The AI Question Churches Are Getting Wrong: Technology Can't Replace What Only Human Community Can Build

Churches must lead on AI faithfully - not by rejecting it or embracing it uncritically, but by insisting technology serves the image of God, never replaces it.

A church technologist who spent 20 years at Google and YouTube recently told the World Evangelical Alliance: "The church has a responsibility to be ahead of the curve on AI. We must not be backfooted."

But ahead of the curve doing what?

That question divides Christian leaders right now. Some see AI as a gift from God that will accelerate the gospel. Others see it as a threat to human dignity and community. Most churches are simply confused, unsure how to think about technology that can write sermons, facilitate small groups, and even provide spiritual counsel.

The real issue isn't whether churches should use AI. The real issue is this: What are we willing to sacrifice to use it?

According to research presented at the World Evangelical Alliance's 2025 general assembly in Seoul, the central question for faithful churches is not "Can AI do this?" but rather "Does our AI system enhance our desire to love God and love our neighbors? Does it strengthen or weaken relationships?"

That's the question churches need to wrestle with. And it requires understanding what the image of God means in an age of artificial intelligence.

The AI Crisis of Human Identity

One researcher on the intersection of AI and faith, Quintin McGrath, framed the core challenge this way: AI creates a "human identity crisis in which the principle of the image of God is being replaced and challenged."

This isn't abstract theology. It has real implications for how churches think about pastoral care, community, and discipleship.

When AI can:

• Write prayers that feel spiritually authentic
• Provide counseling that follows therapeutic best practices
• Facilitate Bible study discussions
• Identify church members who might be struggling

...churches must decide: Which of these strengthen human community, and which replace it?

Tim Keller has emphasized that Christian community isn't a nice add-on to faith. It's foundational. "We were built for covenantal relationships," Keller writes. The image of God is expressed through our ability to know and be known, to forgive and be forgiven, to love and be loved in concrete, personal ways.

AI can facilitate connection. But can it create the kind of vulnerability, accountability, and mutual presence that real community requires?

Francis Chan writes in "Letters to the Church" that authentic Christian community happens when people "walk together" - not when algorithms suggest who should walk together.

Here's the crucial distinction: Technology can be a servant to community. But when it becomes a substitute for community, it betrays the image of God.

What the World Evangelical Alliance Got Right About AI Ethics

The World Evangelical Alliance's 2025 assembly brought together church leaders, theologians, philosophers, and technologists to wrestle with AI faithfully. Their conversation revealed three critical insights:

1. AI fundamentally challenges what it means to be human

Philosopher Chris Watkins emphasized: "Irrespective of personal feelings about AI, church leaders need to care about it because of its real impact on people. It is inevitable that people very close to us in our families, congregations, and communities will have their lives changed by AI."

AI isn't like other technology. Other inventions make our lives easier. AI is different because it's taking our most prized asset - our intelligence - and outsourcing it to machines. And those machines can generate more intelligence, meaning AI's growth is exponential.

This represents an unprecedented challenge to human identity and dignity.

2. The core question is theological, not technical

McGrath posed the central question this way: "Does our AI system enhance our desire to love God and love our neighbors? Does it strengthen or weaken relationships with God and others? Does it serve real human needs?"

These aren't computer questions. They're image-of-God questions.

Churches that use AI to free pastoral time for deeper human connection are using AI faithfully. Churches that use AI to replace the human work of pastoral care are using AI deceptively.

3. Transhumanism poses a spiritual threat to gospel faith

The assembly noted that transhumanism - the belief that human condition can be transformed and transcended through AI and other technologies - is "undermining the Gospel" by implicitly denying human limits, finitude, and the need for divine grace.

Gospel Christianity teaches that we're created in God's image (not improved by technology), redeemed through Christ's work (not transcended by human innovation), and sanctified through community (not perfected through optimization).

When churches embrace technology that promises to transcend human limitations, they're making a theological statement that contradicts the gospel.

What Presbyterian Theologian William Edgar Calls the "Idolatry Risk"

Presbyterian theologian William Edgar has written about how technology can become a new form of idolatry. We worship at the altar of efficiency, optimization, and capability enhancement.

The danger in church technology is that we might pursue efficiency at the expense of presence. We might optimize systems while diminishing community. We might measure success by metrics that miss the qualitative depth of relational discipleship.

John Piper has warned against this explicitly: "The greatest threat to gospel community isn't opposition from outside the church. It's the replacement of genuine community with efficient substitutes from inside the church."

Consider some practical examples:

Good use of AI in churches:

• AI helps a pastor identify which isolated members might be at risk, freeing the pastor's time for actual pastoral visits
• AI processes volunteer data to suggest connection matches, but real humans make the introductions and build the friendships
• Chatbot handles routine questions, freeing staff for complex spiritual counseling
• System flags concerning patterns, triggering human pastoral response

Dangerous use of AI in churches:

• AI provides the primary counseling for struggling members
• Algorithms determine small group assignments without pastoral knowledge or relational wisdom
• Church members receive AI-generated spiritual guidance as a substitute for real discipleship relationships
• Automated systems monitor member behavior and report "problems" without human understanding of context

The difference? Whether technology serves human community or replaces it.

The Resilience Research Nobody's Talking About

A Barna Group study from September 2025 found something crucial: "Christians who experience relational discipleship through mentors, small groups, or spiritual friendships are significantly more likely to remain resilient in their faith."

The research is explicit: Resilient faith requires relational investment. Not just correct theology. Not just good programming. But actual friendship with people who know you, care about you, and walk with you.

The study found:

• 56% of Christians engage their discipleship community in church
• But 2 in 5 Christians are not involved in discipleship
• Christians in relational discipleship are more engaged with Scripture, more consistent in prayer, more active in church

This is critical for church leaders thinking about AI: Technology cannot create this kind of resilience.

An algorithm cannot notice when someone is sliding into spiritual decline. Code cannot offer the kind of accountability that comes from a friend who knows you. Software cannot provide the comfort of someone's physical presence during crisis.

AI can organize information. But resilience requires relationship.

For deeper frameworks on tracking relational discipleship health, see our post on discipleship tracking for small churches.

How to Think About AI Faithfully: A Pastoral Framework

Here's how church leaders can approach AI with both wisdom and hope:

1. Ask the Image-of-God Question First

Before adopting any AI tool, ask: Does this technology strengthen or weaken human relationship? Does it serve the flourishing of people made in God's image?

This single question filters out most problematic uses of AI in churches while opening space for helpful applications.

2. Use Technology to Free Human Presence, Not Replace It

The best church technology decisions follow this pattern:

• Technology handles routine tasks
• Freed-up human time goes toward deeper relationship
• Result: Better community, not less

Example: AI processes giving data and flags concerning trends. A pastor gets freed time to actually meet with givers and talk about generosity from the heart. The AI didn't replace the pastor's work. It enabled deeper pastor work.

3. Preserve the Irreducibly Human Elements of Ministry

Some things only humans can do:

• Presence during suffering
• Forgiveness and reconciliation
• Vulnerable confession and prayer
• The laying on of hands
• Looking into someone's eyes and saying "I see you, and you matter"

Any church using technology that substitutes for these is making a theological mistake, not just a practical one.

4. Think Generationally About AI Adoption

Gavin Ortlund emphasizes that Christian leadership must avoid "limiting itself to one issue or one brand." The same principle applies to technology. Don't let AI adoption define your church's ministry. Let relationships define it. Let AI serve that priority if it helps, but never replace it.

5. Build Accountability for Technology Use in Your Church

Don't let technology decisions happen in isolation. Bring them to your leadership team, your congregation, your pastoral staff. Ask hard questions:

• Is this technology making us more relationally connected or less?
• Are we using this to free time for community, or to replace community?
• Does this align with how Jesus modeled ministry (relational, incarnational, embodied)?
• If this technology disappeared tomorrow, what would we have lost?

6. Remember That AI Has No Soul

This sounds obvious, but it's worth stating: AI can process, optimize, and facilitate. But it cannot love. It cannot repent. It cannot bear another's burden. It cannot grieve with those who grieve.

The gospel happens in embodied relationship. Technology that serves that gospel by freeing humans for deeper presence is good. Technology that promises to provide what only God and community can provide is false gospel.

What Preston Sprinkle Means by "Faithful Innovation"

Theologian Preston Sprinkle has written about what faithful innovation looks like in a technological age. The key, he argues, is this: "Innovation that honors God must honor humanity. Technology that reduces people to data points betrays the gospel."

This means churches can innovate with AI - but only in ways that treat people as ends in themselves, never merely as means.

A church using AI to better care for its members? That honors humanity.

A church using AI to replace pastoral care and save money? That reduces humanity.

The difference is measured in relationship.

The Gospel Coalition's Plea to Churches: Lead, Don't Follow

The Gospel Coalition recently called on churches to "lead the charge" on AI, not be backfooted by it. But leading doesn't mean adopting every new tool. It means adopting technology in ways that advance gospel values: Community, presence, sacrifice, love.

As Christian technologist Nick Kim told the World Evangelical Alliance: "This is a prime opportunity for the church to lead and leverage technology for the Kingdom of God and something good."

That means churches showing the world what faithful AI adoption looks like. Not rejecting technology. Not uncritically embracing it. But using it with wisdom, discernment, and relentless commitment to the image of God.

Moving From Anxiety to Faithfulness on AI

Many pastors feel anxious about AI. That's appropriate anxiety. We should be cautious about technology that could replace human presence and relational depth.

But anxiety doesn't help. Faithfulness does.

Faithful churches will:

• Use AI to process data and free time for human presence
• Preserve the irreducibly human elements of pastoral care
• Resist technology that promises to transcend human limits and divine grace
• Ask hard questions about every tool: Does this strengthen community or replace it?
• Lead by example, showing the world what faithful innovation looks like

The goal isn't to ban AI from churches. The goal is to use AI in ways that honor the image of God and strengthen gospel community.

That's the real conversation churches need to have.

Conclusion: Technology Serves Community or It Serves the Machine

The churches that will thrive over the next decade are not those that adopt the most AI tools. They're the churches that use technology faithfully - that leverage AI to strengthen human presence, not replace it.

John Piper writes: "Technology is a gift, but like all gifts, it can be misused. When we use it to replace what only God and community can provide, we've turned a gift into a curse."

The question isn't "Should churches use AI?" The question is "Will we use AI in ways that honor the image of God and strengthen the gospel community?"

Answer that question faithfully, and AI becomes a useful servant. Answer it wrongly, and AI becomes a false replacement for what only embodied community can provide.

Choose wisely. The future of your church's relational health depends on it.

Ready to use technology faithfully - as a servant to community, not a replacement for it? FlockConnect is built on a simple theological principle: Technology should free pastors to do deeper pastoral work, not replace it. Our tools help you identify isolated members, suggest meaningful connections, and track relational growth - all to give you more time for the irreducibly human work of pastoral presence. Try FlockConnect free for 14 days and experience technology that serves community, not replaces it.