Pastors who use artificial intelligence to prepare sermons and Bible studies must take full ownership of what they preach, an Indian AI specialist told church leaders. He also urged them never to enter personal or pastoral information into public AI tools.
The specialist, who works with AI in the corporate sector, spoke Oct. 16 at an online national webinar hosted by the Theological Commission of the Evangelical Fellowship of India. The event was titled "AI, Human Dignity and the Future of the Church." His presentation was titled "Artificial Intelligence: Its Impact and Its Use in Research."
He set out where generative AI can help churches, from sermon outlines to translation and administration. He also named areas where it should not be used and described a method for using AI in biblical research without handing over the work of interpretation.
The webinar also featured Indian theologian Canon Dr. Vinay Samuel, who argued in a theological paper that AI cannot become conscious like humans.
What remains human
The specialist opened with a question he said church leaders must face. "If AI can write a sermon, translate a Bible lesson or answer theological questions, what remains uniquely human in ministry?" he asked.
He said some people now turn to AI pastors and AI counselors, and many teenagers have AI "friends." Even when the software reminds users it is not human, he said, people remain attached to it. If church members, young people and children are turning to AI for everything, ministry leaders must ask how to reach them, he said.
His answer was that love, shepherding the church, serving, discernment and bearing witness to Christ remain human tasks. "These cannot be replicated by machine," he said.
He explained in plain terms how the technology works. He described AI as a toolbox and generative AI as a drafting tool. Large language models, he said, are writers trained on patterns that produce text by predicting the next word in a sentence.
"We feel it is working as if like a human, but actually it is just predicting the next token in a sentence," he said. He added that the results can still be very powerful.
The preacher owns the message
The specialist listed areas where AI can help ministry. These include sermon outlines, illustrations and Bible cross-references; study guides and devotionals; Christian education materials; and church administration such as meeting minutes and event planning. AI can also help translate resources into local languages and summarize long documents, he said.
But he drew a firm line around preaching. AI may help prepare study questions, illustrations and drafts, he said, but the pastor or preacher must own the message.
"You cannot say that AI has given me this message," he said.
Prayer, study, theological judgment and care for a congregation cannot be delegated, he said. "AI cannot pray for us," he said, adding that God expects believers to study his word themselves.
He said pastors should use AI for structure and let the biblical text govern the message. When asking AI for a sermon outline, he said, the request should specify the passage, audience, purpose, length and context. It should also ask the tool to flag any application that goes beyond the text.
Four risks
The specialist named four risks he said the church in India must actively manage.
The first is false authority. AI can produce fabricated Bible quotations and invented sources, a problem known as "hallucination," he said. Christians must make sure their authority comes from Scripture, not from fabricated material.
The second is borrowed work and bias, including plagiarism and one-sided interpretation. He said sources must be attributed and perspectives compared, especially when material is published.
The third is false identity. AI can impersonate people and create convincing deepfakes, he said, so users must confirm where information comes from.
The fourth is lost trust and presence. Congregations should not come to see their leaders' work as machine-made or their care as shallow, he said. "We have to protect people and keep human contact."
Keeping personal data out
He repeatedly warned participants never to share personal information about themselves or others with public AI tools. That includes what people confide in pastoral conversations, he said, as well as member records, health and financial details and identifiable stories.
He said churches holding children's information must be careful once India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act takes effect. Under the law, he said, such data may be kept only with the consent of parents or legal guardians.
In his view, information entered into public AI systems can later surface in responses to other users, though without the user's name. He said researchers should not put unreleased work into such tools for the same reason.
Tests before publishing
On translation, he said churches can draft a message in simple language and translate it with AI. But a fluent speaker of the local language must review it before use, he said, because AI misses nuances only a native speaker will catch.
He proposed five tests drawn from Christian discernment: truth, love, wisdom, stewardship and accountability. Before AI-generated content reaches people, he said, someone must check whether it is true, whether Scripture is quoted correctly and whether copyright, privacy and dignity are respected.
The final test is responsibility, he said: whether a named person can defend and approve what was produced. "A responsible person approves the facts, wordings and release," he said.
'Start with the passage'
In the second part of his presentation, the specialist turned to biblical research. He said AI should help believers explore, examine and express, but never work in isolation.
AI tools should be used alongside Bible study platforms such as Logos, Accordance, STEP Bible and Bible Gateway, he said, as well as commentaries, Bible dictionaries and concordances. AI should assist biblical research, he said, but not replace Scripture-centered interpretation, scholarly verification, prayer or pastoral discernment.
"We have to start with the passage, not with the prompt," he said.
He described a sequence: read the whole passage in context and observe repeated words, contrasts and commands. Then name the interpretive question, use AI to map options and identify sources, and verify the results against the Bible text, language tools and reliable scholarship. The final step is to shape teaching for the congregation.
"Prayerful reading and responsible interpretation remain human responsibilities," he said.
He showed sample requests to AI. For Mark 4:35-41, where Jesus calms the storm, he asked the tool to separate direct observations from interpretation, identify at least two plausible readings and list questions to check in commentaries. The request also told the tool not to invent citations.
For Romans 9:6-24, he asked AI to map major interpretive approaches and distinguish scholarly consensus from disputed claims. He said users must check whether the authors, titles and publishers AI suggests actually exist. For Hebrew and Greek word studies, he said a lexicon should be consulted before relying on AI's reading of a word.
Reaching a younger generation
He said AI can help churches communicate with Generation Z, which he said ministry leaders cannot afford to lose. "If we are not able to reach out to Gen Z, then there will be a big gap and that gap cannot be filled," he said.
He described preparing a Christmas message for listeners about 20 to 25 years younger than himself. He asked AI how to introduce Jesus to that generation and received ideas he said he had not considered. Months later, he said, a listener called and remembered only that part of the message.
He showed a recent request asking AI to create a one-page introduction to Jesus that would appeal to young Indians. The result presented Jesus as more than a name or a religion, he said. Young people, he said, "don't want a religion. They don't want a celebrity. They want a genuine person."
He closed his presentation with the Apostle Paul's instruction to test everything and hold fast to what is good. AI can produce both genuine and deceitful material, he said.
"If you have not tested it, do not use it," the specialist said.
Guidelines for theological education
Rev. Dr. Samuel Richmond, head of EFI's Theological Commission who moderated the webinar, said Caleb Institute is preparing guidelines on AI use. He said students can easily use AI to prepare sermons and write assignments, making it hard even for faculty to judge whether work is authentic.
Samuel told participants that theological institutions have not yet developed adequate courses on a Christian theology of technology. "We live in a very technology driven world and therefore we need to equip people with that very much indeed," he said.
Richmond said EFI hopes to hold more webinars and paper presentations on the subject. "It's not just a closing, but it's a beginning," he said.
Rev. Vijayesh Lal, general secretary of EFI, closed the webinar with a reflection on AI in ministry.
"Ministry is fundamentally about God working through people in relationship with him and with one another," he said. "I'm of the opinion that AI may assist that work, but it cannot embody the calling, the love, accountability or spiritual formation that ministry requires."
"At the same time, it is a great tool, so let's use it responsibly," Lal said.
