ChatGPT, an AI language model developed by OpenAI, is an innovative tool that uses machine learning to generate human-like responses to prompts. Although it can produce insightful and thought-provoking responses to various topics, using it as a tool for writing sermons in churches has its limitations.
One of the main limitations of ChatGPT is its lack of personal and spiritual experience. Sermons require not only theological knowledge but also the ability to contextualize the message to fit the audience’s spiritual and social needs. ChatGPT may provide accurate theological responses but may lack the depth and personalization needed in a sermon.
Moreover, relying solely on ChatGPT for sermon writing could undermine the role and responsibilities of the preacher, who is expected to use their personal faith, study, and prayer to craft messages that are relevant and transformative for their congregation.
ChatGPT can be a helpful tool for researching theological concepts and topics, but it should not replace the preacher’s role in crafting sermons that are tailored to the specific needs of their congregation.
So… everything written above in bold was written by ChatGPT itself. It was generated by the AI system in response to the request ‘Please write a 150-word critical analysis of ChatGPT as a tool for writing sermons in churches.’
(And yes, I do use ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ with AI systems… but the reason why will need a whole other blog post!)
Recently, I have seen an increasing number of posts and comments online referring to the use of AI tools, such as ChatGPT and DALL·E (an AI image generator). However, the ones that particularly caught my attention were those related to writing sermons. These posts have ranged from the satirical (‘the AI engine has more theological clarity than a most Bishops in the Church of England’) to the potentially down-right alarming (‘I’m going to get this to do all my sermon writing!’).
In light of this, and as someone who has a particular awareness of both the common-grace aspect of technology as well as its warning signs, I have spent some time thinking about the place of AI in the life of the church – particularly concerning preaching and teaching the Word.
I can see one benefit, and two dangers.
(Oh, and for the sake of transparency, I did not get ChatGPT to write the rest of this post!)
The benefit: An impressive research and editing tool
There is nothing wrong with using tools to search the Scriptures. Consider the Bereans…
Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
– Acts 17:11
The Bereans investigated the Scriptures with forensic vigour… but how did they do that? The Greek translation of the Old Testament was presumably their only formal written tool, but I think it is fair to also assume that they had other tools to help them with their daily investigation: notes by scribes, lists, cross-references, etc. At the very least they would have had older, wiser people that knew their Scriptures well and with whom they could consult to uncover what they were looking for.
Today, we have a much larger toolset to choose from: concordances, commentaries, reference books, online resources… and now, an AI-driven language engines.
As a research tool, ChatGPT and other AI platforms have great potential. If you want a summary of the main points in Exodus 36, just input the request and it shall provide you with exactly that. If you want to know the background to the seven letters in Revelation, just ask. If you want to know what viewpoint the various church traditions have on homosexuality in ministry, it will tell you, and seemingly without prejudice or bias.
Here’s an example…
Please give a summary of the theological significance of sheep in the Bible.
ChatGPT: Sheep are a significant animal in the Bible, with many references to them throughout both the Old and New Testaments. In the Old Testament, sheep were used for sacrifices and offerings, and were often seen as a symbol of the people of Israel, who were considered to be God’s flock. In the New Testament, Jesus is often referred to as the “Good Shepherd” who cares for his flock and lays down his life for his sheep, highlighting the theme of redemption and sacrifice. Additionally, the Parable of the Lost Sheep emphasizes the value of each individual, and the lengths that God is willing to go to seek out and save those who are lost. Overall, sheep serve as a powerful metaphor for God’s relationship with his people, emphasizing the themes of redemption, sacrifice, and care.
I know, right?!
Furthermore, it can help you refine, condense and even contextualise your language. If you want to make a paragraph of your sermon more helpful for children to understand, then just ask it to reword your paragraph for the age-group you have in mind. Have people in your church with severe learning difficulties? Just ask AI to help you use clearer concepts and phrases that are easier to understand.
I asked ChatGPT to revise some lines from a sermon I preached from Isaiah 46 a while ago. First, I asked it to condense my notes into a single sentence. Next I asked it to reword the statement using language that a primary school aged child would better understand. Finally, I asked the ChatBot to make the statement more sensitive to people who are struggling with loss.
Without exception, ChatGPT did an excellent job of simplifying, paraphrasing, condensing and contextualising my original language according to the direction I gave it. Sure, some of the responses would need tweaking and adjusting if I were to include them in my talk or sermon – it just didn’t sound like me. But I can’t deny that ChatGPT definitely helped improve my use of language. As I think of my work writing the scripts for Video Bible Talks, I am already thinking of ways that I will use ChatGPT to tighten up the scripts and make them more concise without losing the depth of study and practical thought put into my original drafts.
So, in terms of sermon preparation in the pastor’s study, ChatGPT and other AI tools could be significant assets for the preacher to have in their preparation toolbox, if used carefully and wisely.
…but that’s the thing. It really does need to be used carefully and wisely.
Aside from the general ethics of using AI-engines to produce any creative work (and I acknowledge this is no small point, but not for this post!), I can see at least two very significant warnings for preachers specifically.
Warning #1: Preaching is person-al
If you are a called and faithful pastor or elder, then God has given you to your church for a specific reason…
‘So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastor-teachers, to equip his people for works of service so that the body of Christ may be built up…’
– Ephesians 4:11-12
You are literally God’s gift to your church family!
Don’t let it go to your head, though. This doesn’t mean we are perfect; it doesn’t mean we are infallible. We struggle with sin, pride, envy and more. We falter, we fail, we repent, we carry on by grace.
Plus, in terms of preaching, myself and every pastor, elder and preacher I have heard could always improve in one area or another. We have all made mistakes in our preaching; we have all sinned in our ministries.
But here’s the thing… to the collective church, God gave gifts of people, not things. If you are a faithful member of one of the groups of listed in Ephesians 4, then you – all your experiences and strengths but also all your struggles and failings – make up one of the many gifts Jesus gives to his church.
An AI engine cannot toil, agonise, reflect, meditate, apply, repent, rejoice, delight, fret or invest itself in what it is preparing to say. AI will not loose sleep over trying to discern whether or not the words it says are faithful and will bear fruit.
AI cannot understand what it is to meet the ideal spouse, or lose a child. AI cannot empathise with those who find it hard to trust the LORD or share their faith with others.
AI cannot sin, and so does not know subjectively what it is to hit the depths of failure and be restored through repentance, forgiveness and faith.
But, most significantly, AI cannot not petition the LORD to speak to it and through it as it prepares to speak to others on Christ’s behalf. It will not delight in knowing the Spirit is at work in God’s people when it opens its mouth and faithfully preaches from the Word of God faithfully.
…but you can, and you will.
And so you should.
Warning #2: Honour God’s directives
The New Testament is full of directives and constraints upon those who serve the church in prayer and the preaching of the Word. Just consider 2 Timothy 2:15…
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.
– 2 Timothy 2:15
AI may be a great way to get the job of sermon prep ticked off so you can move on to something else… but what does God think of that attitude and approach? Or, to put it another way, when you stand before him on the Last Day, knowing that you got a computer program to churn out all your sermons, how ashamed do you think you will feel as you give an account your ministry?
Incidentally, I think this also applies to the idea of having sermons ‘up your sleeve’ or ‘on the shelf’, ready to pull out and use to save time in our busy schedules – it goes against God’s command to correctly handle (work at, toil in, labour with) God’s word of truth. It reduces God’s living and active Word to a lifeless text that you dust off the shelf, rinse and repeat.
Rightly handling the Word of truth in order to preach the Word in season and out of season takes time and effort. This is a high and noble calling, and one which we should treat as such, not least because of whose Word it is.
A good friend of mine in ministry was speaking with a person in the church about why sermon preparation takes so long compared to workplace presentations. This is what he said: ‘You might be okay to cut corners and bash something out in 5 minutes when giving a presentation with no eternal significance. But when you are serving the LORD God Almighty and caring for souls entrusted to your charge, you cannot bodge it and make do. When your words carry the weight of ‘thus says the LORD’, you really must do the hard work of a preacher who need not be ashamed before God.’
By all means use appropriate tools, systems and processes to streamline your work and increase your efficiency in an honourable way… but do not cut corners on the work you have been given, and do not devalue its significance by delegating the heart of it to an automated process.
Do not leave an AI engine to do the work that the LORD God of heaven and earth has personally given each of us to do, in his all-surpassing wisdom.
Bottom line: the Holy Spirit
An AI-driven tool such as ChatGPT may prove a helpful tool in ministry, but it cannot (and should not) replace the personal heart-and-soul work of people called to preach God’s Word to others.
I’ll be honest, though, even considering using AI to actually do the work of preparing and writing a sermon kicks off some pretty big alarm-bells in my mind. Have we really lost sight of the weight and significance that the LORD has put on preaching and teaching (James 3:1)? Have we forgotten and marginalised the charge we have been given (2 Timothy 4:1-2)? Have we lost sight of Jesus’ return and the evaluation of our ministries by judgment fire (1 Corinthians 3:10-15)?
For me, the bottom line is this… the Holy Spirit does not dwell in man-made objects, no matter how useful they are or how human they may seem to be. He lives in us, his people.
He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.
– Colossians 1:28-29
Preaching is hard, time-consuming work. But it is a job of honour given to those of us set aside to preach and teach. It is given to us by God for the building up of his people, and it is the work for which the Holy Spirit enables us to do as he lives and works in us and through us.
God did not send an angel, his heavenly host… or even an AI ChatBot to be his faithful worker who correctly handles the Word and preaches to the people in your church.
He sent people: people like me… and people like you.
