Artificial intelligence has officially made its mark on the church, with a majority of pastors now reporting that they use AI tools to prepare for sermons.
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Data shared in the new “2025 State of AI in the Church Survey Report” from AiForChurchLeaders.com and Exponential AI NEXT shows that 61% of pastors report using AI weekly or daily. This is up from 43% who said the same in 2024.
Meanwhile, 26% of church leaders are using popular tool ChatGPT for a variety of tasks, including “sermon preparation, research, and crafting church communications,” The Christian Post reported.
Other tools also have widespread use: 11% of church leaders use Grammarly to clean up emails, blogs, and other church communications; 9% use Microsoft Co-Pilot; and 8% use Google Gemini, among other popular tools.
So, while there are clearly worries and concerns about the ethical and moral implications of AI, the data shows that pastors and church leaders are leaning into its use, finding ways to ease burdens with the various tools on the market.
“Overall, the survey depicts a church that is increasingly open to the ministry possibilities of artificial intelligence, while still grappling with the weighty ethical and practical considerations involved,” the report reads. “Most churches seem to believe that AI can be beneficial if used as a tool, but not a replacement for human connection and spiritual discernment.”
Sermon writing, of course, could raise some eyebrows when it comes to the use of AI. It’s important for Christian messages to come from the hearts and minds of these pastors — not from inhuman tools.
Pastors in the survey seemed to understand this, with preachers indicating concerns over misinformation, theological accuracy, and other related issues.
And yet leaders seem more than open to getting to a place of positive use of these AI tools, with 87% willing to explore AI training and other related instruments.
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