Adriaan Adams is a local missions practitioner from South Africa, a speaker, consultant, and futuristic thinker with a passion for the application of AI in ministry and missions—the subject of his ongoing PhD research in Africa. His commitment to develop next generation leadership led him to create the Generation Index, an intergenerational competency tool for organizations. Generation Index is now an organization that believes that by identifying the common behavioral trends between generations and creating intentional focus within the workspace to address them, a healthier environment of collaboration can be developed. Adriaan has been involved in the World Evangelical Alliance Mission Commission (WEA MC) since the early 2000’s, an Associate Director, and then a Deputy Leader since 2020. He joined the WEA MC's Executive Committee January 1, 2026 with special responsibility for innovations.
In response to an AI-Native ministry strategy, this opinion suggests that AI must remain as infrastructure underneath a mutual learning ecosystem, supporting a "ministry with" posture directed towards human flourishing, rather than as its focus or a driving force. The focus, which AI serves must remain people, relationships, communities, local knowledge, theological reflection, and human discernment.
