Should My Church Staff Be Hesitant About Using ChatGPT?

At our church, we’re wondering how to use ChatGPT well. We’ve discovered we can ask ChatGPT for a list of songs that could accompany my pastor’s text each week, and ChatGPT often thinks of appropriate songs we’ve forgotten. It seems this could save our church (which has a limited budget) from having to hire a music minister. We’re also tempted to ask ChatGPT to help us write church newsletter announcements or come up with projects or activities for our Vacation Bible School (VBS).

For our small staff, this could be wonderful. But we also want to be wise. Should we have any hesitation about doing these things?

My current view of this technology might be controversial, and I may be proven embarrassingly wrong in the future, but right now my position is that ChatGPT and other AI large language models are among the most beneficial tools ever provided to small churches.

It’s been said that technology is a form of wealth. While the Bible doesn’t say much directly about how to think about technology, it does tell us how to use our wealth. For example, 1 Timothy 6:17–19 gives us this guidance:

As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.

As Joe Rigney has pointed out, this passage explains why God has given us wealth (i.e., for our enjoyment) and gives us three purposes for it: (1) “to do good,” (2) “to be rich in good works,” and (3) “to be generous and ready to share.” ChatGPT can be viewed as a form of wealth that helps us “to do good.”

Access to low-cost technologies has increased the “wealth” of small churches, which often lack money and people. This allows churches equipped with such tools to better steward their limited resources and to shift their focus from impersonal and low-productivity administrative tasks to more fruitful and personal functions of ministry.

Transformative Wealth

If used well, ChatGPT can be as important and transformative in our day as word processors, email, or photocopiers were in previous decades. Their significance might be missed, though, because we often take for granted or forget how much those previous technologies transformed the work of church staff.

If used well, ChatGPT can be as important and transformative in our day as word processors, email, or photocopiers were in previous decades.

For example, in the 1980s, I asked a pastor at my church a question about theology. Because it required some research and thought, he couldn’t respond immediately. When he was ready, he dictated a letter to his secretary, who used a manual typewriter to type the letter for him. He then reviewed the letter and made corrections, and she typed it again.

Altogether, the process was rather laborious, requiring two staff members and several hours of valuable time. Today, as a pastor using a word processor or email, I could type the response myself in a matter of minutes. In a similar way, ChatGPT can be an invaluable tool for reducing the time spent on mundane tasks.

How to Appropriately Use ChatGPT

Using it well, though, requires awareness of its proper uses, limitations, and potential dangers. Here are three points to keep in mind.

1. ChatGPT is best used for ‘centaur tasks.’

After being beaten in chess by the IBM supercomputer Deep Blue, the chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov embraced the new technology and paired a human player with one or more chess computers to work as a team. He dubbed this a “centaur team,” named after the half-human and half-horse mythological creature. “Centaur tasks” are those in which you can integrate AI within your own work to multiply your efforts. The use of ChatGPT for help in writing church newsletter announcements or in coming up with projects or activities for Vacation Bible School is an excellent example of a centaur task.

To understand why the centaur approach is preferable to letting the AI do all the work, it’s helpful to recognize the benefits and limitations of ChatGPT. Rather than seeing it as a type of software, Ethan Mollick recommends thinking of it as an intern: its abilities range from middle-school to PhD level, it’s incredibly fast, and it wants to please you so much that it sometimes tells lies.

Such an intern could produce valuable work—but only if you’re able to distinguish and discern the quality of the output. For instance, I often need to create discussion questions for small groups based on recent sermons preached at my church. Although it’s a simple task, it can take me an hour or more just to come up with 4–5 questions. But I can give my “intern” a copy of the sermon and ask it to give me 30 or 40 discussion questions. Out of the ones ChatGPT provides, there’ll be at least a half dozen that are better than I would have thought up myself. Rather than play the role of “writer,” I can focus on being an “editor” and tweak the output to fit my congregation.

In fact, rather than sending the same generic questions to every group, I can ask ChatGPT to help me craft individualized questions based on the needs of specific groups, such as ones with married couples or parents of younger children. Using a “centaur” approach, I’m able to develop better and more relevant questions than I could have come up with on my own—and in a fraction of the time I’d normally spend on the task.

2. ChatGPT is high tech but not high touch.

John Naisbitt, the late author and futurist, first coined the term “high tech/high touch” in his 1982 book Megatrends. The concept refers to the idea that in a world of technology (high tech), people long for personal, human contact (high touch). While AI can provide valuable assistance, it cannot replace the human touch, especially in a setting like a church where personal connections and understanding of individual needs are crucial.

While AI can provide valuable assistance, it cannot replace the human touch, especially in a setting like a church where personal connections are crucial.

For example, music ministers do more than select songs; they understand the congregation, lead worship, and provide spiritual guidance through music. ChatGPT can’t replace the “high touch” of a music minister. What it might be able to do, though, is equip a volunteer who leads worship but who might not have the time or the necessary skills to choose appropriate songs for worship.

Similarly, while ChatGPT can help draft newsletters or come up with activities for VBS, it may not fully understand the specific needs and nuances of your community’s children. Again, this AI tool can provide you with ideas or rough drafts of a curriculum. But there still needs to be someone knowledgeable enough to evaluate the work produced by ChatGPT and determine whether it’s suitable for use by the church.

3. ChatGPT can be a privacy risk.

If you’re using AI to handle sensitive information such as names and addresses of church members, be aware of the potential privacy concerns. While OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, has policies in place to protect user data, it’s important to understand these policies and ensure they align with your church’s needs and expectations.

In summary, ChatGPT can be a useful tool for your church, but it should be used as a supplement to, not a replacement for, human roles and responsibilities. As with any technology, it’s important to use it wisely, review its outputs, and carefully consider any ethical and privacy issues. Yet despite such concerns, we shouldn’t be afraid to use this tool “to do good.” Instead, we should be grateful that God has provided a low-cost resource that can serve as an incredible blessing for small churches.