AI Is Becoming More Popular Among Pastors

AI Is Becoming More Popular Among Pastors – But Are They Using It for Sermons?
Log in to your existing account or sign up today!
Log in to your existing account or sign up today!
Log in to your existing account or sign up today!
Most U.S. pastors use artificial intelligence (AI) in ministry, but far fewer rely on it for the one task that puts them in the public eye each week: sermon preparation.
That's according to a new survey from Barna Group, in partnership with Gloo, which found that only 13 percent of Protestant pastors in the U.S. say they never use AI. But how pastors use the technology varies widely: 50 percent use it for brainstorming and idea generation, 37 percent for graphic design or visual creation and 34 percent for administrative tasks.
"Pastors are probably using AI more than you think," Nick Skytland, vice president of AI at Gloo, told Crosswalk Headlines. "They, like all of us, are adopting AI, and I would say that it's becoming the norm, not the exception."
The research, though, shows a clear distinction: Pastors may be using AI as a tool, but they are not "substituting themselves at church or in the pulpit with AI," Skytland added.
Artificial intelligence, he said, can help pastors reduce administrative burdens and give more attention to spiritual and pastoral responsibilities.
"I think we might all agree that pastors are some of the most overextended leaders in the world – especially if you're the pastor of, say, a mid-sized church," he said. "You're the CEO, you're the counselor, you're the communicator, you're the chaplain all at once. And if your church is smaller, that's even more so true. And so I think it's really important to note that pastors are leveraging it like a lot of us – to do the administration part of our work.
"And that's exactly what I would hope pastors do, because we want to free them up from that type of work to do the really important missional biblical work that they're mandated to do."
More than one-third of pastors (36 percent) use AI to research biblical or theological topics, while 34 percent use it to generate discussion questions or small-group materials. Just over one-fourth (28 percent) use AI for social media or communications content.
About one-fourth of pastors (24 percent) use AI for writing or editing sermons – double the 12 percent who used it that way in 2024.
Skytland said pastors should be cautious, though, because mainstream AI tools are not designed to produce answers from a biblical worldview.
"AI is trained on secular, pluralistic information – it's like turning to Reddit for marriage advice," he said. "It's probably not what we're going to find in the Bible, and so I think the caution for pastors is to recognize the bias that's in the responses from AI. And of course, you can prompt AI to better align it with the biblical perspective, but by default, AI is not going to start there."
Skytland cautioned pastors not to treat AI as a replacement for ministry.
"We want to make sure that AI is in the service of human flourishing, not substituting for it. Our encouragement is to use it as a starting point, but never ever the ending point."
Photo Credit: ©iStock/Getty Images Plus/Hotaik Sung
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
Listen to Michael's Podcast! He is the host of Crosswalk Talk, a podcast where he talks with Christian movie stars, musicians, directors, and more. Hear how famous Christian figures keep their faith a priority in Hollywood and discover the best Christian movies, books, television, and other entertainment. You can find Crosswalk Talk on LifeAudio.com, or subscribe on Apple or Spotify so you never miss an interview that will be sure to encourage your faith.
Originally published July 09, 2026.
Log in to your existing account or sign up today!
Log in to your existing account or sign up today!
Log in to your existing account or sign up today!

Facts Only

* Only 13 percent of Protestant pastors in the U.S. say they never use AI.
* Fifty percent of pastors use AI for brainstorming and idea generation.
* Thirty-seven percent of pastors use AI for graphic design or visual creation.
* Thirty-four percent of pastors use AI for administrative tasks.
* Thirty-six percent of pastors use AI to research biblical or theological topics.
* Thirty-four percent of pastors use AI to generate discussion questions or small-group materials.
* Twenty-four percent of pastors use AI for writing or editing sermons.
* Mainstream AI tools are trained on secular, pluralistic information.
* Caution is advised because mainstream AI tools lack a biblical worldview.

Executive Summary

Most U.S. Protestant pastors use artificial intelligence in ministry, although reliance on it for sermon preparation is lower than other uses. A survey by Barna Group and Gloo found that only 13 percent of Protestant pastors report never using AI. Among those who use it, 50 percent employ AI for brainstorming and idea generation, 37 percent for graphic design or visual creation, and 34 percent for administrative tasks. While over a quarter (28 percent) use AI for social media or communications content, only 24 percent use it for writing or editing sermons, which is double the rate seen in 2024. Experts suggest that pastors are leveraging AI to reduce administrative burdens so they can focus on spiritual responsibilities. However, caution is advised because mainstream AI tools are trained on secular information and may not reflect a biblical worldview. AI should be used as a starting point rather than a substitute for pastoral ministry, as it lacks the necessary theological grounding.

Full Take

The narrative suggests a tension between adopting efficiency tools and maintaining theological integrity in a highly specialized leadership role. The pattern of adoption—using AI heavily for administrative and preparatory tasks rather than core spiritual instruction—points toward a pragmatic management approach, driven by the "overextended leader" status described. This usage reflects a desire to optimize time away from administrative overhead toward missional work, which aligns with the stated goal of freeing pastors for biblical focus. The primary tension lies in the source material's explicit warning about AI’s inherent secular bias; this creates an implicit contract where the functional utility of the technology must be weighed against its potential epistemological contamination. The pattern observed is a cultural shift prioritizing external efficiency while navigating internal theological boundaries regarding authority and truth. The implication for human agency is whether the ability to delegate cognitive labor ultimately liberates or dilutes the uniquely human responsibility of pastoral wisdom, especially when the tool itself cannot natively supply that wisdom without careful, intentional scaffolding from a biblical perspective.

Sentinel — Human

Confidence

The text is highly likely written by a human journalist synthesizing survey data with expert opinion, focused on establishing a cautious perspective regarding the use of AI in pastoral work.

Signals Detected

Moderate sentence length variance and natural flow; use of direct quotes suggests human input.

The text flows logically from statistics to expert commentary, showing a consistent thread of caution rather than pure data presentation.

The structure adheres to typical journalistic reporting (stats lead to quote, elaboration), but the core argument feels organically developed around the expert's caution.

Specific statistics and attributed quotes appear grounded, and the advice provided aligns with typical nuanced commentary on AI ethics in a faith context.

Human Indicators

The integration of specific expert commentary (Nick Skytland) that pivots the data into ethical and theological caution suggests human editorial selection and framing.

The nuanced distinction drawn between using AI for administration versus substituting it for ministry demonstrates a level of contextual understanding beyond simple aggregation.