This blog has been adapted from a webinar with Carey Nieuwhof on 1/14/26. Watch the full webinar replay anytime.

AI is moving fast. Faster than most church leaders expected. And if you’re feeling unsure about what it means for your role, your staff, or your ministry, you’re not behind. You’re paying attention.

Many of you are asking a very real question right now: Is AI going to replace what we do? And even if it doesn’t replace pastors, could it replace parts of our team? Could it change the way people engage with the church? Could it quietly reshape ministry without us realizing it?

The answer is not fear. The answer is wisdom, clarity, and action.

Because the truth is, AI is already changing the world. The question is whether the Church will respond intentionally or react too late.

The Church is shifting toward depth, not attraction.

One of the most important trends shaping ministry right now is that people are not casually browsing churches the way they used to. Many who are showing up are spiritually hungry. They’re looking for something real and want to be spiritually fed. 

About a decade and a half ago, the foyer moved. People used to check your church out in person first. Now they check it out online. So when they show up, they’ve vetted you and are much more likely to want to take a first step sooner. 

That means you're carrying a different kind of weight. It’s not just about running excellent services. It’s about helping people grow. It’s about discipleship, clarity, and trust.

AI can either distract from that mission or it can support it.

The churches that will thrive are not the ones that chase every new tool. They’re the ones who stay anchored in their calling while using the right tools to create more focus and faithfulness.

AI becomes a threat when leaders disengage.

AI is not automatically a threat to ministry. But it becomes one when you decide to ignore it. Why? Because AI doesn’t wait for permission. It’s moving forward with or without us.

And if church leaders disengage, the world will fill the gap. Not only in communication and content, but in guidance, support, and influence.

Further, while AI has some downsides I’ll talk about in my forthcoming book, AI and the Future Church (Fall 2026), it has some upsides too. As they say, the longer you snooze, the more you lose. 

People are already using AI for what used to be pastoral conversations

Whether you’re using AI or not, your congregation already is. Here’s a sobering reality many pastors still haven’t addressed: people are turning to AI for therapy, companionship, emotional processing, and personal guidance. These are conversations that, for generations, often happened with pastors, mentors, and trusted spiritual leaders.

AI can offer instant responses. It can sound supportive. It can feel constantly available.

But it cannot offer spiritual authority, embodied care, or real community. It cannot shepherd a soul.

This is one of the clearest reasons the Church has a unique opportunity right now. As the world becomes more artificial, the Church can become more human, more grounded, and more trusted.

AI can remove busywork. It can't replace spiritual leadership

You should never need AI to do the holy work of ministry. The struggle between you, the text, God is an ancient struggle that needs to be a future struggle. The human work of ministry can never be automated. Instead, you need it to remove the work that keeps you from doing the holy work.

Used wisely, AI can take pressure off the parts of the job that drain time and energy, like:

• repurposing sermons into devotionals, summaries, or discussion prompts

• drafting communication for the week ahead

• organizing ideas and planning content

• helping teams move faster on repeatable tasks

This is not about outsourcing your voice. Rather, it’s about protecting it.

The goal is not to sound like a robot. The goal is to stop spending hours rewriting the same message five different ways while keeping your tone, theology, and leadership intact.

The win isn’t more content, it’s more connection

You don’t need another pile of content to manage. What you need is a clearer path to stay connected to their people throughout the week.

That’s where AI becomes genuinely helpful. It can help a sermon last longer than Sunday. It can help your message show up midweek, when people are discouraged, distracted, or drifting. It can help your church communicate with consistency, without burning out your staff.

And when the noise in the world gets louder, steady leadership becomes even more valuable.

Tried It Once. It Doesn’t Work

A lot of you I know say they tried AI once and it doesn’t work. It hallucinated or gave them bad theology. Agreed, that’s what AI does from time to time, and I’m excited about theologically trained models that are coming soon. 

But the AI you wrote off got better since you wrote it off. And it won’t be perfect, but you can get better too. Sometimes I don’t like the answers I get from ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini. But like a team member you need to debate with, reply back to the AI and tell it, specifically what you need. It’s amazing how getting a little better at it yourself can make AI so much more useful.

The future belongs to leaders who decide to use AI for ministry, to enhance human connection, not ignore it. 

A practical next step: start small and stay intentional

You don’t need to become an AI expert overnight. But you do need a plan.

Start with one or two areas where you feel the most pressure right now. The place where you’re always behind and your team is stretched thin. The place where the mission is clear, but the execution feels impossible.

Then ask: What would it look like to use AI as support, not as a substitute?

AI is a tool, not the Spirit. It’s not your authority. It’s not your calling. But it can help you lead with greater clarity, consistency, and peace.

And in a season where so many leaders feel overwhelmed, that kind of help matters.