How Pastors Are Approaching AI: The 2026 Pastors & AI Survey

Are church members asking pastors about AI?

Yes. Half of the pastors and church leaders we surveyed (51%) say congregants have asked them how to approach AI as a believer: 189 occasionally and 23 often, of the 414 who answered.

The bigger the church, the more often the question comes up. At churches under 100 people, 47% of leaders have been asked. At churches of 100 or more, it’s 60%. Among the larger traditions in the survey, leaders of Pentecostal / Charismatic churches hear it most: 63%, compared with 49% of everyone else.

We need to not let this go like we did the internet.

“I think they are going to ask; it’s the way that culture is shifting… I hope that they treat the Bible with more trust than an AI platform.”

“Dealing with AI is going to be a discipleship issue in the life of the church.”

Should Christians use ChatGPT for spiritual guidance?

Most pastors say no, or only with conditions. Just 14% said Christians should use generic AI platforms like ChatGPT and Claude for spiritual guidance, and 38% said no. The other 48% answered in their own words.

We read every written answer. The most common said yes, as long as the answer is checked against Scripture (31% of written answers). Almost as many drew a clear line between information and guidance: AI is fine for research and Bible study, but it isn’t where a believer should go for spiritual direction (30%). Another 16% explained a no, and 8% said Christians should prefer AI built on Christian sources.

Counting the written answers, 46% of respondents said no, 37% said yes only with conditions, and 16% gave an unconditional yes.

Why pastors hesitate

The reasons in those answers were consistent. Pastors most often said to check AI against Scripture (42 answers), that guidance belongs with pastors, elders and the church (24), that AI is not the Holy Spirit (20), and that generic AI draws on secular or mixed sources (16). A few warned that it makes mistakes (7) or tells people what they want to hear (3).

To help with outlines, find resources, recall where a specific verse is = yes. To do the heavy lifting of spiritual formation, no.

“Asking AI for spiritual guidance is replacing the pastor with a computer.”

“I do not believe the Holy Spirit dwells in AI the way he dwells in his people.”

“The danger is that AI is programmed to essentially tell the user what they want to hear.”

“Should… no. Can… yes. With understanding and boundaries.”

Answers to this question were similar across church sizes and traditions; the differences were within what chance alone would produce.

Is it ethical for pastors to use AI to lead their church?

Most pastors say yes, within limits. 41% said it’s ethical for pastors to use AI to help lead their church and 21% said it isn’t. Of the 38% who explained, most (84%) described an ethical way to use it, usually with a boundary, which brings the total to 73% (Figure 2).

The boundary was the question’s own example: using AI “to understand what their church needs to hear.” Many pastors said that is exactly what AI can’t do. The most common written answer (43%) was that AI can help with research, outlines, wording and administration, but it shouldn’t decide. That comes from prayer, Scripture and knowing your people. Another 41% said yes, with care: verify it, pray, and don’t let it become your main source.

For help, yes. To lead, no.

Some pastors do see a place for AI in understanding a congregation, through data rather than guesswork: analyzing a church survey or demographic information, or helping design the questions to ask (10 written answers).

“Using AI to GET TO answers is much different than using AI to retrieve ‘answers’.”

“I think AI can help us speak what we want to say in a clearer way, but how does AI know what a church needs? We would be losing the relationship part with our people.”

“AI offers perspectives that an individual pastor might not otherwise hear or consider. But AI shouldn’t take the place of reasoned, prayerful pastoral leadership.”

“I like to use it to help with research, because it cuts down on the amount of reading, but then I wrestle whether it is removing the spirit from the work.”

Leaders of non-denominational evangelical churches were the most cautious: 34% said no, compared with 16% of everyone else. Church size made little difference.

How are pastors using AI?

Mostly for research. Of the 115 respondents who described how they use AI, 68% mentioned research or Bible study: background on a passage, summaries of commentaries and scholars, history and word meanings.

Fewer mentioned wording and editing (17%), outlines and organizing their thoughts (16%), administration and planning (10%), brainstorming (9%), and analyzing data such as surveys (8%). Several pastors of small churches said the time AI saves goes back into ministry.

What it does is cut my preparation time in half, so I can spend that time shepherding and caring for the congregation.

“I am a pastor of a small church who works a job. So, I use AI as a tool to help me streamline a lot of things to lead the church.”

“…creating devotionals from a transcript or notes and editing them for content if the Lord leads (especially helpful for me as a bi-vocational pastor who wants to keep the church engaged through the week but has very limited time) is something that is wonderful as a tool. And that’s the key: a tool, not a substitute or replacement.”

“I think it would be improper for me to just say ‘write a sermon on discipleship’ and not be actively writing my thoughts, ideas, and insights down myself.”

How should pastors approach AI? Seven principles from pastors’ answers

Put the answers together and a pastoral approach to AI comes into focus. These seven principles come from what pastors wrote, with the share behind each where we could count it.

1. 01

   Start with prayer and the text. Ask AI second.

   2 Timothy 2:15

   AI comes after the spiritual work, never instead of it. Nearly one in five respondents who wrote an answer (18%) mentioned the Holy Spirit, and pastors returned again and again to personal study and prayer.

   “AI should never replace a pastor’s time of seeking the Lord or Bible study, but it can be useful for outlines and starter ideas.”

2. 02

   Use AI to gather, not to discern.

   This line ran through the survey. For believers, many put it as “research, yes; guidance, no” (30% of written answers about ChatGPT), and almost as many as “yes, if you check it against Scripture” (31%). For pastors, it was “AI can help, but it shouldn’t decide” (43% of written answers about leading a church), the most common answer to that question.

   “AI is not an anointed person.”

3. 03

   Test every answer against Scripture.

   Acts 17:11 · 1 Thessalonians 5:21

   A third of respondents who wrote an answer (33%) said to double-check what AI says, most often against the Bible. Three pointed to the Bereans, who “searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so” (Acts 17:11, KJV).

   “If AI is not in agreement with Bible, discard the entire response.”

4. 04

   Keep the sermon yours.

   Pastors who wrote about preaching drew the same line: whatever help AI gives, the message has to come from the pastor’s own study, prayer and voice.

   “…the sermon must be written from the heart of the pastor to his congregation.”

5. 05

   Keep shepherding human.

   A third of those who wrote an answer (33%) said, without being asked, that guidance, leadership or care belongs with God and his people, not with AI. A pastor learns what a church needs by being with it.

   “Conversation with people in the church should be the way a pastor learns of people’s needs.”

6. 06

   Guard your people.

   Fewer pastors raised it, but those who did were specific: keep personal information out of AI tools, know what children and teens are doing with AI, and don’t trust every image or video. One in six of those who named a danger pointed to privacy, children or deception.

   “We should use the most protected AI and with caution never sharing personal information.”

7. 07

   Teach your church, without fear.

   With half of pastors already fielding questions, staying silent leaves people to learn from the algorithm. Pastors asked for honesty about both the benefits and the dangers, in a calm tone.

   “We must be cautious, but curious.”

What are the dangers of AI for Christians?

Wrong answers, over-dependence and a worldview that isn’t drawn from Scripture. Of the 91 respondents who named a specific danger, 35% pointed to wrong or misleading answers, 29% to dependence that crowds out personal Bible study, prayer and thinking, and 20% to a worldview shaped by secular or mixed sources.

Advise the congregation that AI will get you the wrong answer faster.

“Since LLMs are trained on everything, they will of necessity be reflections of secular society rather than Biblical principles. This can be extremely subtle…”

“If AI is your immediate go-to for information you take away the struggle in Bible study and prayer to receive a word from God.”

“Some turn to AI to share their deep truths and questions without fear of judgement… There’s no ‘checks and balances’ with AI, i.e., accountability, human compassion or connection to the wisdom of the Holy Spirit.”

“Do parents know about their kids’ AI use and/or habits?”

How should churches talk to their congregation about AI?

From Scripture, honestly, and without fear. The most common advice was to teach people to test AI against the Bible (28% of answers), to treat it as a tool rather than an authority (27%), and to be open about both the good and the bad (21%).

Some would start by listening. One lead pastor suggested asking from the pulpit whether anyone has concerns about AI, then following up with a questionnaire. Others would give it time outside the Sunday sermon, “like we might with finances, online security.” A few would address it only when asked, or “only when it is relevant to the text as you teach through the whole Bible, verse by verse.”

Churches should teach members to use AI as a servant, not a master.

“Instead of focusing on fear, pastors should emphasize responsible use: verifying information, protecting privacy, avoiding deception, and using AI to serve others rather than manipulate or deceive.”

Where pastors disagree

Not every pastor sees a place for AI. 21% said it isn’t ethical for pastors to use AI to help lead their church, and 38% said Christians shouldn’t use ChatGPT or Claude for spiritual guidance.

A few would steer their people away from AI altogether. At the other end, some see little danger and use it every day. A smaller group (8% of written answers about ChatGPT) would point believers to AI built on Christian sources instead of general tools, and some would teach on AI only when asked.

What the answers share, even among pastors who use AI every week, is the order of authority: Scripture, prayer and people first, and AI, if at all, beneath them.

“It is not about the tool, but it is about the heart.”

“ChatGPT will give knowledge answers, but not those influenced by a Biblical worldview.”

Differences by church size and tradition

Church size shapes how often the question comes up, not how pastors answer it.

Leaders of larger churches are more likely to have been asked about AI. Views on ChatGPT and on pastors’ own use were similar across church sizes. By tradition, two differences stand out: leaders in the Pentecostal / Charismatic tradition are more likely than others to have been asked, and non-denominational evangelical leaders are the most likely to say pastors shouldn’t use AI to help lead.

Questions pastors ask about AI

About this survey