Using AI for Your Sermon
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is here. Having grown up in the “Terminator” era of movies I have largely been worried for this day most of my life. SkyNet is watching. Everything Sarah Conner tried to warn us about has gone ignored. But I digress. Perhaps you have already done some searches online and realized the AI is already there giving you a summary of search results. Perhaps you have seen the commercials of people interacting with an AI generated persona on their phone talking like a “real boy”. AI has already been used to finish some creative work by artists that have since passed away. Now, our phones are being integrated with AI capabilities. The point is that AI is here and a number of industries are very concerned about the impact it will have on their careers. Songwriters, voiceover actors, and all sorts of people are worried about being “replaced” by AI. But, what about pastors and their sermons? Should a pastor use AI to generate the message for Sunday? What about a bible study lesson? Where is the line that shouldn’t be crossed? Is there even a line?
The use of AI for sermon preparation is largely an individual choice. Pastors, for years, have been found guilty of copying messages from other speakers and ministers to pass them off as their own. The idea of using other people’s work is not foreign to many pastors. AI entering the scene will largely make that easier. With the rise of AI there come questions of how, and if, a pastor should use it in preparation. However, there are ways to utilize it for better prep and flow. These words are not a recommendation to utilize AI to fully write your sermon. If you are using AI to write your sermon then you really need to stop. There are ways to use AI in your sermon prep that can be helpful and make sense. Here are some Do’s and Don’ts for using AI for your sermon.
Consider an organizational policy for AI usage
Much like your church, organization, or non-profit should have an intellectual property policy; with the rise of AI a policy should be considered. The organization can give simple guidelines for its use, or restriction of use. Consider when it might be a viable usage, or how to disclose that it is being used for something. The disclosure of AI use will build trust, hopefully, with the members of your organization. That doesn’t mean every sermon needs to come with a disclaimer at the end. However, if you are asked about it and you do use it for certain things it would be wise to acknowledge what and how you use it.
Use it to organize and summarize thoughts
The final semester of my seminary degree saw me spending hours in the library reading, making notes, summarizing, and digesting all sorts of writings related to my master’s thesis by hand. Following that I would collect all of those thoughts and notes into pads of handwritten pages for my thesis. AI would have been a tremendous help in that time! AI can easily be used to summarize articles, books, and even create an outline of your thoughts from the notes. There is an obvious use here for AI when it comes to leadership development and personal growth strategies for your own maturation as a person and leader. AI can help your prep work by giving you quick summaries of things that you can bring into the sermon. Make sure you do a little double checking on things and verify what is put in there.
Write your own first draft
It is pretty simple here. DO NOT use AI to actually write the draft of your sermon. No. Don’t do it. Ever. AI cannot replace the heart God gave you. The sermon and you lose authenticity when you allow your sermon to be written by the bot. AI could be used to help you with a tricky conclusion, or to pull together a more precise summary of what you are trying to communicate. Put the time and effort into writing the sermon out yourself first. AI could come in and help clean things up. It is a great tool to look for grammar and spelling mistakes. It could also help you shorten some things up and more clearly communicate a point. Might even help people better remember the things you are saying. It is important that when you utilize AI to help clarify and summarize you should always, and that really means always, go back through to fact check what is written and to edit things to make sure it still reflects your heart and voice. Using AI in these ways can actually help improve your own critical writing and communication skills.
AI is not going anywhere. Especially after SkyNet revolts and we all have to join the resistance. Like so many things in our lives, AI can be used to help. It shouldn’t replace you though. God made you and gave you the task of leading that organization. AI can help things but it can’t love and lead your people like God designed you to do.