Ministry in the age of AI - 2
From a webinar by Barna and RightNow Media
Part 1 of this article is here.
A recent webinar, which featured speakers such as David Kinnaman from Barna, Nona Jones, chief content and partnerships officer at YouVersion and Kenny Jahng, Editor-in-Chief of ChurchTechToday.com, discussed the implications and opportunities of AI for the Christian church and ministry. Here is a very abridged summary (part 2):
Some of the adoptions of AI by actual churches are first of all the simplistic thing of summarising meeting notes and action points, sermons and manuscripts etc., - things that are creating content.
And now we're starting to see things that are a little bit more strategic - building insights. Taking unordered data and making structure - seeing trends, giving patterns, volunteering scheduling, etc.
We've also heard about using AI to give pastoral care advice and coaching - taking the post meeting notes, feeding it into the AI, have a conversation and getting feedback as to was this the best type of support and conversation I could have offered? What else can I do in my growth as a pastor to offer more empathy and compassion in my support in my conversations. There are AI tools that will monitor our sentiments of our voice. Am I too aggressive? Am I slow paced? Am I emotive?
One of the most powerful ways that we can use AI for ministry is understanding how to have a conversation on some of the more controversial issues in society when it comes to the Bible. So how do you stand for X issue from a biblical standpoint? How would you have a conversation with someone who was wrestling with issues of identity and and little things like that. It's like just having a resource that can help you think about the language around it to make it more conversational. That's deeply powerful because a lot of times we're coming up empty.
[From an earlier article by Kenny Jahng. Concrete examples of how pastors can use AI for discipleship:
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Utilize chatbots trained on every sermon preached at a church for answering common questions and providing personalized spiritual guidance to small group leaders and church members.
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Create devotionals based on each new sermon series preached, intended for texting or emailing to members.
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Plan and produce agendas and curricula that introduce and incorporate biblical worldviews to address felt needs in the community.
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Implement AI-powered recommendations to suggest relevant scripture passages, references, and biblical frameworks based on the interests and preferences of the church leader.
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Produce video scripts for pastors to record that provide sequential content that subtly teaches core biblical concepts incrementally across a stream of social media posts.
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Use AI to analyse and interpret survey data, gaining valuable insights into your congregation’s spiritual needs, struggles, and interests.
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Employ AI algorithms to identify and predict patterns in attendance and engagement regarding Bible study, classes, devotional readings, etc, to create more focused programs and content, enabling more effective discipleship strategies.]
Every church needs an AI policy - a handbook for staff and volunteers so that you're all on the same page. Do we actually embrace AI at all? Do we use tools? If so, what type of tool is the free for all for everybody? Or is there some approval list of you need to get approval for the types of tools that we use? Who approves it? Is there a group to consider issues when something goes wrong? Who's the person who handles questions or concerns about AI? What are the questions that would be helpful for staff members to have more clarity and more confidence on this topic? Hold a pre-mortem - a thought exercise around what is the worst that can happen? What are the systems or structures, the policies and processes we need to put into place to mitigate that?
You can listen to the 57 minute webinar here.
See also AI for Church Leaders
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From a webinar by Barna and RightNow Media, 29/04/2024