This article is part four of a series from Brianne Shaw on equipping pastors to navigate AI not fearfully, but with responsibility. Read parts one, two, and three here.
The Concerns Are Real. Here’s What Church Leaders Should Actually Do About It.
New research from Barna confirms what many ministry leaders are already quietly experiencing: pastors are using AI far more than their congregations probably realize, and most are doing so carefully and behind the scenes.
According to the study, the majority of pastors now use AI in some form, primarily for sermon research and preparation rather than for delivery or pastoral communication. And while adoption is growing quickly, pastors are approaching AI with significantly more caution than other Christians. That instinct is worth paying attention to. Pastors tend to understand something that most efficiency conversations miss: the tool matters less than what it forms in you.
But caution alone is not enough. More caution does not mean church leaders get to skip the hard conversations. There are four specific concerns that should move from awareness to action sooner rather than later. Not because the sky is falling, but because the people in our congregations are already navigating this, whether we are ready or not.
Concern #1: The Disclosure Question Is Coming. Have an Answer Ready.
According to the new Barna research, most pastors who use AI do so without telling their congregations. That is not necessarily wrong; a pastor who uses spell-check does not announce it from the pulpit. But AI assistance is different enough in degree that it is worth thinking through before you need to.
The question is not whether you have to disclose. The question is whether you have thought clearly enough about your own use to be honest about it without feeling defensive.
The practical step: Develop your transparency posture now, before someone in your congregation asks. Know your own line between AI-supported and AI-generated. If a congregant asked you directly, “Did AI write that sermon?”, what would your honest answer be, and are you comfortable with it? If the answer feels complicated, that is useful information. It probably means you have not yet clarified for yourself where AI is helping you think better versus doing the thinking for you.
Concern #2: Pastoral Formation Is Not Automatic. You Have to Protect It.
There is a version of AI use in ministry that is genuinely freeing, and a version that quietly erodes the work that forms you as a pastor. The difference is easy to miss until it has already cost you something.
In a recent LinkedIn article, I wrote more personally about this tension as a bivocational pastor– how using AI exposed how much of my energy had been consumed by mechanical work, and what it felt like to recover breathing room. But I also wrote about the risk that runs in the other direction. If you want the full personal reflection, you can read that piece here.
The short version is this: the grind of sermon preparation is where pastoral formation happens, not just for the congregation, but for the preacher. If you outsource the wrestling, you lose the growth that comes from it.
The new Barna research suggests pastors are most cautious about using AI for the parts of ministry that feel most distinctly pastoral: direct congregational communication, counseling, and the pulpit itself. That instinct is right.
The practical step: Audit where AI is being used and whether it is protecting core pastoral work or quietly replacing it. The question worth asking: Is AI helping me get to the pastoral work faster, or is it doing the pastoral work for me? The first is a tool. The second is a risk worth naming.
Concern #3: Your Congregation Is Already Going Somewhere Else. You Need to Know Where.
The Barna and Gloo Faith & AI research released earlier this year found that one in three U.S. adults say AI’s spiritual guidance is as trustworthy as a pastor’s. Among Millennials, that number climbs to 44 percent. Nearly half of practicing Christians say they would trust AI with their spiritual growth.
That is not a future trend. That is already happening in the pews.
People in your congregation are using AI chatbots for comfort, counsel, and spiritual questions right now, often before they think to come to you, or instead of coming at all. And unlike a conversation with a pastor, those interactions leave no relational trail. No one follows up. No one notices if something was missed.
The practical step: Name it from the front. Not to shame anyone, but to open the conversation. Something as simple as: “I know many of you are using AI to think through questions about your life and faith. I want to be part of those conversations too.” Then make sure there are real, accessible pathways for people to do exactly that. Small group leaders who are trained to go deeper. Clear on-ramps to pastoral conversation. A culture where people know they are not burdening you by showing up. Community is still your competitive advantage. But it only works if people know the door is open.
Concern #4: Economic Disruption Is a Pastoral Issue. Treat It Like One.
Nobody knows exactly how AI-driven workforce disruption will unfold or how quickly. But the consistent signal from economists, business leaders, and publications is that significant changes to knowledge work are already beginning.
For church leaders, that is not just an economic observation. It is a pastoral one.
If workforce displacement accelerates, churches will feel it, not only in giving patterns but in the emotional and relational weight people carry into Sunday. Anxiety. Identity questions. The grief that comes when work you were proud of no longer exists the way it used to.
The practical step: Start the pastoral conversation before the crisis. You do not have to have answers. But you can create the space. Consider whether your church has the pastoral infrastructure to meet an increase in practical need: benevolence funds, job transition networks, counseling pathways, and teaching finance classes. Start thinking theologically with your people now about identity, dignity, and what it means to be made in the image of God in a world where certain kinds of work are changing rapidly. Those conversations are easier to have before people are in crisis than after.
What Discernment Looks Like in Practice
Joseph in Genesis 41 is worth thinking about in moments like this. He discerned the season ahead and prepared wisely — not from fear, but from faithfulness to what he saw coming.
That is the invitation for church leaders right now.
Not to panic. Not to become AI experts overnight. But to move from passive awareness into active, pastoral preparation. The concerns surrounding AI are real, and most of them are not primarily technological questions — they are human ones. About formation. About identity. About who people turn to when things get hard.
The Church has always been best positioned to answer those questions.
The question is whether we will be ready when people show up asking them.
Learn more how Gloo is applying AI for church leaders
Author(s)
Brianne Shaw
Director, Corporate Marketing
