The temptation is so great in what can be the stressed-out world of pastoral leadership to just type in a topic on a sermon app and hit the return button. But what can be lost in the process is the involvement of the Holy Spirit.
Sermon prep is worship. It is an opportunity to get alone with the Lord and seek what He is calling you to do and to say to your unique flock.
Sermon prep is sanctification. Preparing to present God’s Word to your congregation is more than just teaching them; it is a time the Lord uses to teach you, to grow you to become more and more like Him.
Sermon prep is service. You may not like the process of sermon development, and perhaps some of you “wing it” anyway. But working out the nuances of what you want to say to the congregation is part of what you signed up for and what your congregation is paying you for: a personalized sermon that the Lord has called you to deliver to a specific group of needy sinners.
Sermon prep is creative. You may argue that “there is nothing new under the sun” when it comes to new ways to look at Scripture. However, having an AI search the internet for three points and a close is a guarantee that no new insights will be forthcoming. You underestimate yourself and, more significantly, a Holy God when you assume that the Counselor will not provide fresh insights for your sermon.
Sermon prep is interdependent. One Sunday does not exist in a vacuum. You have been teaching your flock for some time, and often each sermon and each illustration is built on the experiences of past activities within your community and your church. AI cannot possibly accommodate that richness and potential connection which you can personally bring to your illustrations. AI is one-dimensional. You are multidimensional.
Sermon prep demonstrates integrity. As a pastor, are you willing to stand before your congregation and tell them your sermon (even your outline) came off a computer, but you did tweak it in order to personalize it? If not, is there a loss of integrity in hiding behind the process?
Sermon prep forces theology. Pastors have the luxury of a one-way conversation with congregants when at the Sunday morning podium. You can spit out an AI sermon that glosses over thorny topics and conflicting theology because it rarely takes into account contradictory passages, and no one is going to raise their hand in protest. However, ignoring passages that don’t fit the narrative is not the way to teach the whole complement of Scripture.
Conclusion
Artificial intelligence is here to stay and growing logarithmically. That reality has its own inherent positive and very negative consequences. For myself as a Biblical Christian writer, and for pastors in sermon prep, there is nothing wrong with using AI research to glean Bible verses and generate ideas. However, for each of us there must be a line in the sand to prevent research from becoming an antiseptic article or sermon, written by the computer rather than the Holy Spirit. Satan and our own sin nature have found a new, emerging battlefield in the use and abuse of AI. We must make an active, rather than passive, decision on our level of engagement with this new idol.
Salvation – Eternal Life in Less Than 150 Words
Please Comment – here or on Medium
