Should you preach on AI?

Published 1 day ago • 2 min read

Hi Reader,

At our Art of Leadership Live event in Nashville this fall, I put a slide on the screen that outlined “7 Sermon Series Hiding in This Book' (based on my book AI and the Future Church).

More than half the room pulled out their phones and screenshotted the series ideas.

That's when I realized I needed to get those sermon ideas and outlines to ALL of you.

If AI isn’t on your preaching calendar, you’re not alone. It probably still feels like a tech topic, or something for someone else to figure out.

But I’m not talking about preaching on how to write a better prompt. I’m talking about preaching about what's at stake: what AI is doing to people, to their relationships, their anxiety, their work... their sense of who they are.

And right now, almost nobody is speaking into it. AI is shaping people and culture faster than most of us realize.

And honestly, your congregation is being duped. I know those are strong words, but 48% of your congregation already trusts AI for spiritual advice. A lot of them are turning to AI for therapy and companionship.

Honestly, I think that's a spiritual and mental health minefield.

So, I recorded a short video walking through seven series ideas you could start building today to begin the conversation in your church. Here’s a preview of what’s in it:

What Barna found when they asked who trusts AI the most (the answer matters for you)
A hard lesson from social media, and why we can’t afford to repeat it
One series idea that sounds almost too strange to be real (I saved it for last for a reason)
A bonus idea I think you’ll want to hear...

It took years before we noticed and named the damage from social media, and the church had anything meaningful to say about it.

I don’t want us to make that mistake again and this video will show you where to start.

AI isn't all bad. It has a huge potential upside, but the potential downside is just as big, and potentially bigger. We can't navigate this era thoughtlessly.