Given the far-reaching implications of this technology not just for our field but ALL aspects of life, this blog is a bit longer and more thorough than usual.
Here’s a quick summary of what’s ahead. Feel free to skip to the sections that interest you:
I. Can you tell AI WROTE this sermon?
ii. Critique of an AI-generated sermon
III. A Brief AI Primer:
Why use Artificial Intelligence?
Limitations of AI
The implications of widely available AI are already here
IV. Should Preachers Use AI to Write Their Sermons?
Is it plagiarism to preach an AI sermon as your own?
What is gained or lost by using AI to write your sermons?
Ethical ways preachers can use AI to be more effective and efficient
Next steps
Can you tell AI Wrote this SERMON?
“Jesus’s Encounter with the Samaritan Woman: a Sign of Radical Inclusivity in Christianity” (An AI-Generated Sermon)
The story of Jesus’s encounter with the Samaritan woman (John 4:1-42) is one of the most beloved tales in the Bible. It is a tale of radically inclusive love, as Jesus breaks social conventions and reaches out in love to a foreigner. This story has much to teach us about the beauty and breadth of Jesus’s message of love and acceptance, and how the early Christian church followed his lead.
In the story, Jesus sets off for Galilee, but pauses for a moment in the city of Sychar. While there, Jesus meets a Samaritan woman at a well, and requests a drink of water from her. Knowing that it was socially unacceptable for a Jew to offer things to a Samaritan, the woman questions Jesus’ motives.
In response, Jesus opens her eyes to the gift of God by offering her the “living water” that will quench her spiritual thirst forever. He then challenges her to call her husband, to which she replies that she has no husband. Jesus recognizes her difficulties and responds by telling her that she has had five husbands and is now living with a man who is not her husband.
The woman is amazed at Jesus’s insight and acknowledges that he is a prophet. Jesus then reveals to her a truth about worshipping God: you don’t have to be in a certain place to pray to God, as the Samaritans believed. Rather, one can worship God in spirit and truth, wherever they are.
In this story, Jesus shows us the radical inclusivity of Christianity. Jesus speaks with a Samaritan woman, illustrates God’s power and love to her, and reveals to her the true way to worship God. Jesus’s willingness to break social conventions and open up Christianity to outsiders speaks volumes about the love and acceptance that is at the heart of Christian faith.
As we seek to live out the example of Jesus, let us remember his example of radical inclusivity. Let us remember that God’s love has no boundaries, and let us strive to live in such a way that makes his love tangible and accessible to all.
Critique of an AI-Generated Sermon
What did you think of this short homily?
Here are some things it does well:
It’s biblically focused.
The title draws me in: I want to hear where this is going.
It’s organized: It’s easy to follow the logic from one paragraph to the next.
It proclaims one clear message of Good News about God’s “radical inclusivity.”
It explains the history/context between Jews and Samaritans so the listener can recognize the tension of the story and better appreciate why Jesus’s actions would be considered “radically inclusive.”
It “lands the plane” with a logical call to be Christ in the world through boundary-less love.
Here are a few ways the sermon could be improved.
The story recap is too long; it’s three of the six paragraphs. We need greater balance between the text retell and its meaning.
The language is vague and general: “one of the most beloved tales in the Bible” (this generic sentence doesn’t pass high school English introduction standards—and is it true?), “recognizes her challenges” (what challenges?), “speaks volumes” (cliché)
The sermon offers little in the way of storytelling: it reports the exchange rather than grounding us in the moment with sensory details about character, place, or emotion
The tone is generic and emotionally distant: It doesn’t speak to my life or struggles.
It’s written for the page and not the ear.
It’s not very often that I include an entire homily and critique in one of my blogs, but this one is worthy of the real estate.
Why?
Because this homily was written start-to-finish in less than ten seconds by Artificial Intelligence (AI).
I uploaded the text of John 4:1-42 into my application (Craft) and gave the AI the command to “write a sermon.”
Above is the result, all 352 words of it.
I’ve heard better sermons, for sure.
But I’ve heard far worse ones, too.
A Brief AI Primer
For those who’ve been following the AI discussion in the news and on social media, feel free to skip or skim to the section about AI and preaching.
For those first hearing about AI as a new part of our daily lives, the next few sections will be a useful introduction to what it is, its benefits and limitations, and how it’s impacting our culture already.
AI appeared as a new feature in my note-taking app in early December, around the same time the AI platform ChatGPT became available to the general public for free.
The sudden availability of AI, which is constantly improving its efficacy, accuracy, and sophistication, means AI’s “guest preaching” will become less and less distinguishable from the real thing.
There are multiple AI platforms, and various platforms have different applications—some generate code, some generate art, and others writing, as in the example of the sermon above.
WhY USe Artificial Intelligence?
The primary benefit of AI is that it will save you time.
AI is astonishing in its breadth and speed, far surpassing what humans can do in their limited minutes.
With the right commands, AI will:
generate a list of Bible stories referencing Samaritans
brainstorm multiple titles for a sermon (“list titles for a sermon about radical inclusivity based on the story of the Samaritan woman at the well”)
outline an article about ways to observe Lent as a family this year
write content for parish publications like your monthly newsletter
The tech can comment on current issues of the day, providing a quick synopsis of multiple sides of an issue.
You can also ask it to pull data or articles about topics or themes, which you could mine for sermon illustrations.
Beyond the preaching context, you can ask AI to help in all kinds of practical and silly ways:
create a seven-day, dairy-free meal plan for a family of four and generate a grocery list for that meal plan, excluding oils and spices
generate custom code to [achieve some effect] for a church website
generate gift ideas based on search parameters you define
retell the story of the woman at the well in the style of Hamilton, the musical
The key to good results is the specificity of the request. That said, once an initial set of results is generated, prompts like, “please generate more results like 3 and 6” or “use an ABAB rhyme scheme” will further refine results and help you get closer to your desired output.
I asked my AI “What is AI and how is it used for writing?”
This is what AI says about itself (which I edited for length and broke into paragraphs):
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a type of technology based on the concept of machines being able to learn and apply principles of reasoning and problem-solving without being explicitly programmed to do so.
AI is being used for writing, with programs developed to generate creative content, detect plagiarism, and even to write entire blog posts.
AI can analyze large amounts of data quickly and accurately, and can be used to write articles, essays, and even sermons. AI can draw from vast databases of existing text and use natural language processing to create content that is relevant, accurate, and persuasive.
However, the use of AI for writing raises important ethical questions, including the degree of control that humans should have over the content created by AI and the potential for AI to be used to manipulate public opinion.
The Limitations of AI
AI’s “depth” and factual accuracy, however, are still in development.
AI will only come up with so many variations in response to a prompt before it becomes repetitive. And its “voice” often lacks humanity, nuance, or complexity. Several detailed modifiers must be added to change the voice or focus on a particular theme so that the product moves beyond the default result.
Truly, the better the input, the better the output.
Likewise, when AI doesn’t know the answer, it’s happy to fabricate facts. I asked my AI to write several sermons, and some of them were just wrong about the biblical context or references to other texts. Most discussions of AI acknowledge that until its accuracy improves, it cannot be relied upon without significant editing.
Moreover, because AI synthesizes material gathered from across the internet, it’s prone to the same racist and sexist biases built into the internet’s existing algorithms. This also means that while it can produce the very best of what the internet offers, it may not discriminate against the very worst.
And at the moment, the platforms are prone to overload, rendering messages that the app has too many requests and isn’t available.
That said, the nature of AI is that it is getting better by the minute—learning from every input and refining its outputs. The AI of a year from now will be superior to the AI of today.
The Implications of Widely Available AI Are already here
The repercussions of this kind of technology reach every corner of our lives, and some of your parishioners are surely grappling with them already.
The capabilities and benefits of this technology are disrupting everything from education to marketing to healthcare. As word spreads, AI’s use will become ubiquitous, and we’d best be ready to discuss the implications—for us, our congregations, and our society.
Businesses are having discussions about AI-generated blogs, newsletter content, white papers, and marketing collateral,
AI has been asked to take the bar exam and medical boards, and it has passed some elements of the tests. This raises questions about how AI may be used in professional fields in the future. Could it make lawyers more efficient? Doctors more accurate in diagnoses?
AI can write code in seconds, potentially streamlining the work of programmers—or reducing the need for junior coders.
The teachers in your congregation may be figuring out how to discern student work from AI work and how to craft AI-proof assignments. There has already been significant chatter online about the implications of this technology in both K-12 and higher ed.
Families soon will be discussing ethical uses of AI vs. using AI to cheat. One can imagine high school students typing their essay prompt into the app and submitting the AI-generated essay as their own. It wouldn’t be difficult for a fourth grader to ask AI to “write a 500-word research paper on polar bears defining its prey, habitat, threats to its environment, [and any other details the teacher has specified].”
For this reason, another app has already been developed to detect the likelihood that a of text has been generated by AI—a next-generation plagiarism detector.
College admissions circles wonder whether the college essay will be obsolete in a few years—or perhaps will be moved to an in-person, proctored environment where the use of AI isn’t possible.
Some educators suggest that since AI is here to stay, education should move toward analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of the content it produces, understanding its limits, and teaching students how to use it effectively, Effective and ethical use of AI may become another cornerstone of digital literacy—a skill as valuable as discerning the credibility of online sources.
In reality, you’re probably consuming AI-generated content already without realizing it. In fact, if you’ve seen friends post cartoony or artsy self-portraits on their social media profiles, those images were likely generated by AI—and there’s a world of discussion around the ethics of “borrowing” the artistic “style” of artists to create these works of art.
In all fields, the question begged is: where does the ability of AI end and the need for human thought, analysis, and empathy begin?
So what does this mean for preachers?
Should preachers use AI to write their sermons?
an examination of the nuances of using AI to prepare sermons will help illuminate the issues others will surely grapple with.
This discussion, then, can inform conversations and sermons where AI may arise.
The ethics of AI in preaching is more involved than this blog can address. Indeed, many of us are discussing its implications. My friend, The Rev. Dr. Leah Schade, likewise considers the ethics of using AI to write sermons in her blog on Patheos this week, and I commend it to you for further reflection and additional resources.
There is, of course, one major question about its use:
Is it considered plagiarism to preach an AI-generated homily without identifying the source?
On the surface it might seem like the answer is obviously yes, that’s plagiarism.
However, AI is a different kind of source material.
AI is an amalgamation of innumerable, public-domain sources. As a result, the data presented has no single author; there’s no one (or more) person(s) to credit.
What we get from an AI article is not unlike our jotting notes at a conference with multiple speakers when our notes are fragments, phrases, and impressions, but no direct quotes.
If those notes are gathered and combined into a single homily, does the preacher cite “the conference” as the author of the homily?
More importantly, though, if the preacher does not disclose that the sermon was generated by AI and is asked who authored the sermon, how will the preacher respond?
Will they be comfortable sharing that it was all or partially written by an AI?
How would that knowledge affect the trust between preacher and listener?
So, before we ask for AI’s assistance, we first need to decide:
How it will feel to look Jesus in the eye and tell him we used AI: guilty or resting easy?
How might using AI affect our sense of satisfaction in our ministries and relationships if we “outsource” our creativity, learning, and work?
How will we feel if we disclose our use of AI or don’t disclose it and get “caught?”
What is gained or lost by using AI in preaching?
perhaps “Is it considered plagiarism?” is the wrong question.
There is much more to think about than the technicalities of plagiarism. Where does a sermon come from? What is the purpose of preaching? Do we need preachers?
Here are some other questions you may wish to consider.
Will you be fed by an AI-generated sermon?
At Backstory Preaching, we advocate preaching the sermon only you can preach. That is, preaching the sermon that is only possible because of the ways the scripture intersects with your lived experience and your understanding of your preaching context.
We advocate letting the text preach to yourself first, and then to your listeners.
Our desire is for sermon prep to become a respite, an encounter with God that leaves you, the preacher, transformed, refreshed, renewed. An experience you look forward to because you encounter Good News—and now, you truly believe it and can’t wait to preach it.
We pray lectio over the scripture early in the week so the passages have time to saturate our hearts and minds, and so the spirit has opportunities throughout the week to reveal a message. That message may come during study or in a coffee date with a parishioner or while cooking dinner or folding laundry or walking the dog or watching a favorite tv show or reading a novel.
Preachers already struggle to make space for prayer and scripture amidst the endless demands of ministry.
Can AI feed the preacher? Does a 5-minute interaction with AI facilitate an encounter with the living God?
AI can save you time, but is God really calling you to do more?
The time saved by using AI to write sermons can free you to address other ministry demands.
But is that really what you’re called to? A way to superhumanly accomplish more in a 24-hour period?
Or is God beckoning you to a re-evaluation of your ministry and boundaries?
The needs for your love and time are limitless, but you are a human made with limits. On purpose. By God.
God knows this.
God is your bread. God is your breath.
If you have so little time for preaching that you are tempted to outsource it to AI, perhaps some discernment is in order—for you and your congregation.
Are you called to preach? If so, what does that mean for sermons produced by AI?
Some pastors are not called to preach but simply have to as a condition of their primary ministry role as pastor, shepherd, and leader. In this case, perhaps AI is a useful tool?
As with all decisions, prayer and discernment are necessary to determine what is right for you and your congregation.
Is there value in the sermon-writing process itself?
“I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking, what I'm looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear.”—Joan Didion
Writing a sermon is more than creating a product.
The process is about more than getting words on the page for consumption.
There’s an alchemy in writing that forces you to get clearer, truer, deeper in your thoughts.
Something that sounded good in the mind feels anemic once on paper. In the process of translating your encounter with scripture and God to your listener, you learn. You grow. You develop conviction. You change your mind. You expand your heart.
You have to revisit your original idea to ensure it’s clear, supported, and true.
And perhaps you connect with God and your listeners more deeply as a result of the struggle.
Can this alchemy occur with AI?
Ethical Ways Preachers Can Use AI To Be More Effective & Efficient
There are many ways for preachers to use AI that make ethical sense.
It’s a fantastic tool for streamlining research or enhancing elements of our work without ceding the entire process to its algorithms and biases.
Consider these uses:
After uploading the sermon manuscript, ask AI to “Create sermon titles” and pick your favorite.
Ask AI to "Generate sermon themes on this text,” and use the ideas to spark your own.
Use AI as an editor. After uploading a sermon draft, ask AI to generate a “summary” and then an “outline” of your sermon. Did your message come through clearly? Does the organization make sense? You can use AI to see how closely your vision for the sermon correlates with what’s actually on the page, and then write a stronger draft to address identified gaps.
Find sermons to learn from. For example, I asked AI to “Give me ten sermons on YouTube about the Woman at the Well,” and it quickly complied. If you use something you find, cite your source.
Compile commentaries. Whose voices are over-represented? Whose voices are missing? What should be added to the conversation?
Summarize different interpretations of the text. Where are the tensions? What’s missing?
Gather news stories or anecdotes related to themes you’ll be preaching to mine for illustrations: for instance, “find news stories about people bridging cultural divides”
Next Steps
Go to an AI app and play with one or more of them so you see for yourself what it can do. ChatGPT is a good place to start. Have fun. Be silly. Experiment with different prompts to see if you can improve the quality of the results returned. This article is a great intro to writing quality prompts.
Have a conversation with your ministry’s leadership about the use of AI in your sermons (and all projects you or the parish publishes) so everyone agrees how and when to use it and what should be disclosed.
Be intentional about learning more, especially as AI progresses in its sophistication. Watch for articles in the news. Follow conversations on social media. Get to know the use cases, limitations, benefits, and drawbacks of this new tool.
Before turning to AI to write a sermon because we’ve had “one of those weeks,” think through all your options and make a prayerful decision. You could:
throw something together, even if it costs sleep and time with loved ones
read a sermon from a book
show a previously recorded sermon by another preacher provided online
have three minutes of contemplative silence
preach “off the cuff,” even if the result might have multiple, confusing messages
offer (and disclose) an AI-generated sermon (after checking it for accuracy!)
Will an AI-generated sermon be included on your list as a viable choice?
As for me and the Backstory Preaching mentors…
Blog and sermon titles may be generated by AI without disclosing that fact.
We will disclose AI-generated works that are directly copied and pasted along with the AI program and command we gave it.
How about you? Are you using AI in your preaching or ministry?
I’d love to learn from your experience and hear your ethical questions.