Derek Schuurman on Using Artificial Intelligence in Church

Derek Schuurman teaches computer science at Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and often writes or speaks about ethics, faith, and technology, including artificial intelligence. He wrote the book Shaping a Digital World: Faith, Culture, and Computer Technology and coauthored A Christian Field Guide to Technology for Engineers and Designers, both published by IVP Academic. In this edited conversation, Schuurman explores how churches can choose when or whether to use artificial intelligence in worship and pastoral care.

What questions can help Christians think about whether to use artificial intelligence (AI) in church?

Start from the perspective that AI and technology are part of God’s good creation. They are human cultural activities that flow from latent potential in creation—things God intended us to discover. As I explain in my book Shaping a Digital World, AI ought to be shaped by the biblical norms of love and care and should contribute to shalom. Theologian Cornelius Plantinga has described shalom as “universal flourishing, wholeness, and delight, . . . the way things are supposed to be.”

AI has shown amazing redemptive applications in health care, creation care, and traffic safety. Yet AI, like any technology, is not value neutral. It can positively or negatively impact neighbors, caring for the earth, and respecting copyright. In Calvin University engineering and computer science classes, we talk about seven basic design norms for technology. Preachers, worship planners, and Christian leaders can use those basic design norms to question whether specific forms of AI enrich faith formation or distract us from the shalom God intends.

What cautions would you give preachers who might use AI in sermon preparation?

Preachers should use AI in an epistemologically cautious way that is aware of human and machine limitations. You might think asking AI to outline a sermon for you would be most efficient. But philosopher Jacques Ellul warned against using efficiency as the highest value to govern all technology. Realize that AI has a worldview embedded in it. Chatbots are built based on large language models (LLMs) that vacuum up large datasets chosen by human trainers. These datasets may include secular, materialistic, racist, or misogynous content. Human trainers use input and feedback in reinforcement learning to help finetune chatbot responses, but these include their own biases.

Researchers have begun to recognize that AI chatbots are trained with a particular worldview and users are subject to something called “latent persuasion.” Ask Copilot a question and it will suggest further questions. Over time, such nudging can shape your opinions without you realizing it. A machine-generated sermon outline may point you in a direction far from what might be most edifying for you to preach. A sermon is a message delivered through God’s Word to a particular people in a particular place at a particular time. Preachers need to outline sermons based on their prayer, study, and knowledge of a larger relationship with a community of people.

Can you recommend fruitful ways for preachers to use AI? 

AI can be valuable in spreading the gospel. For example, Wycliffe is using AI to accelerate Bible translating. I’d be open to using AI for historical research or questions answered by Bible commentaries, concordances, dictionaries, historical documents, and published sermons. Such usage would be best performed by a wise pastor whose formal training can help them sift through the output and discern inaccuracies or heresies. AI can compare texts from different commentaries. AI-generated algorithms help power song selection and search features on Hymnary.org, where you can find songs related to the sermon text. Chatbots can provide pop cultural references or illustrations for a topic or passage. With DALL•E 3 or Copilot, preachers can input simple words or phrases to generate art and visuals for bulletins or projected images.

I’ve heard of preachers who upload their written sermon to a chatbot and ask it to generate study outlines or discussion questions to be used during worship or in church education. Still, these machine-generated guides need the preacher’s judicious oversight.

How else might preachers need to judiciously use what AI offers?

Well-trained preachers will know how to use biblical commentaries and determine whether they’re written from a viewpoint that reflects the preacher’s Christian tradition and theological outlook. Chatbots don’t always cite their sources. Sometimes Gemini (formerly Google Bard), ChatGPT, and Copilot hallucinate, stringing together statistically plausible words to produce complete fabrications along with actual facts. So you need to be on guard against plagiarizing or spreading misinformation. CCLI (Christian Song Licensing International) offers a way to give songwriters their due. But so far there’s no way to credit or compensate people whose artistic work has formed the fodder for AI-generated images and content.

How else can AI be useful for churches?

AI chatbots and virtual assistants can help with scheduling, writing announcements and newsletters, creating social media posts, and providing language translation. For small churches that lack musicians, technology can provide tracks for congregational singing. I haven’t yet heard of using AI voices during praise and worship time, but my instinct is to recommend against it because it’s people who ought to help reflect the mood of the song and (hopefully) reflect the congregational makeup. AI can never replace the faith-formation aspects of being (or seeing) a child up front playing the flute or piano.

As bizarre as it sounds, some people are advocating to replace human pastors with automated pastoral carebots or human clergy with AI. There’s an AI Jesus that you can ask for spiritual advice. But we need to remember that pastoral care should be based on a personal incarnate ministry. Also, be very skeptical about vendors who claim to help you use AI marketing and branding as a silver bullet for growing the church. Whenever you replace a trust in the Creator with something in creation, you’ve created an idol. Machines are machines. God is God. People are people. People are made in God’s image. Machines are not.

Anything else you’d like to add?

As you look for the good in unfolding AI technology, stay alert to its power to stir up vices rather than virtue. The temptation to hand off ministry to a machine or watch just one more episode can promote sloth. Using technology to curate your “perfect” online life stirs up pride and vainglory. AI can awaken envy, lust, and greed.

Perhaps we need countermeasures to resist the nudges of our digital devices and promote spiritual practices and disciplines. Philosopher James K. A. Smith’s books, such as You Are What You Love, can help us recognize and reset our rituals and “life liturgies” to counteract AI nudges in our lives. And, as Proverbs 4:23 says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” That “everything” includes coding, computers, and artificial intelligence.