{"id":2440,"date":"2025-05-14T11:54:21","date_gmt":"2025-05-14T10:54:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/?p=2440"},"modified":"2025-05-14T11:54:21","modified_gmt":"2025-05-14T10:54:21","slug":"more-churches-embrace-ai-in-ministry-but-pastors-prefer-to-write-their-own-sermons-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/?p=2440","title":{"rendered":"More churches embrace AI in ministry but pastors prefer to write their own sermons \u2013 study"},"content":{"rendered":"

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AI<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Leonardo Blair<\/a><\/p>\n

More churches across the U.S. are embracing the use of Artificial Intelligence in their ministries, but pastors have stopped short of using the technology to prepare their sermons, data\u00a0from the State of the Church Tech 2025 report shows<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The report, created by\u00a0Pushpay<\/a>, a leading payments and engagement solutions provider for the faith-based and nonprofit sectors, was done in partnership with\u00a0Engiven<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Checkr<\/a>. The data for the report was collected in February from about 8,000 church leaders.<\/p>\n

According to the report, the use of AI has increased by 80% across all ministries in churches, but only for specific tasks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile adoption (of AI) has increased, leaders remain reluctant to rely on AI for pastoral content. Last year\u2019s report revealed that less than one quarter of AI users applied the tool for developing devotionals, sermons, or ideas for pastoral care; that pattern still holds true today,\u201d researchers note. \u201cThe vast majority of AI use cases revolve around content generation and editing of communication materials like emails, imagery, and social media\u00a0posts.\u201d<\/p>\n

While they mostly leverage AI to enhance operational efficiency, the research shows that church leaders overwhelmingly used AI to meet their communication needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese patterns aren\u2019t necessarily surprising. Those called to lead in the Church \u2014 many of whom began serving long before AI rose to prominence \u2014 pursued their vocation out of [a] desire to lead through the Holy Spirit. As such, AI\u2019s role in spiritual leadership is still being approached with trepidation,\u201d the researchers explain. \u201cBut, once the message is ready to be shared, leaders are taking advantage of this next-gen tool to spread that message widely and swiftly.\u201d<\/p>\n

The findings of the State of the Church Tech 2025 report on AI use come about a month after\u00a0Gloo<\/a>, a leading technology platform connecting the faith ecosystem,\u00a0announced<\/a>\u00a0that Pat Gelsinger, the former CEO of multinational technology company Intel, expanded his role at the firm from investor and chairman to executive chairman and head of technology, with a plan to shape technology, particularly AI, toward positive endeavors.<\/p>\n

Gloo noted that the faith ecosystem in the U.S., which spans approximately 450,000 churches, faith networks and nonprofits, had been slow to adopt digital technology.<\/p>\n

Gelsinger pointed out the slow reaction of the faith community to get involved with consumer social internet platforms which \u201chas not been a positive for society,\u201d and argued that he didn\u2019t want to repeat that mistake with rapidly advancing AI.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this case, this is where we are going, the ability to shape AI as a force for good is enormous. Being able to truly be where faith and technology come together, be an influence for how the church can take advantage of the latest technology but do so in shaping AI as a force for good,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Among other findings, the State of the Church Tech 2025 report also found that a significant share of church leaders, 86%, agree that technology increases connection in their community.<\/p>\n

“This year\u2019s State of Church Tech report offers more than just statistics and data \u2014 it\u2019s a window into the evolving mindset of church leaders,\u201d Kenny Wyatt, Pushpay’s CEO, said in a\u00a0statement on the report<\/a>. \u201cWe see overwhelming consensus that technology plays a critical role in ministry, and I\u2019m encouraged by the way churches are approaching it. More and more leaders view these tools as an avenue to enhance, not replace, the human relationships that are so central to the Church.”<\/p>\n

\u00a9\u00a0The Christian Post<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  By Leonardo Blair More churches across the U.S. are embracing the use of Artificial Intelligence in their ministries, but pastors have stopped short of using the technology to prepare their sermons, data\u00a0from the State of the Church Tech 2025 report shows. The report, created by\u00a0Pushpay, a leading payments and engagement solutions provider for the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override":[{"template":"1","single_blog_custom":"","parallax":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":""},"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,9,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ministry","category-news","category-uncategorized"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2440"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2440\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2441,"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2440\/revisions\/2441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thechristian.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}