We would be remiss in a discussion about technologies that drive a new era in church leadership if we didn’t mention Artificial Intelligence.
We are living through yet another life-changing technological evolution. The drastic rise in AI — and its use and application to our lives and ministries — has been compared to the invention of the cell phone and the proliferation of the internet.
Both cell phones and the internet significantly impacted our lives, businesses, and ministries, but our memories tend to be short. Remember the early days of those technologies? Both were expensive and limited in availability. Both required expensive hardware. Both had serious reliability issues, and both were questioned regarding whether or not they were even viable for mass appeal.
How far we’ve come.
AI is in its infancy
The AI of today and the AI of five years from now won’t be the same. The AI of the next generation might merely be a shadow of what we call AI today. Cell phones today can do just about everything, with making a phone call the least exciting feature. The internet today is built into almost everything — but do you remember the days of dial-up and hope?
What is unique about AI is that even in its infancy, it is free and already available to anyone. That makes it quick to run to and use and affords it the opportunity for quick impact. As a result, it is clearly a tool that will drive a new era in just about every aspect of our lives on planet earth, including church leadership.
As we live through AI “growing up”…
It is important to discern how best to use AI for ministry impact.
Leaders have to lead, and the use and application of AI for ministry is one area where leadership must catch up.
• Do you have AI policies for staff, volunteers and boards?
• Do you offer AI training for staff, volunteers and boards?
• Do you provide approved AI tools for your ministry, or is it a free-for-all?
• Do you provide restrictions on what ministry data can be used with AI?
The AI evolution we are living through is one of the reasons I write and speak about AI frequently. As AI continues to empower a new era in church leadership, here are three things to do sooner rather than later.
#1: Your ministry policies need to be updated to include acceptable use of AI for your ministry.
Depending on how leadership is adopting AI, your policies might be simple or complex. The goal is that you have a policy for everyone involved with your ministry. What data you can use and where you can use it is a great place to start.
Also remember that AI policies will have to evolve as AI itself continues to evolve.
For leaders to lead, they must understand the difference in the various AI tools that are out there. Every AI LLM (large language model) — which is what makes AI work — is different. Each company offering AI provides different terms of service in terms of who owns the input and the output and whether or not the LLM can learn from your input and output. It’s one thing to ask a free AI service where to go to dinner; it’s another thing to ask a free AI service to review your church’s financial statement.
#2: Don’t run to hype. What AI says it can do and what it can actually do aren’t the same today. Eventually, AI will solve all of these problems — but not today, and probably not tomorrow.
As AI marketing increases and AI tools show up in everything, take a step back and properly evaluate. If you opt to run your church’s financials through AI, do the AI results provide you with insight you wouldn’t have otherwise seen? Or is it just restating the obvious — but since a computer did it, you somehow assign it more weight?
The fast pace of development is sure to create more hype, but hype does not serve as a sound basis for leadership decision-making.
#3: As with any evolving technology, responsible use requires leadership discernment.
To do so, leadership must make time to evaluate and deploy. Remember figuring out how to use cell phones in ministry and who was going to pay for it? How many of your churches still provide cell phone reimbursements? Remember when the internet cost too much to use? Now, internet access is as important as electricity.
As AI continues to drive a new era in church leadership, it is vital that church leadership takes the time to understand, discern and deploy. In the future, we will look back at how cell phones, the internet, AI — and whatever is next — have not been distractions, but rather have helped us further the mission of the King.
Jonathan Smith is the President of MBS, Inc. and the Director of Technology at Faith Ministries in Lafayette, Ind. He is an author and frequent conference speaker. Follow him on X @JonathanESmith.
