Learning to use AI well in Christian ministry.

Outsourcing what should not be outsourced

AI can help you prepare but it should not become the work itself. Helping you research or draft a teaching outline is fine; letting AI write your teaching is not. Talking through what to say to a grieving family is fine; sending them an AI-written email is not.

Believing what it says without checking

AI makes things up. It produces confident-sounding wrong answers about Bible truths. Treat it as a very smart collaborator who sometimes makes things up – not as a final authority! Verify Scripture references and interpretations, historical claims and anything else that needs to be right. This is the Word of God we’re handling!

Treating it like a search engine

AI is so much more than that! AI is most useful when you collaborate with it – ask follow-ups, push back on its first draft, give it more context, work toward the answer together. Copy-pasting the first response and moving on is a waste of an incredible tool.

Concluding “AI is useless” when the prompt was the problem

When AI output sounds generic, the cause is almost always the prompt, and behind the prompt, the lack of planning that went into it. Most people type the same vague request they would have typed into Google, get a generic answer back, spend the next 45 minutes editing it into something usable, then conclude the AI is weak.

Give the AI more context before you ask: who you are, who you’re working with, what you actually want, what tone, what length, what style. Very few people are good at this on day one. It is a skill that can be learned, and good training will help you grow.

Using a weak free model for serious work

The free tier of any AI tool is dramatically weaker than the paid version. If AI is part of how you work, use a strong model. The Tools section lists nonprofit pricing options that will make this possible.

Treating it as a god

AI can sound authoritative on almost anything, which tempts us to treat it as all-knowing. It is not. It has no understanding of your people or your situation, and it speaks with the same confidence whether it is right or wrong. Use it as a capable assistant, never as an oracle, and keep the final word where it belongs, with you and with God.

Give the full picture

AI works with what you give it. A vague request produces a generic output, so give it the context up front: who you are, who you’re writing to, what you’re trying to accomplish, what makes the situation specific. For ministry work that might look like, “I’m preparing a teaching for emerging leaders in India who have already worked through the initial stages of our leader development models, and the need I’m addressing is…” The more specific the input, the less generic the output.

Bring your own draft

Don’t ask AI to write from a blank slate. Bring your own thinking first, even if it’s rough, then ask AI to strengthen what you have. This forces you to clarify your own thinking, and it gives AI specific material to work with.

Ask what you’re missing

Before starting a project, ask AI what questions you should be asking and what you might be overlooking. This exposes gaps early, before you’ve gone too far in the wrong direction. A useful prompt: “I’m planning to [describe project]. What three questions should I be asking? What am I likely missing?” This is probably the strongest practice of the five.

Let AI challenge your thinking

We get attached to our ideas and miss their weaknesses. Use AI to test your reasoning before you take it to colleagues or to the field. Ask it to find the weakest parts of your argument and where the plan might fail, and you’ll address the holes before someone else has to point them out.