 of The New Roman Road.